Beans, bees and garden birds

Soon after we arrived I sowed some dwarf broad beans in pots and then planted them out under a cloche. When they seemed to be growing nicely I sowed a long double row outside and was feeling quite chuffed with myself when they came up and the first ones started flowering in profusion, having largely survived the pests and wind. However I have recently discovered the flaw in my optimism - there are no bees here. None of the flowers are getting polinated and setting pods. Although I could well use the space in the garden for something else I can't bring myself to pull them all out. Interestingly lupins and tree lupins flourish here and set seeds. I wonder what pollinates them.

When I was gardening the other day a family of Falkland thrushes came to feed and were very tame, almost like robins at home. They also are blackbird sized and the young ones have pretty speckled breasts.


When we first arrived there were almost always several upland geese and sometimes a pair of ruddy geese grazing in our garden and I thought they would prove a major problem to vegetable growing. However with the breeding season they have moved away. I suspect that I will need to fence winter greens before they return in the autumn though.


The only birds here that are recognisable from the UK are house sparrows which are plentiful in the garden. There are often long tailed meadow larks feeding on the lawn and recently there has been a family of them. Because of their bright red breasts the local people sometimes call them robins. They are in fact a member of the oriole family, about blackbird sized and quite noisy - sounding rather like mynah birds but not copying people or other birds. They are quite striking to see.