Lady in red

I have a new lodger – a lone ladybird – currently residing on my little spider plant. Ladybirds come in a variety of colours – most commonly red, orange and black, and each species sports a different number of spots. My visitor is red and looks to have the 18 spots required to be a …

What’s in a name?

Are you old enough to remember the song Tiptoe Thru’ the Tulips With Me by Tiny Tim – if you are, then it’s probably best wiped from your mind screen. If you aren’t, then count yourself lucky! Recently I attended a talk about tulips, delivered by Teresa Clements who is on the Committee of the …

Battles, a bodge up and a baby

Gardening can sometimes seem like a never ending battle, as some of the wildlife seems hell-bent on destroying everything us gardeners strive to achieve. I know this is not the way to think really – all wildlife has a purpose – it’s all part of the circle of life, isn’t it? Around this time last …

Ramblings from a small island

We’ve recently enjoyed a family holiday in Northumberland – me, GR, Rosie, Daisy and Lily. One of our excursions was to Holy Island. As we drove across the causeway, we were treated to a magnificent sea of pink. Once on the island I was able to get close up to the flowers that made up …

The bees are back in town!

If you’ve been reading my ramblings for a while, you may remember that last year I wrote about the bees that were mining in my back garden. If you’re new to me, or you want a reminder, you can read about them here. To cut a long story short, I didn’t think they would ever …

Fateful Flight & Feathered Fables

I’ve had a traumatic experience this week. I was already becoming despondent because I hadn’t witnessed any blue tits visiting my nesting box for a while. Then one morning while I was doing my ablutions in our en-suite, I heard a thud and realised a bird must have flown into our bedroom window. Now we …