Compost Hmm. Not the most exciting subject but one that serves many purposes. Here in the UK, recycling is the order of the day in most towns. We are given bins for paper, card & bottles, a bag for plastics, cans & food packaging, a bin for food waste and then, an occasional bag for […]
Archives for October 2014
The Very Hungry Caterpillar…
Caterpillars have always been fascinating to children, & Eric Carle’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar has to be one of the great classics of our time, known by all children & adults. We still have the copy somewhere that my children grew up with, getting on for forty years ago. Now a days, there is […]
Robin Red-Breast
A tiny visitor.. This morning, as I walked through to my kitchen, I thought to myself, ‘good heavens! that bird I can hear flying around sounds very close!’ – I knew I’d left both my front & back doors open. Then I saw him – this tiny Robin flying around my lounge. In South Africa, birds […]
Sea cucumbers poop could save coral reefs!
Woohoo – finally a critter that is not on the endangered list! In fact, they occur all over the world, at all depths and tend to live in such large colonies , often found at 220 individuals per square meter on some parts of the ocean floor. These peculiar creatures look and act very much […]
Up in the clouds…..
I don’t know about you, but for our family, clouds have always held a fascination. As children it was looking for shapes formed by them – dragons, swans, dogs and castles to name but a few. (Still do it, to be honest!) And of course, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ – especially when the […]
My gardening progress update…
Every day, whatever the season or the weather, nature is busy at work growing it’s bounty for us. All through the cold, long days ahead, shrubs will be busily using the energy stored from last season to multiply, and to produce those bulbs that will delight us in the spring with the first glimpse of […]
Blue tits – how can we help them?
I must have been about 7 or 8 years old when I saw a cat attack and kill a Bluetit from neighbours garden. I remember it clearly, I know it was before Jane, my sister, was born when I was 9 and we only moved to that house when I was about 7. Since then, cats, […]
What is special about Barn Owls?
As a family, we have always been fond of owls. Jeremy had a favourite toy called Egg – man which I very unkindly ‘lost’ out of a car window one day! I can’t remember or actually believe I did that but apparently it’s true (I was only three in my defence)! As a result, Owliver was […]
Butterflies – not only beautiful but fascinating as well
I have only ever heard of one person who really does not like butterflies and I must say, I was surprised. A butterfly? What’s not to love about a butterfly? A moth I can kind of understand as it’s not particularly enjoyable to have one flying around your head making noises when the lights go […]
Lightning storms – how do they happen, what to do?
Well, the last 24 hours we’ve had quite a few storms! With thunder and lightning that even tripped our electricity a few times (although to be fair this doesn’t take much of an outside disturbance). Anyway, due to this fairly rare but always memory-provoking and enjoyable occurrence, I thought I’d find out a few interesting facts […]