Bitterne shopping precinct is, to be blunt, pretty lifeless. There are a few trees and shrubs at either end, but under the shrubs (seen in the background in the first photo), the ground is pretty compacted, and nothing grows. In March, I was getting increasingly concerned about the lack of flowers for pollinators, so IContinue reading “Pollinating Peartree: The surprising popularity of the Bitterne Trough”
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Hedgehogs Return
A few days ago, on a dark February morning around 6 a.m., I opened my front door to see a hedgehog snuffling around the mat in the porch. He or she dashed into the shrubs at the side, but those few seconds were enough to make my day. In fact, it’s made my month! ThatContinue reading “Hedgehogs Return”
Pollinating Peartree: Reflections on Bridge Road, part 2
When I wrote the previous post in early September, I’d intended this part 2 to follow quite soon. It’s taken two months for the handwritten notes to become a blog, but in some ways not much has changed. The photos here were taken in September, but as autumn has so far been quite mild, theContinue reading “Pollinating Peartree: Reflections on Bridge Road, part 2”
Pollinating Peartree: Reflections on Bridge Road part 1
I was surprised to realise I haven’t written a blog specifically about the Pollinating Peartree project since my first post in January 2021. For a while I’ve been thinking that I’d like to do two things. One is to reflect on what I’ve learned, as I think it could be helpful to others who mightContinue reading “Pollinating Peartree: Reflections on Bridge Road part 1”
A Tale of Toadflax
Meet the Toadflax Brocade moth caterpillar, which came into my life on Wednesday, 23 August 2023. They feed on Purple Toadflax, a plant that I first identified on Peartree Green a few years ago, and which is abundant in the alleys close to our garden. This post is about noticing wildlife in unexpected places andContinue reading “A Tale of Toadflax”
A Swift Sandwich
OK, that isn’t a swift, it’s a blackbird. But I think the title works better with ‘swift’, for the alliteration and the alternative meaning. This isn’t a blog post about eating a sandwich quickly, it’s me trying to come up with a title that’s more original than ‘A day in the life of my garden’.Continue reading “A Swift Sandwich”
30 Days Wild & the Five Pathways
The idea behind 30 Days Wild is to do one thing in nature each day in June. It takes place every year, and in this post I’m writing about my experiences in 2022. I think that year was the first time I logged something every day. Maybe that’s because it was easier in some ways,Continue reading “30 Days Wild & the Five Pathways”
The fruits of ignorance
Yesterday, I was really tired. I’d had a whole morning of working on my laptop and with three hours of online training still to come, I needed some ‘tree time’. So after eating lunch, I nipped over to Peartree Green, the local nature reserve I help to look after as a volunteer. I’m really luckyContinue reading “The fruits of ignorance”
A sense of place
“What are you doing?” This was the question a little boy asked me on Christmas Eve morning. “Picking up rubbish so the birds can find some food”, I replied. “Okay!” he answered, and off he went. Moments later, a gull landed on the grass and started rooting around for worms, as if it had justContinue reading “A sense of place”
Favourites and familiars
This post was inspired by something that happened a few months ago. I’ve sometimes found run-over hedgehogs on the road near my house, and I usually bury them. I can’t bear the thought of a hog just lying there like a piece of rubbish. So one morning when I saw a brownish shape in theContinue reading “Favourites and familiars”
Dandelion Nature 