Water is a tricky feature to get exactly right in a show garden and the designers at Chelsea seriously push the boundaries on creatively using it. Yesterday was medals day at Chelsea Flower Show but medals aren’t the only focus for this show, it is also about giving inspiration for our own gardens. This week,… Read More Reflections from Chelsea to Inverewe
Let’s celebrate gardens some more with a garden visit week taking a Chelsea Flower Show twist (do join me if you fancy). The NTS garden Inverewe, on the west coast of Scotland, is a worthy gold medal winner to my eyes after a long awaited return visit last September. Yay… the rain stopped and the… Read More Chelsea Flower Show tribute week
A Robin has shown more than a little urgency in collecting dry moss and leaves from my garden earlier this evening. Having had a push on garden works of late as the weather holds, it seemed to be doing the same tugging away at dry material from rocks around my small pond. At speed, back… Read More A surprise, speedy nest build!
Goldfinches (the European one Carduelis carduelis) are likely contenders to arrive at the seed feeders for the 2015 RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch during the weekend of 24-25 January – or are they? Below you’ll find a variety of videos (all taken through my gardenwatch window) to help you ID a Goldfinch if you are new… Read More Friday @ the Flicks – Goldfinches
Gardenwatching will continue that’s for sure – I’ve got the bug now! More experiments with bird feeding areas and homes for wildlife are on the cards – I love the creative side of this and hope I can inspire others to have fun with this too. I’d also like to inspire garden visiting – especially… Read More What’s next in 2015?
There’s no sign of a red and white striped shirt, bobble hat, or glasses in today’s challenge. Wally (or Waldo in the US & Canada) has competition from a small wading bird very well hidden along the pebble shoreline of Loch Ewe at Aultbea. This is the bird mentioned in my last blog that had… Read More Where’s Wally the Ringed Plover
The forecast of snow for Sunday has triggered another unplanned Friday @ the Flicks! It doesn’t seem that long since the Swallows were seen swooping along fields and across back roads making drivers jumpy. Gosh… how fast this year seems to have gone. Are we really ready for snow swirling around us when we walk… Read More Friday @ the Flicks – Swallows before the snow
Hairy shield bug, surprise find weeding in Mum’s Rockery, May 2014 (iPhone). Copyright: Original post published on https://www.shirlsgardenwatch.co.uk/ by blog author Shirley, December 3rd 2014.
Weather folklore and the images below taken at the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh back in mid-October might suggest it just might be! “When berries are many in October, beware a hard winter” Myth or not, could nature really be providing more food for birds to survive a harsh winter? What about the birds themselves –… Read More A harsh winter ahead?
Today’s planned blog post remains in draft after being bumped back for yesterday’s sweet video capture of the shy Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes). Apologies for the slightly bumpy tripod work at the start but these birds scurry along the ground like mice and it’s hard to predict which direction they will take next. Fellow blogger Midmarsh… Read More Friday @ the Flicks – A foraging Wren