I was lucky enough to get a picture of this lovely dragonfly in my garden the other day whilst it was resting on a branch. We get a lot of dragonflies in our garden but this is by far the biggest one I have seen this year. Google suggests its a Golden Ringed Dragonfly.
Category: Environment
Lord Sackville’s Private Gardens at Knole House
We recently visited Lord Sackville’s private gardens at Knole House. The gardens are only open a few days each year and need to be booked in advance on the National Trust website for an additional fee. This is the second time we have looked around them, the first being last August when unfortunately we were…
Hikers Should Check for Ticks as Virus is Found in the UK
We do a lot of walking so I was interested to read this article which says tick-borne encephalitis virus has been found in the UK. The virus is normally found in Europe but has recently been confirmed in a man in Yorkshire. Hikers and mountain bikers have been urged to check for ticks and look…
New Bird Table
The old bird table which was here when we moved into our house around 15 years has served us well but following a series of unfortunate accidents both weather and cat related it was looking increasingly battered. I purchased this new one recently from the RSPB website. I took it out of the box today…
Frog Spawn
One of the first signs of spring for me is always the arrival of the frogs. Normally we see them in the pond mid February with the first spawn arriving soon after. They are a bit late this year but seem undeterred by the recent snow. The first frog spawn finally arrived this week, so…
Kent Wildlife Trust
I recently became a member of the Kent Wildlife Trust after seeing one of their stands outside the Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve on a recent visit. I was unaware of the organisation and what they do and was interested to see all of the projects they are involved in. They work with local communities, landowners and…
Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve
We needed some outdoor time today so took a walk to Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve. The reserve is located on the site of an old gravel quarry, leased from Tarmac which has been developed for nature conservation. There are 2 main routes you can choose around the reserve, the walk around the West Lake and the…
Fish Tank Herb Garden
If you want to make the most of your limited space this combined fish tank and herb garden could be useful. I have seen similar products before. This one uses the dirty waste waster produced by the fish to help fertilise the herbs. The plants in turn help to clean the water in the tank.
Hayfever Season to Start Early
Says this article which suggests hay fever sufferers are going to have a a bad time this year. It seems that climate changes will see the hay fever season start three or four weeks earlier than usual. In particular the birch pollen season is likely to start earlier probably by the end of this month…
Egham Flooding
As someone who used to live in Egham I have been following the news of the recent floods there with interest. When I lived in the area my house was of little or no risk of flooding but 7 years on this appears to have changed. If it hasn’t been flooded I will be very…