“What on earth is that?” you may ask. Well what I mean firstly is that am using eco washing up liquid hopefully less of a surfectant than normal big brand types (and hopefully less disruptive to our precious water supplies down the line).
And then trying not to be tempted to remove all the little cotton wool like spiders’ nests in the corners because come Spring little birds like Blue Tits and even whole families of Long Tail Tits might come along and cling to the window frames to feast on those! Definitely a sight to behold from the kitchen window – I couldn’t work out what they were doing / what was going on. But a quick Google search and query to the RSPB soon solved that particular mystery.
Just to say of course if that doesn’t sound very spider friendly – well there are I know hundreds if not thousands of those in my garden already. They often provide a local food source for passing sparrow families to come into the garden to snack on. Most often in the afternoon which I’ve never until now understood (as to whether it was more to do with the rosier light at that time or more to do with their eating habits?). A quick Google search confirms it’s to build up their energy reserves before the cold of the night time arrives. Makes sense.
The sparrows by the by make a good job of any aphids on the roses, too. Now aphids there are usually plenty of as well – the females somehow being born pregnant and full of fertilized eggs (can’t remember exactly how!)
But it’s good to a sign that natural food cycles are being completed when you’ve got the “pests” and their predators in balance – so that the so called pests don’t take over!
But back to the window cleaning – it’s been a glorious day for it. And I’ve been kept company by sparrows and by the cheerful pinky purple flowers too. There are some warming autumnal colours around as well.
Best of all, having used some of that natural citric acid in the water soap imix too I can see out much more clearly now, in this lower light. Got the specks off using one of those window cleaning microfibre cloths. And now that it’s getting colder (this afternoon and this gradually arriving autumn) that will be helpful when I might just want to spend a bit more time indoors, looking out, into the garden, to see what’s going on and who’s about through luxury sparkly windows!
