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  • Explore my ‘titchy urban garden’

Explore my ‘titchy urban garden’

Busy Bloggin’

In This Section

  • General Election 2019: what does it mean for nature?
  • How to work from home – and stay connected to nature
  • Nature Adventures with a Toddler (and beyond!) – Make a Mini Garden
  • Getting Wilder by the Year
  • 25 years of support
  • Nature Adventures with a Toddler (and beyond!)- A Bottle of Nature
  • The Great British Snake Off
  • Wandering the Woodlands
  • Explore my ‘titchy urban garden’
  • The secret world of fungi
  • My wild life: Catherine Downes, member and volunteer
  • Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and overturn this decision?
  • How the birds in our gardens can help us
  • Why is Japanese knotweed such a problem?
  • Nature Adventures with a Toddler (and beyond!) – The Archimedes Challenge
  • The wild thoughts of Christopher Pennell
  • Celebrating wetlands
  • My Scientific Life: Dr Nicky Rivers
  • Why I believe now is the time to take action for insects
  • Are you seeing the big picture when it comes to insect decline?
  • Nature Adventures with a Toddler (and beyond!) – An accidental stick pet!
  • Peatlands
  • Children gift ideas – ditch the toys this Christmas
  • Tips to limit your waste this festive period
  • INCREDIBLE INSECTS
  • Hunting for harvest mice
  • Deciphering the dawn chorus by Nick Acheson
  • Kim’s Story
  • Remember A Charity Week – Debunking legacy myths
  • Dip into the world of dabbling ducks
  • Gardening for wildlife this autumn
  • Gardening for wildlife this autumn
  • Wild and well
  • Be Wild for World Mental Health Day!
  • Nature Adventure – a mindful ‘noticing walk’ with my children
  • Nature Adventures with a Toddler (and beyond!) – Float or sink?
  • Top tips for a sustainable Halloween!
  • Nature Counts
  • Nature Adventures with a Toddler (and beyond!) – Nature’s Crowning Glory
  • Active Amphibians
  • Living with spiders
  • “Protect your sandwiches at all costs!”
  • Natural solutions to the climate crisis
  • Species Spotlight – Butterflies
  • Nature Detectives!
  • Why should we care about disappearing insects? By Professor Dave Goulson
  • Nature Adventures with a Toddler (and beyond!)
  • An opportunity ‘newt’ to be missed

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).

Thank you for exploring my garden with me.

Take care,

Sarah x

Outdoor Learning Officer

For ideas and inspiration for your own #natureadventures see here.

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