The nature writer Jim Crumley ‘relives memorable encounters with some of our best-loved native species’ in his series of small books, Encounters in the Wild. I have very much enjoyed these books, all gifts. I’d like to relive my weeks’ garden encounter with a fieldfare here. A rather indulgent series of images perhaps (photos, a… Read More Enjoying the company of a fieldfare
Historically, previous RSPB Big Garden Birdwatches haven’t reflected regular gardenwatch counts here. The birds appear to go into hiding. However, this year there was a risk of a cat being in hiding. Where you might not expect too, the top of a well kept leylandii hedge. Feathers still decorate the area from the last time.… Read More RSPB Birdwatch v Gardenwatch
As 2020 comes to an end, so does Adobe Flash Player. After adding two more Reolink cameras this year, it was a nervous wait for Reolink to release a firmware update so we could continue to view gardenwatch footage captured when my PC wasn’t on. There was a sigh of relief when it appeared during… Read More Flash gone, fix for Reolink cameras
An early morning stroll with a camera today revealed a few surprise blooms for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, November 2020. Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ was one, flowering completely out of season. It is a Spring bloomer. A Lewsia growing in a greenhouse pot was another. Not a surprise today, was the out of season flowers of… Read More Soggy, surprise November blooms
October 2020 has been a gardenwatch month like no other, without a single blog post. Later this month this blog heads into its 15th year and I could never have imagined it would have taken me back to my creative roots and drawing with gardenwatching as the inspiration. 31 days of daily drawings on subjects… Read More Gardenwatch #inktober2020
Rudbeckia Goldsturm and the perennial aster, Little Carlow were just glowing in the early morning sunshine yesterday. They may flank a slightly taller buzz series purple Buddleja, but they are currently the garden border highlights along with hedgehogs foraging below at ground level. I do love September. I know Autumn is knocking on the door, but I… Read More September highlights
This wordless post was published by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch on September 9th 2020. These images were taken at Faskally on September 1st 2018.
Well almost, a good near 2nd. The loch view above, seen from one of the visitor hides at SWT Loch of the Lowes, is maybe missing from the garden but recent activity seen from my gardenwatch window, pretty well matched what I’d see from the observation window in the visitor centre. Garden focus had been… Read More Lowes at home
That would be Hemerocallis ‘Pardon Me’ the day lily with its magenta-red flowers and yellow centres that was flowering on the 15th of August, perfectly in time for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. It was this blogger that made it late to the party celebrated by bloggers around the world sharing plants in bloom in the… Read More Pardon Me, late blooms
There was already an urgency in correcting information given on feeding wild hedgehogs in past blog posts dating back to 2007. A fairly recent awareness of metabolic bone disease in hedgehogs was something I felt a strong responsibility to highlight. Then, on the 30th of July 2020 the British hedgehog was officially classified as vulnerable… Read More Update on feeding wild hedgehogs