rebelrebel:    wildlife

Wildlife

Compared to many people, I'm probably a bit sedentary to be considered a proper wildlife enthusiast, and can easily be persuaded to stay indoors and watch Chris Packham or Bill Oddie and Kate Humble on TV... I used to follow the bird rarity news on Bird News Extra (this is approximately the ornithological equivalent of watching the football on Ceefax) but I let my subscription lapse.

Birds

It's mainly birdwatching that I get excited about. Luckly, given my general laziness, a reasonable selection come to visit our small London garden. I live in a House Sparrow hotspot. We regularly have blue tits, great tits, goldfinches (and valiant pigeons doing hummingbird-like acrobatics) on our feeders. Other regulars: dunnocks, wrens, blackbirds, greenfinches, starlings, magpies and ring-necked parakeets. Less frequent: jay, great spotted woodpecker, sparrowhawk. Very occasionally: goldcrest and chiffchaff.

There are lots of excellent birding spots within range of my home in London (WWT Wetland Centre, Lee Valley Country Park) or near to my friend's home in Chester (Conwy, Martin Mere) that I have visited reasonably often down the years. When we're being organised and slightly energetic, me and my mum go on coach trips with the LNHS and RSPB, to visit places that are further afield.

Waterlife

After many years of wishing, we finally got round to making a tiny wildlife pond in our garden, with about half a dozen resident frogs (and associated tadpoles). There are phenomenal numbers of snails in there too. And everywhere else for that matter. The birds seem to love it.

I've got a slight urge to take up fish-watching... but is this something you can do without becoming an angler? I have no wish to actually catch fish but I would like to be able to encounter these interesting creatures more closely. I remember a TV programme from the early 90s (I think) called "London Wildlife Challenge" where the presenters, including Chris Packham, had to race round the city with a colour pallete and had to match each shade with an occurrence in nature... and if I remember rightly one of the things they found was the orange ring in the eye of a Tench. I'd like to be familiar enough with fish to know their eye colour.

Our Garden

I know this isn't strictly wildlife but it's (mostly) green and pleasant and this seemed as good a place as any to write about it. My usual pattern is to be very enthusiastic about my seedlings, then completely run out of space to grow them on, and put them outdoors way too early so that they get variously finished off by frost, snails, or general overcrowding. I have tried to be a bit more restrained this year. Gradually we have got more and more perennials in the garden which rarely seem to need such urgent remedial action as the annuals and bedding plants I went for in the past. This is a good thing. I still can't be persuaded to give up on my very labour-intensive eccentric tomato varieties though. Even sustaining a snail-related leg injury (true!) in the process of protecting them this year hasn't put me off. My favourite plant for several years running has been Heuchera 'Caramel', though I am also very keen on Heuchera 'Key Lime Pie' and Pelargonium 'Bright Red Blizzard' and Begonia Sutherlandii, and... about half the plants in the garden, come to think of it. A few old faves didn't make it through last winter: Mimulus 'Highland Orange', Chocolate Cosmos, and Geum 'Cooky', I salute you.