Plums

[thugulike]

Tried to pick some plums yesterday. Very few about, normally I have so many I don't know what to do with them. There were very large black flies gorging on those I could reach along with some wasps. I don't normally have too much of a problem with wasps and I've never in 16 years in this garden had huge black flies feeding off them. They were as big as bluebottles but couldn't have been as I always thought bluebottles fed on dead creatures. Anyone know what the flies are and why they're here this year for the first time? Yuk, they are disgusting.

[terambulan]

My crop is so bad I can count the plums on each tree and they are mouldy. Probably due to the wet summer this year.

The apple trees are profuse with apples and keeling over.....would like to pick them before the birds peck the lot but they're not large enuf yet.

Grape vine....zilch? Flocks of starlings gorging on Elder-berry fruit. Flocks of finches feeding on grass/dock/thistle seeds.