 | Our Attempts at a Biodiverse Plot and Garden. Our gardens and allotment plots offer wildlife a refuge when many wild habitats are being reduced. Read how we try to make our garden and allotment plot a wildlife friendly environment |
 | Bird Nesting Box Cam In February 2011 we put up a new nesting box which has a camera installed so we can view life inside a nest box. This link takes you to another of our web sites where we have created a diary on what went on inside. |
 | Why Make a Log Pile? As we had acquired a pile of sawn off tree stumps and branches on site, we decided to create a log pile under a large evergreen shrub |
 | Making a Solitary Bee Motel Unlike the social honey bees and bumble bees that live in communities most bees live solitary lives. There are more than 200 species of solitary bees found in Britain. Some solitary bees nest in holes in the ground and others in hollow stems or holes in wood. This bee motel was one of several made from an ash tree log. |
 | Hedgehog Family A family of hedgehogs nesting in a pile of straw. |
 | The Grey Squirrel So who has been stealing our hazel nuts? |
 | Wild Flowers on the Plot Wild flowers growing on derelict allotments plots. |
| | You Say Litchen and I Say Liken We have lots of lichens growing on tree bark, stone and other surfaces on our plot and in our garden so I decided to try and find out more about them. |
 | Look after the birds and they'll help you to look after your garden Our garden has always been a place to share with wildlife. Being either nocturnal or too small to be able to observe without making an effort, lots of our wildlife visitors will go more or less unnoticed for much of the time leaving only traces of their presence. Birds, however, will readily adopt a garden as a favourite service station if they are provided with the essentials – food, water and places to nest and shelter. |
 | Goldfinches Visit the Plot and Garden We hear goldfinches more often than see them. They twitter as they fly over the plot and garden or rest in the trees. |
 | Our Encounters with Sparrowhawks Seeing a bird of prey is always impressive. We have had a few close encounters with sparrowhawks. |
 | Marauding Wood Pigeons This year wood pigeons have waged war on our plots by devastating our brassica plants. |
 | Encouraging Blue Tits onto the Allotment or to the Garden Blue tits on the allotment or garden are helpful as they feed their young with thousands of caterpillars during the spring and summer. |
 | A Partridge in the Green Manure This partridge was spotted on our plot resting among the green manure. |
 | Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dogs Tails? So which are welcome garden visitors and which are not? |
 | Lucky Newt! The star of our video had a lucky escape. It was spotted in the soil as my husband approached it with a rotavator. |
 | Toads in the compost When we spread out our compost heap we were surprised to uncover over two dozen toads. These were carefully rehoused under a pile of straw. |
 | Slugs - enemy number 1? Are all slugs bad news in the garden or on the plot? |
 | The Common Earthworm Drainage improvers? In the sort of weather that we have been having earthworms will have their work cut out this year! |
 | The Garden Spider On a frosty or dewy morning our gardens are often decorated by lacy spiders’ webs. These webs are the work of garden spiders. As the name suggests these are commonly found in gardens as well as parks and woodland areas. |
 | Bees in Decline? There has been much in the news recently about fears that the bee population is in serious decline. Bee keepers comment that hives often resemble the Marie Celeste. Lord Rooker a minister from DEFRA has been reported as saying that the honey bee may become extinct within the next ten years. Soil Association's petition to Save the honey bee |
 | Ladybirds - under threat? Our native ladybirds are under threat from foreign invaders. |
| | Underground Colonies of Garden Ants Weeding in one of the beds at the allotment I inadvertently uncovered part of an ants' nest. The anys sprang into action! |
 | The Wasp August is a time when many fruits are ready for the picking. This year it seems that the wasps have managed to home in on the ripe fruits before we have meaning fruits have to be gathered with extreme caution! |
 | When is a Wasp not a Wasp? When it's a hoverfly |
 | The Life Cycle of a Large White Butterfly So are all butterflies bad news on the plot?
Here's the life story of one that is! |
 | Whitefly in my coffee These tiny moth like creatures arrive in their thousands every year and they seem to be everywhere! (Not sure that wildlife is exactly the correct term for whitefly but they have to go somewhere!) |