Hi David - thanks so much, this site was created circa 12 years ago and I continue to manage it to ensure it remains the right habitat for so many creatures - the owners of this site really do want the best for it and their dedication too has ensured it has catered for 30 species now :) Best wishes - Joel
I’ve sectioned off about 3 metres by 1 metre of my lawn in my suburban garden. I’m thinking about planting some perennial wildflower plug plants in this section. It’s in full sun and on clay soil. What would you recommend to plant here?
Hi James - it depends on the vigour of your lawn grass, I'd probably recommend 9cm pots of wildflowers, as the plug plants can be bullied by the grasses - you can of course buy plug plants and grow them on to 9cm size if that's more cost effective. For clay soils in full sun, I'd recommend: meadow buttercup, cowslip, primrose, self-heal, red clover, oxeye daisy, red campion and bird's foot trefoil. These are a good few to start with and funnily enough all available at: wildyourgarden.com/product-category/wildflower-plants-seeds-herb-per/ Best wishes - Joel
Thank you Mark - hope you have a good weekend - off to Scotland on Sunday, via Lancashire and Ayrshire so hope to arrive ready for Monday morning and that bird-hide build :) Best wishes, as always - Joel
Hi Joel. I'm not yet a homeowner but have really been inspired after finding your channel yesterday, I've always loved the idea of a wildlife haven in my back garden, and totally agree with your view that a wild and natural garden does not equal 'messy'. Your videos are a fantastic resource for everybody as well as interesting and enjoyable, and I look forward to many more. All the best and thanks again, Sean
Hi Sean - so sorry for the delay in acknowledging your comment, just trying to catch up with everyone now :) I really do appreciate your kind comments and support, they make a huge difference to me and spur me on - the more people I can advise and help with wildlife gardens the more habitats are made and the more those creatures desperately in need are helped :) Best wishes and thank you again - Joel
Absolutely it is - even with the deformed wing it's still exquisite, not much of a problem flying though so I hope it gets to play it's part in increasing numbers on this site - I'll keep everyone updated :) Best wishes and have a good weekend - Joel
Small Blues are seen on the cliff tops near Deal, along with the Common, Chalkhill, and Adonis, Brown Argus, itching to get up there in the next few weeks.
MUST get myself to Deal! It's only around 2 hours from me, wish they still did boat-trips, as it'd surely make the journey shorter though ;) If I get there I am going to let you know first, would be a great place to meet - best wishes as always Keith, keep me updated on what you find in the next two/three weeks as I'll be up in Scotland and certainly more than 2 hours away.... best wishes, Joel
Each year I have a small number of Blue Holly's in my garden and they are very early here also. Saw one at the first nice days mid march and this week ive seen 3 of them dancing around my Euonymus. Guess there were 2 males chasing one female(?) I don't know what food the caterpiller loves but they kept on returning to this one bush to hide on top of the colorfull yellow/greenish leaves. They bring so mutch joy to the garden, maybe even more then the bigger species that come later in the summertime.
Hello you! Sorry for the delay, just trying to catch up with everyone properly :) Holly Blue's here rely on Holly (funnily enough!) and of course Ivy which are the larval food plants for their caterpillars. They're stunning little butterflies and bring hope of proper Spring around the corner :) Hope you and yours are doing well - have a great weekend, best wishes - Joel
Hi Joel. Just like to say how much I’ve enjoyed your various videos which has encouraged me to “Go Wild” and create a wild life garden and pond. In this video you talked about the Small Blue butterfly which I saw two chasing round the garden this afternoon. I’ve always enjoyed seeing the many birds around the garden and today rewarded in seeing TEN Bluetits fledge all within 15 minutes. Felt blessed!
Oh wow Don! This is so wonderful to read - I am so grateful for the encouragement and support, and it's brilliant that you saw not only 2 Small Blues (they use Kidney vetch to lay on) and ten Blue Tits is fantastic, they have large broods but mainly because not all make it, so good to hear that all 10 made it - you're definitely doing something right and rightly being rewarded for your efforts. Thanks ever so much for this - best wishes, Joel
What a beautiful little butterfly! It's lovely to see your hard work paying off. Such a lovely wild place. I was listening to a no mow May debate on Stoke radio this morning where a professional gardener said it'll make no difference so mow your lawns. Good job I was driving! I would love him to watch your videos or walk round our wild gardens the proof is there. The finches have been on the dandelions eating the seeds, first time I've ever seen that. Every little bit we can do to help makes a difference. Don't work too hard. Enjoy the fruits of your labour!
That made me laugh out loud about the "good job I was driving" bit! I empathise. We really do need to move away from this belief that "neat" means the neighbours respect you more, although I do know about neighbours who don't quite get the "wild" aspect of gardening, I wish they'd realise that wild doesn't mean messy in any way. Think of all those bucolic images on old jigsaw puzzles, the ones with the women outside a cottage, surrounded by cottage garden flowers and usually feeding chickens! So many people think of these as a dream garden yet so few want to actually achieve it. There was a guy called William Robinson, who wrote "The Wild Garden" back in 1870 and it was he who then developed the "cottage garden" look, and encouraged Victorians to move away from the tropical house plants and showy specimens that did nothing for nature - he wanted people to see the beauty already available in our natural world but had a huge fight on his hands to try to convert people, even back then. I'd love a copy of his original book but it seems to not be available in it's original form. Thanks again for all your support and encouragement - everyone here that considers wildlife when gardening, however small their space may be, is making a huge difference for the end goal :) Best wishes - Joel
@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton O for a cottage garden! Getting there slowly! I will look up Mr Robinson! I know the picture on the jigsaws. Beautiful! You're doing a great job and we're all doing bits and pieces to make a difference. Great channel 👍
Just wondeful seeing this video now, I have been looking at butterflies and moths online all day. A tiny gem! We have a good species database in Norway Artsdatabanken and I can see that they have been found a couple of times at the little beach of my childhood, ca 2 km from the cottage. Any chance growing their hostplants a bit up from the beach? The bedrock at the cottage isn’t alkaline I think, I believe it is granite like at the beach but it could be mixed with something else, bit not limestone. So the natural soil is acid from the pinetrees, heather, blueberries (bilberries). Rowans firs, and some small oakes spread around. These flowers mainly grow by the seaside it seems, but also some dotted elsewhere further in. I could get sand and seashells from the beach, but I don’t know if the pines would make the soil too acid anyway? I also would love to grow Veronica spicata and veronica longifolium as they are natives that have been lost in the area, but I think they need alkaline soil as well. If you read this, thank you for your kind words last week, I will be happy to write you an email when I’m feeling a bit better.
Hi there - sorry for the delay, just trying to catch up with everyone. I really must come and see your wonderful site and the work you do, would love to meet up one day :) Do keep me updated on your visitors, as you are no doubt rewarded many times for the effort you have put in. Best wishes and have a great weekend - Joel
Hi Joannee - I think half of the luck was that this beauty was freshly-emerged, I'm hoping to see many more on the site in the next few weeks, they really have taken a strong-hold now and I'm so pleased that 30 species now utilise and thrive on this site. I'll keep you all updated on it throughout the year :) Best wishes, Joel
Hey :) Thanks so much - it's so pleasing seeing these small beauties thriving, along with all the other species of course - I really appreciate your support, as always - best wishes, Joel
Hej Joel I am soon moving from an apartment on the ground floor to an apartment with a big balcony on the 4th floor. I have been dreaming about all the space I will have on the balcony (your videos aren't helping with containing my excitement 😉) for the last few weeks. However, while watching this video I suddenly wondered, if there even will be many insects so high up. I know bees regularly fly up high, but do other insects, for example these butterflies, stay closer to the ground? I live in very windy Denmark if that makes a difference. Thank you so much for your videos! They are so approachable! Extremely informative without being too complicated. :) (But please include more pictures when you talk about plants for us in non-english counties ;) most of the flowers are common here also, but with different names.)
Hello there! Firstly, you're giving me way too many excuses to visit Denmark sooner rather than later! ;) Of course mountain based butterflies are flying at a great height but butterflies lower down can also reach great heights - Monarchs have been seen flying at the height of the Empire State building during their migration through New York, and were spotted by fighter pilots during WW2. I've also seen sparring male Small Tortoiseshells vanish out of sight towards the sky. As long as you have those plants/flowers that they need I am pretty sure they will visit you at 4 stories high, along with many other insects. I am not sure whereabouts you are in Denmark but obviously the species will differ according to area. I know that Jutland has many varieties of butterflies... I will also try to include more photographs and latin names in future for you of course :) I hope you are doing well - good luck with the move, a nice simple move by the sound of it :) Best wishes and thank you so much for your kind words and support - Joel
Very sedentary on your finger! Highlights just how small it is. Butterflies fly off whenever I try to get a closer look! Saw a holly blue the other day. Great video. Thanks
What a gem. What a shame its not fully pumped up its wing. Just brilliant that the site is being used by them though. I hope there are many more to come.
A real beauty Tracey, I knew you'd like this. Yes, sad to see the wing not fully formed but it didn't seem to have any real problems flying. I do hope it will find a suitable mate, there are plenty on this site and a hell of a lot of kidney vetch, so I'm confident numbers will continue to increase :) Best wishes, Joel
A tiny butterfly so easily missed. This meadow was made circa 12 years ago now and I continue to manage it to ensure the habitat stays just right. So many species now and other creatures making the most of this relatively small space in the scheme of things. The owners certainly have been committed since we converted this from an old potato field, and they more or less let me manage it on my own now :) I would absolutely love to show you around this site and so many others, you must come visit soon! Best wishes, as always - Joel
The Kidney Vetch I am growing in the shared driveway in London showed it's first flower on the 30th April. May I ask how you manage a site like this? It's my first Kidney Vetch. It grows low and it feels like it could be easily crowded out. No worries if it's too long a reponse for the comments :)
Hi there - if you could send a couple of photos to hazelwoodlandscapes@hotmail.com I'll be able to answer better and don't mind at all - I'm due to go away to Scotland for a large bird-hide build this Sunday afternoon, for 2 weeks, but I will try to answer remotely when I'm settled up there - best wishes, Joel
Thank you Janie - your support really does help encourage me to make more videos - so glad that the channel is growing as it shows just how many people are prepared to think of the creatures desperately in need right now, and to make habitat for them :) Hope you had a good weekend - Joel
Hi Sheila - it relies solely on this flower, Kidney Vetch. There are quite a few species that rely on one plant alone, which I don't think a lot of people realise to be honest, hence the importance of preserving such habitats. This meadow was created around 12 years ago now and I continue to manage it so that it thrives. The owners certainly wouldn't let developers get their hands on it! ;) Best wishes, and thank you - Joel
Superb, what a brilliant find. Not sure if we get them here in Scotland, but I’ve heard there are some colonies on the east coast. I’ll have to check that out and maybe get lucky 🐝
Hey Mark - yes please do check out the east coast and let me know what you find - Small Blue colonies in Scotland are found in and around sand dunes and other coastal grasslands and they should be around from mid-May to end of June. If you're going east and it's possible do try Caithness and Angus as I know there are colonies there and also more north around Moray and more south-east (ish) in Berwickshire... Good luck! Have a great weekend Mark, best wishes - Joel
Just had one in my garden in Lancashire ,I had to search it because I've never seen one before .I'm really happy to have seen it .I almost thought it was black.
Brilliant! SO good to hear this and that your garden is providing the perfect habitat for these wonderful little butterflies, I'm happy for you too, what a wonderful reward for considering nature when you are gardening. Best wishes - Joel
@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton thank you , if I see another I will try to capture on film and post it to you , it seemed to be attracted to our jasminium climber we have , but fingers crossed.
Hi Joel great videos just wanting some help my next door neighbor has a big cheery blossom tree and all the leaves go in my pond are they leaves dangerous to the creatures in the pond because the tree is that big I find it hard to scoop them all out thanks Peter
Hi Peter, I have cherry tree petals falling in my own pond, due to my own cherry tree (!) and it hasn't caused an adverse effect but I'd always remove as many as you can because they will breakdown and end up at the bottom of the pond. I know that in Japan cherry blossom petals are used in a lot of sweet food items, but also understand that the twigs, seeds and sometimes flowers can have cyanide in there somewhere and can be poisonous if eaten in great amounts. I've not tried that! Best to just try to remove as many as you can I think - sorry I can't be more helpful but in 3 years nothing detrimental has happened with the few petals that end up in the pond, although I see that you're up against it with a large amount. Best wishes, Joel
Oh my word, that is the most darling butterfly I have ever seen, thanks for sharing. Like you wouldn't have =^) Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.! 100% rain here, the whole weekend.
Hey Wende - I hope to see more soon, such a shame about this beauty's wing but it didn't seem to have much of a problem in flight and I hope it can play it's part in the increase of numbers :) We're scheduled good weather for the weekend, but rain on and off after that, mind you it has been pretty dry so there's lots of flora and fauna here that could do with it :) Enjoy your weekend too - best wishes, Joel
So pretty. 😊 I keep seeing a tiny blue butterfly and assumed it was a Holly Blue as I've got a lot of Holly in my garden but the ones I've been seeing are tiny, so I'll try and get a closer look next time I see one.
This is a lovely video and it made me smile today. The way that small blue sat on your finger the whole way through was very cute... It certainly is an exquisite insect and also very very tiny. The site looks pretty great! I hope they'll continue to do well for themselves there.
Thank you Jon - I'm so glad this cheered you :) It's a wonderful site for so many butterflies and other creatures now - will be keeping everyone updated on it - not sure if you have seen the video about the meadow, it's only short but might be of interest: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y25Bo15FlT4.html Best wishes, and thanks again - Joel
I just watched the Buddleia video and I have to say that, at that body weight you look very very attractive. You should trim down a bit…love the ponds too!
Haha! Thanks! There's about 6 years difference in the buddleia video - lockdown has got to us all weight-wise... and age I guess! Glad you like the ponds... Best wishes, Joel
Wow! That was a nice find, absolutely beautiful little butterfly, so tiny, the blue coloration is gorgeous. So happy the butterflies are starting to come out, have fun.
Hi! Sorry for the delay, just trying to catch up with everyone - but it was great to see this wonderful specimen, even with the less than perfect wing it was still so beautiful - I hope it gets to play it's part in increasing numbers on this site. Going to keep everyone updated throughout the year :) Have a great weekend, best wishes - Joel
It was so lovely to see Jan, I am hoping to bring regular updates about this video and all the creatures that benefit from it :) Hope you're having a good weekend - Joel
Hey George - sorry for the delay, just trying to catch up while on a lunch break. It was wonderful to see this as I'm sure you can imagine. Hope all is good your side and have a great weekend. Scotland bound on Sunday, via Lancashire and Ayrshire so hoping to arrive in good time for Monday! Catch up soon - Joel
