Explore my 'titchy urban garden' - Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust

I’ve got a titchy garden in a really urban area of Sheffield so I wasn’t feeling hopeful about my own nature adventures. But….I thought I’d investigate if there was anything interesting to find.

Excitement, I’ve seen my first butterflies in the garden today (they were too fast for me to identify or photograph) as well as a couple of huge bees whizzing past the window at top speed.

Next stop, the wormery was bound to have something interesting. It was all worms worms worms unsurprisingly, although I was pleased to see lots of lovely compost had formed whilst my back has been turned this winter. It’s a great way of using kitchen waste if, like me, you don’t have a green bin.

Ladybird. The sun was so bright, illuminating my first ladybird spotted resting on my tiny apple tree, presumably either basking in the warmth or waiting around to find a delicious aphid for lunch. Definitely to be encouraged to keep the tiny tree pest free. This is a seven-spot ladybird, common in the UK.

Bent cane. This raspberry cane is just weird. The brilliant c-shaped growth is what happens when you sling your Christmas tree into the garden to deal with later, then life springs up and has to adapt to get around the fallen trunk… I hope it’s a good year for the raspberries!

Leaf decay and skeleton on hand (see pictures at bottom of post). I’m a sucker for a leaf skeleton, they are just so beautiful I almost can’t believe they’re real. I found this one first, then dug a bit deeper to find the full range. These are ivy leaves are all in various states of decay. They had to be damp and sheltered enough to let the bacteria get to work on the flesh, but just enough so the amazing veins are still intact.

Anybody home. Bee house! Full disclosure, I’ve never seen a bee anywhere near it but there are lots of spiders webs so at least something has been using it, and maybe there are creatures like ladybirds overwintering in there. I won’t disturb it to check though. It is a home that I bought, but on a stormy day a couple of years ago all the little cylinders blew away. I improvised it repair by putting back in what I could find, plus a few bits of old broken up garden cane and a couple of sprigs of yet another old Christmas tree.

Snail on wreath. Clearly my garden housekeeping leaves a lot to be desired, this is the wreath I made at Christmas (another thing slung on the heap to decay). It is still very much intact, even the holly berries are still red, but on closer inspection I found this lovely snail who was enjoying the fruits of my laziness, plus another on a piece of bark I found (no idea how that go there, there are no trees around).