With the key to the garden door now in my possession, I made my first proper foray into the garden this week. For some time before taking on this garden, I’d had my eye on the big compost heap against the north facing wall. Whilst it is hidden from the big house, I can see it from the kitchen window... Read more..

Thousands of aphids have suddenly appeared in Oxfordshire. I can squish them, blast them with a jet of water from the hose or spray them. I don’t like spraying because it harms the beneficial insects as well as the pests, so generally squish or blast. As luck would have it, this year the predators have... Read more..

Visiting a friend yesterday, I was delighted to see that her garden pond was full of frogs ( Rana temporaria ) – there must have been 50 or more - and that they are laying spawn. My friend told me that the frogs started laying on Thursday the 10th of March, which is a few days earlier than last year... Read more..

Sometimes, the wildlife in the garden moves too quickly to be photographed. You turn around and, as you do, a brief drama plays out before you. It all happens so quickly; at times, so quickly that if you blinked, you’d miss it. I thought I’d write down some of those glimpses, before they are forgotten... Read more..

Despite the rain and chilliness of the last three months, ladybird larvae have appeared at almost the same time as they did in 2010. Back then, the first sighting was on the 12th of July and this year I spotted the first one on the 18th of July. But,it wasn’t a British ladybird larva, it was a harlequin... Read more..