Thank you all for identifying my plants. The Orange Hawkweed is rather pretty and in some parts of the world classed as invasive. It does indeed seed and spread underground! Some thought required!
Phil
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Edited
Badgers have been known to go for chickens locally and our lady vicar is convinced that the red kites raided her ducks. I think it was most likely a sparrow hawk
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Which reminds me of my cousin living in Essex. She was praying for the foxes to come and take some ducks. The ducks had taken over their entire garden. Sh1t everywhere. Quite amusing to see 20 ducks in a design pond 
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I may have to take down the anti heron defences on the fish pond - have far too many fish
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When I owned a pond I used to have a series of uprights around the pond edge and run nylon fishing line at 8lbs breaking strain at a foot high encircling the pond.
This didn’t look too intrusive and stopped herons as they like to walk into the water unobstructed. As soon as they touched the line they backed off.
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I have a raised pond , so the heron stands on the wall edge. Just far too many fish, at least a hundred .They have bred and bred
An update on how plants look following on from my post last October 24th 2020 when I built a raised bed.
Here’s what’s in the bed;
Anemone Obtusiloba Pradesh - looks insignificant, but a real gem. Flowers open white, then gradually change to deep blue over 2 weeks, then last another couple of weeks, so you get many different flowers at any one time. Petals are velvet texture. Will form a nice clump. Rare plant.
Arisaema
Arisaema Griffithii
Arisaem Ringens
Arisaema Sikokianum - variegated rarer form
Calceolaria Fothergillii - those little orchid faces. Only found in the Falklands.
Cypripedium Ulla Silkens - the intensity and amount of pink spots depends on the spring temps when the flower buds are formed and change every year.
Cypripedium
Cypripedium Formosanum
Cypripedium Sabine
Cypripedium Kentucky Maxi
Meconopsis Lingholm - Himalayan poppy. Needs acidic soil and cool temps.
Meconopsis Mrs Jebb - another himalayan poppy. Probably the best form.
Paris Polyphylla Stenophylla - a very rare gem. It’s actually grown taller from this photo. It’s 14" tall and next year be taller again.
Trillium
Trillium Chloropetulum
Everything planted last autumn has come up and all doing well. What is obvious is how much better and bigger plants are in this raised bed. Some of these plants have been grown in pots for 8 years and I’ve never seen them so good. The other plus is I don’t have to water them.
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If there is a shallow verge to the pond then herons might be tempted … sadly they are a common threat here.
But we were surprised a couple of months ago when an otter was caught in a feeding frenzy. It was a dog otter that had been hand reared and released after 18 months. It caused a lot of aggravation and anger at what turned out to be an illegal release.
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Herons are important animals to keep the balance in nature, especially in my swampy surroundings. I recently saw one holding a massive rat at its tail.
The herons have nests at 100 meters from my place. A whole city of heron nests in the tops of high trees. Now it’s all covered with leaves, but 2 months ago all the herons were nicely visible in their nests.
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A lifetime ambition to see an otter in the wild
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I’m here in the American region where the cicada have hatched. They appear every 17 years. Locusts. A biblical plague!
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It was on the news here a while ago. A biologist mentioned two types, one having a 13 yr interval and the other type the 17 yr interval. Both prime numbers.
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They are incredibly loud. We can’t post videos here apparently or I would. The females chirp and the males squeal.
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Ooh Matron
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Great pics the CountD, well done! 
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Interesting stuff, so every 221 years you need to get your tin hats on!
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Eeek!
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Thanks you’ve just reminded me to have a look at mine!
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