Foxy ladies What a good year for foxgloves. They take a full two years to reach flowering…and as you’ll know the aim of all flowers is to attract insects which pass on pollen to fertilise others. Through evolution, different flowers have developed expertly to attract specific pollenating insects from tiny wasps and flies to the […]
Flora and fauna – Foxgloves Read More »
Flora and fauna : Balsam bashing Himalayan Balsam colonises areas rapidly and quickly outcompetes the surrounding vegetation and reduces diversity. Himalayan Balsam is an annual plant; growing from seed, flowering and setting seed within a year before dying. All Himalayan balsam plants germinate from the previous yearÂ’s seed. Annual plants do not have the need
Familiar to everyone the wren is still a favourite of mine…(does anyone else remember them on farthings?) We’re lucky enough to have a pair nesting in a quiet corner of the garden again this year; they’ve spruced up a nest which was built two years ago, but was left unused last year. Normally the male
Flora and fauna – four for a penny Read More »
In my book there are wild creatures, and there are WILD creatures. The former include bluetits, rabbits, robins, blackbirds and so on…the sort we see every day, but the latter, they are the ones that haven’t seen much of humankind. They spend most of their lives in wild, sometimes desolate places and scarper at the
Flora and fauna – Ouzels Read More »
Webs of intrigue? I was reading recently about spiders webs and in particular the silk that they’re made from.  Most of us know of its strength, stronger than the equivalent steel thread (so they say) but what I certainly didn’t know was how it actually soaked up heat. I assume this speeds up the
Anyone walking up behind Whimberry Wood lately will probably have seen the large flock of lapwings which have been wintering there. These wonderfully aerobatic birds, members of the plover family, are evocative of our area preferring to nest on damp meadows where they forage for food (worms and insects), nest, and bring up their young.
Having our Peewits about us Read More »
Spring must be on its way if the voles are starting to nest – enjoy this short interlude where life is so simple in the gardens of New Mills
Flora and fauna – the field vole Read More »
Scarlet Elf Cup I’m no expert on fungus (mycology) but you may have noticed this pretty little variety around lately on dead and rotting wood. An inch or two across and around late Winter/ early Spring it’s aptly named the Scarlet Elf Cup and is said to be edible, but please don’t try it on
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It’s not just birds that have a tough time in hard winters, some of our mammals struggle too. I’ve just been a wander in the (disappearing) snow and spotted these bark-stripped branches where rabbits have been at work. Along with much of our wildlife, rabbits struggle to feed in the winter months, only the fittest
Flora and fauna – what did the Romans ever do for us? Read More »
