Seriously careful steps were required yesterday during a back garden wander with a camera. Hard, thick ice coated the paths like badly made royal icing. Footsteps on the snow covered lawn barely made a footprint. Cold temperatures had encased the snow flurries of the weekend, in complete contrast to the heavy, melting snow releasing the… Read More GBBD: Snow again, fresh snowflakes too
A monthly garden history covering all aspects of the garden in the form of a Gardenwatch Report seems like a useful plan to refer back to. As the garden year is picking up speed, it’s easy to forget some of the garden work, flowers and sightings that didn’t make blog posts, diaries or notebooks. My… Read More The Gardenwatch Report: FEB 2014
I hope I don’t jinx their stay by saying that! Especially as I am now trying to tempt them from the large mature trees they are preening and sunning themselves on to come down into my garden. I most likely have no chance in doing so but as you might expect, I’m giving it my… Read More Waxwings still here 🙂
Just when you think the first snowfall series could be ending… the curtains open to series two! Oh yes… and as you’d expect it builds on series one! One of the main characters of series one ‘Smiler Snowman’ has a more sinister look. Clicking on images will enlarge them. Yesterday morning, the winter wonderland stage… Read More Winter garden dramas
I’m thinking red – especially apples. How about orange – but not an orange? Ah… I’m on a roll now. How about a chestnut brown but… yep you’ve guessed it – not a chestnut! Just as light came up this morning our overnight frost got a gentle dusting of snow on top. It transformed the… Read More What goes with white?
This morning we were greeted with a frosted garden once more although it didn’t feel too cold. I do love to see a winter garden. It looks almost asleep on mornings like today but as soon as the birds descended towards the feeders it didn’t stay sleepy for long! That’s not at all unusual on… Read More Dish of the day
My Acer palmatum Sango Kaku looks stunning lit with early morning sun at this time of year. Its coral branches just look fantastic especially when covered in frost at the same time as they were this morning. However this tree is also quite a hot spot for the birds in my garden especially on sunny… Read More Hot spot
This morning is the third morning in a row that I have awoken to a seriously hard frost covering my entire garden. So my gardening once again has stopped for the moment. It is 8am as I begin this post and here in my garden in Scotland the day is just beginning – it is… Read More Magical winter moments
This morning, again, was on the chilly side with frost overnight. Today, for a change, I decided to set up my camera outside positioned to catch the groups of Chaffinches and Starlings feeding on the ground under my small Acer tree. How fortunate was that – I filmed a return visit of the Blackcap… Blackcap… Read More Blackcap returns
Last week I read an article in the ‘Craigie’ column of the Courier newspaper referring to visits of Blackcaps to other gardens in Scotland. Others too, like me, were unsure what it was. I was only certain when I saw the female – there lies my worry. I emailed the column in the Courier telling… Read More Blackcaps – tempting fate