All the way through I have tried to ensure that I share my own real ..read more

The question is a live one at the moment for me because I actually have two Great Tits currently visiting my garden that look the same as all the others. One has a washed out back, a whitish tail above, white flecks on its head and creamy underparts ..read more

But it was rather nice to come back in after 15 minutes into the relative warmth and shelter of the house. We've had hard frosts now each night for over a week, and the ponds are frozen solid, the earth is hard underfoot, and the wind was certainly nipping ..read more

To give you a better sense of scale to aid your guess, here I am at the foot of the Birches, which must be now 8 ..read more

You may have spotted the news a couple of months ago when that peat sales for amateur gardening would be halted by 2024. I haven't brought out the bunting for many political decisions recently, given the recent attack on nature (see the latest ), but on this occasion, I at least cheered. At last! well done! It has been a long time coming after the 'voluntary' target for compost retailers ..read more

In particular, what I love about Swiss villages in the mountains is that they really embrace the mini-meadow. Here in the UK, it has taken a long time for people to accept that it is ok to let your ..read more

So I thought, in a garden context, I'd pick out two native bushes of real merit, for wildlife and for their colour ..read more

My first thirsty butterfly, above, was a Comma, not so easy to identify when seen from ..read more

What was also clear was that it was carrying something. And that something turned out to also be a fly .A greenbottle. It helps give scale to the big ..read more

And my Tree Peony is even worse ..read more