Garden Tool Set

Once upon a time I wrote a blog post about frog spawn. I'd never seen it - ever - in real life, but this year managed to not only see it, but follow the journey from frog spawn to froglet that these amphibians make.

It was interesting to see how developed the tadpoles become within the spawn.
Lots of tadpoles where hiding from predators in the grassy shallows of the pond.
By mid-June the majority of the development was done. This froglet has just a small amount of tadpole tail left, but other than that it is a frog.

On Friday 30th May, Lucy and myself got married! We had a wonderful and lovely day surrounded by our closest family. We had a short honeymoon in Dorset, which has given me lots of ideas to blog about!



As things become a bit more settled, I hope to return to some sort of blogging routine - and importantly getting back into reading the blogs that I follow. Until then, I hope that you're all well and enjoying the year!

Best wishes,
Tim

I've always enjoyed raking. It's one of those tasks that give immediate gratification because every pass you make with the rake shows you the positive affect that you're making. Whether it be those pesky autumn leaves that look beautiful with their rusty colours up in the tree; but that can look like a mass of brown sludge when fallen, or grass or indeed the gravel of a wonderful Japanese garden - everything looks noticeably better when the raking is done.

I'd never noticed before, how raking allows your thoughts to be free and wander through a garden of their own making. Because raking can be carried out on auto pilot, this freedom can be accessed immediately - often with results in the mind that mirror the results of the raking.

Now I've recognised this added benefit of the simple task of raking, I look forward to it more and more. A big part of the task for the Living Churchyard Project that we're a part of is raking up grass and it's what I'll be doing again this coming Saturday followed, I'm sure, by a lovely cup of tea! I'm looking forward to the thoughts that will flow freely through my mind during this time as much as I'm looking forward to the task itself. Such is the wonder of gardening; such is the wonder of nature.

Very kindly Mike Burns is giving away his ebook this weekend. I downloaded it and read it, so as a thank you I thought it only fair to write a review.

I downloaded this book this evening and read it in-between doing some tasks I needed to do. The whole thing took about an hour to read. Words and a lot of white space.

You might think that I separated the reading of the book with tasks because I found the book boring, but that's not the case. This book inspired me to get me tasks done. That's because the first part of this book makes the case for a simpler life. Mike writes about something that is becoming a mantra for me, leaving things better than you found them. I originally read about this on becomingminimalist.com, the quote being “My goal is to leave the room just a little bit nicer for the next person.”. That post is definitely worth reading and you can do so here Leaving the World a Little Better.

You might also think that a book that can be read in an hour doesn't have much to say. That words surrounded by a lot of white space may be quite empty. However, while it took me a while to get used to the white space, I feel that it was a good move by the author. The second part of the book contains practical tips for decluttering, which is where the white space comes into its' own. Each tip or short paragraph within the book being separated by white space allows each important nugget of information to be digested before moving on to the next piece. I guess you could call it a minimalist approach - and, indeed, minimalism is something that's written about in this book.

The book is brief and it would be fair to say that if you've been around minimalism and decluttering for a while, there's not likely to be anything new for you in this book. The information and great tips can be found all over the internet. But, importantly, they can be found here - all in one place.

I think the way the book has been written was well thought out. There's enough in here to get you started and it's written with obvious passion that will encourage you to begin straight away.

I don't know how much this ebook will cost after this weekend, but I can say that Mike was very generous to give his book away and if you're interested in getting into minimalism and focussing on what's important in your life, then it would be a mistake to miss out. Download your copy here: Simpler: Declutter Your Life and Focus on What's Most Important

Own or Loan:         Own
Read Again:           Yes
Recommend:          Yes
Overall out of Five: 3

Aren't we lucky.

All we have to do to maintain our water supply through the previous 2 years of drought conditions is to just not use our hose pipes. Looking back in time human populations would have to adapt to a severe lack of water - or move on. Some people in the world still do have to move on and there are many animal populations that have migratory patterns that are driven by the search for water, such as the majestic elephant.



Sometimes from the ones that haven't taken the recent opportunity to collect as much water as possible with the wonderful water dump that April brought us! I know that there are many reasons why people either didn't have the time or the resources, but like the saying goes 'if you don't vote, you can't complain' (I don't know if that is an actual saying, but I've heard similar!). Our smallest watering can is about half a litre - but it's better than nothing. Luckily we have a water butt, a bucket and a standard watering can - so we're all good on the water front.

There are now adverts on the radio saying that it was great that we had loads of rainfall in April, but we've 2 years of rainfall to catch up on. So how much rainfall did we actually have in April and how does this compare to the previous 2 years?

Well when looking at climate, an averaging period is used. The averaging period is always a 30 year period and currently this is 1971-2000. The next averaging period will be 1981-2010 and the Met Office advise that they should be moving across to this during 2012.

The Met Office gives the total rainfall in 2010 of 951 mm which was 84% of the average rainfall recorded during the current 1971-2000 averaging period. In 2011 the average looks better at 1166 mm, which over the whole of the UK is 104% of the average. But the 2011 average masks the fact that most of the UK had less than 95% of the average, with Scotland and Northern Ireland being the main places that had from 100% up to over 135% of the average when looking at the climate data of 1971-2000. Therefore looking at 2010 and 2011, 2117 mm of rain fell on our wonderful country of countries.

April 2012 saw 126.5 mm fall, which is nearly 6% of the total rain that fell in 2010 and 2011!

A thunder storm that we had during the incessant April rain.

So we can see that a lot of rainfall has occurred recently - but unfortunately the rain doesn't all fall into the resevours. The water from rainfall contributes to many aspects of the geology that it falls on and the Environment Agency look at the following when reporting on the data received:

1. Rainfall - Simply the amount of rain that fell during the reporting period.
2. Soil moisture deficit - As I understand it, this is the amount of water soil can hold without gravity forcing the water out at the bottom.
3. River flows - How high of low the flow of water in the rivers are, for instance if the flow is low or high, along with the % compared to the averaging period.
4. Groundwater levels - This is water that is held in spaces between the soil and fractures in the rock formations. This is the mineral water that you buy by the bottle for an extortionate amount of money!
5. Reservoir stocks - last but not least the amount of water available in the reservoirs for our use. These are the artificial lakes that are created - sometimes by damming a river valley.

As we can see, if any of the above have levels that are too low, then rainfall may be naturally diverted to create an equilibrium, especially with the river levels, groundwater and the reservoir levels. Until this happens, we'll be in drought. And yes, it's a bit annoying. But as long as we think about the water we're using and ensure we keep it to a comfortable minimum then we'll be fine.

On the positive side - in times of drought it's best to leave the grass longer between cuts - can't ask for better than that!


To see the data for yourself, click the following link to the Environmental Agency.

One of Darwin's many experiments was letting a square of grass grow and counting the species. Here: daisy, buttercup, and selfheal in the grass.

Written by Michael Boulter, this book is a carefully balanced study into the life and times of Charles Darwin as well as the science that developed after him.

The book places itself at Down House, the house that Darwin and his family moved into in the September of 1842. The first chapter deals swiftly with his life prior to moving to Downe.

We follow Darwin as he creates in the garden around the house and not only develops a wonderful place for his family to live and grow, but also an ideal setting for his many experiments. To help us orientate ourselves as we visit Down House, the author presents us with two maps. The first being the house with the land surrounding it, the second being a details floor plan of the ground floor.

From pigeons to primroses and from parsley to plant breeding, we can get a real sense of the calm and tranquillity that Darwin must have felt at home away from the stress of London - but also the excitement that came with discovery.

I hadn't realised that Darwin had written a sketch of his ideas about natural selection, never mind a whole book, called 'The Big Species Book' eventually published in 1975, about the topic years before the publication of Origins. After Wallace had sent that fated and famous letter to Darwin explaining his ideas of natural selection, Darwin was eager to get the book written - but it was taking longer than he liked. Boulter has a knack of getting to the heart of things and revealing Darwin at his most fragile, as in the letter Darwin wrote to Hooker stating: "so slow do I work, though never idle".

Of the many things that I didn't know, but now do, the X club was one of the most interesting. A club that had 9 members, of which Darwin may have been the secret tenth member. It seems that way as three of the members, along with Darwin, wrote books putting humans in their evolutionary place in the latter years of Darwin's life. It was also the members of the X club that ensured that Darwin was buried in what they considered his rightful place: Westminster Abbey - the burial place along with other British greats like Newton, Kipling and Livingstone.

At around the half way point of the book, we have a selection of plates in grayscale. Some of the house, others of people central to Darwins story and the science he inspired - it's always nice to put a face to a name.


The second part of the book focuses on the science that happened after Darwin. But Boulter always weaves the story back to the house and back to topics and thoughts that Darwin had. Such as Darwin's gemmules, his idea of the gene, which during his lifetime, but unknown to him had been investigated by Mendel - but which Darwin failed to find real evidence of.

The author also puts names to some of the science that we take for granted today. Scientists that first wrote of a primordial soup or of iceball earth.

We see that Darwin never stretched any idea too far and would only do as far as current facts and knowledge went. With that said, it's always nice to see when a great person is humble enough to accept ideas even when it was thought of by another. When Marquis de Saporta wrote about flowering plants not developing until sucking insects evolved, Darwin wrote to him in wonderful honesty saying that it had never occurred to him. It's a feeling of 'how obvious' that we've all felt at one time or another:

This is a well written book; the first I've read about Darwin. It's fascinating how the author has been able to create a book that goes around the world and deep into the sciences, yet brings it all back cohesively to Darwin's garden. Well worth your time!

Having plants indoors can be a wonderful thing, especially when they are arranged with care and understanding of what the plants need to thrive. And when plants thrive, we thrive. Because they not only look fabulous, but they can soften the hard lines and materials that we use to build our living spaces and can provide many benefits to our health. 
As well as being a wonderful focus as you enter or look around a room, plants are very good at controlling humidity. This can be beneficial because a low humidity environment can increase the likelihood of developing viral infections with high humidity leading to mold and mildew and the health issues that these can bring with them.

Plants not only bring interest where ever they are situated, but as they photosynthesise they also create the rather useful byproduct of oxygen. In addition to this, many plants are well known to remove airborne contaminants that can cause us headaches and nausea. For a handy list of the most beneficial plants; see here.

It has also been shown that caring for plants can improve and maintain mental health. From looking after the plants, which gives us a purpose; to enjoying watching the plant thrive as it goes through its life cycle - certainly great therapy.

While it can be difficult to find the right spot for a plant, for instance: direct sunlight or very low light areas; it's worth doing a bit of research before you go out to buy some plants. This will save you time, because you'll know which plants are suited to the places you have available, rather than the frustration of trying to make a plant live where it's not suited (trust me...I know!).

Thank you to my parents for providing such good displays for this post. :)

While I've had this blog from March 2010, with a first blog post from my friend Mark; I didn't start posting until mid-2011. Even then posting was sporadic and it took a long time until I felt comfortable with what I was posting on the blog. I guess it took a long time for me to realise that, while I enjoy seeing that people read and comment on my posts, at the end of the day I would still be posting even if nobody was looking.

I realised that this is my diary. While there are certain topics that I want people to know that I will definitely post about; there are times when I diverge and post something just for fun or out of interest. For me, this blog documents my journey into the wonders of the natural world and I'm really glad that I can also share the journey with you all.

Ever since the beginning of 2012, when I first realised my interest in plants; I've used the blog as a digital herbarium, maintaining the adage "Take only pictures, leave only footprints". As my inquiries into plants deepens, I gain ever more respect for the natural world and the awesome ways it evolves to face the challenges of life. I hope to share ever more information and eventually knowledge with you all - not only in the hope that you'll learn something new and interesting; but also so you can correct me when I'm wildly off the mark!

I recently went down to 5 posts per week to ensure I was only posting 'the good stuff'. In addition, I'm going to try something that I haven't done before. I'm going to try a couple of weekly features. The first will be called "Word day Thursday", where I take a word from my newly acquired Oxford Dictionary of Plant Sciences and do a bit of research about the history of the word and its application. The second will be my 500th post and will be called "Five Fact Friday" whereby I'll round off the week's posts with five facts about a particular topic.

While I shall endeavour to ensure a weekly frequency; regular readers will know that I have a 'black dog', so sometimes I need to switch off for a while.

Thanks for reading so far - hopefully the best is yet to come :)

Sadly we’re getting ever nearer to the end of the series, with only one episode following the adventures and experiments in the Yorkshire Dales. Excitingly though, I chanced upon the book at my local library, so will be reading that over the next few weeks – with a review to come.

I have to agree with Chris that the Yorkshire Dales are beautiful. In the novel The Secret Garden, we were lead to believe that the Yorkshire Dales were a dull and dreary place. But Dickon must have gotten its knowledge from somewhere – and this episode shows us just some of the plentiful wild things on offer.

Following Chris to a farm, we see him counting the petals of creeping buttercup flowers. He explains that the breeding between the buttercups in the field cause a genetic mutation that means around every 7 years a buttercup with an extra petal is born. Counting over 20 buttercups in this meadow with 6 petals, Chris calculates that the field has been undisturbed for over 140 years. With this mutation only occurring in undisturbed fields, we can see on the maps that due to our farming methods, we have lost some of these fields over time. Chris follows this up with a cool experiment, first showing us flowers through a series of photographs in ultra violet to show us how bees see the plants. The fun part is when Chris remotely controls a small helicopter with the UV camera attached, viewing through some cool head gear – the point is to see how amazing the fields look in UV and how the yellow of the buttercups really stands out.

Next we visit Sally and learn some really awesome stuff about lichens – particularly how different lichens can tell us about the environment that they live in (click here to see the lichens that the Opal air survey are recording. Sally explains that by looking at the small things, we can see the bigger picture. The pixie cup lichen which makes water bounce off the cup spreading its spores. Other lichens such as the Caloplaca tells us that the air is clean. Other lichens can tell us that the substrate, in this case the wall, is limestone. The Xanthoria can tell us that the air is nitrogen rich, a by-product of exhaust fumes and fertiliser.

We then follow Trevor on a mission to see the very rare Lady’s Slipper orchid at a super secret location. When this Orchid is in flower, it receives 24 hour protection – a shame that it has to be done; but wonderful that it is done. Hunted to death by collectors by 1917, a single specimen was found on a Yorkshire hillside in 1930. Trevor’s enthusiasm is clear to see and clearer to understand when we see the beautiful flower that is produced (no sooner than 15 years after germinating). We then see Trevor hand pollinating the orchid to assist in ensuring the survival of this orchid. As with many orchids, the pollination method is intricate with the bee having to follow a route through the flower to ensure that the pollen is collected and then passed on.

After such as serious episode last week, it’s nice to see some lighthearted experiments. We see Sally and a brass band explaining how the bees use sound. We find that the bees flap their wings 168 times a second to heat up the hive and evaporate the water held in the nectar. We find that the musical note is an ‘E’, which is 158 hertz and copied by the band to really illustrate the point.

Excited, but saddened, that the next episode will close of this series. I can’t see how this series wouldn’t inspire anyone that watches it to get out there and look at the ‘wild things’ all around us. Hopefully there are lots of kids out there watching – the next generation of plant scientists.

The idea of this blog post have been sat in my head for a while now. Seeing the 'What to expect on Loose and Leafy' post and that it's World Mental Health Day has spurred me into action.

If you follow my blog you've probably noticed that for a blog entitled notes of nature, there aren't many notes! There are lots of photos and some basic information, then once in a while there will be an attempt at a note, either scientific or nature writing. There's a reason why the blog has a high ratio of photos compared to writing.

As some of you many know, in January 2012 the world stopped, well my world stopped. I woke up one morning and I literally couldn't do anything. Well I managed to get my shirt on for work, but couldn't manage the tie. Incredibly disappointed with myself, I called work and told them I couldn't come in today. My girlfriend (now fiancée *yay*), Lucy, managed to get me in at the doctors and took me there. The doctor immediately signed me off.

Over the next few weeks nothing happened. I couldn't do anything. Physically and mentally drained and in lots of pain. My doctor diagnosed me with depression. After more time, I underwent counselling and then CBT for many months. Here's the graph that shows the results to answers to the standard questionnaires that are required to be filled in after each session.
The graph shows my social phobia (at the top) and depression (at the bottom) scores. For depression I'm told it shows my going from major depression to mild depression. With CBT and finding (after many attempts) the right medication, I've been able to stabilise at mild depression.

One of the things that helped me find inspiration for life again was taking photographs of flowers. I don't really know what made me start, but after a while it was all I could think about. I couldn't drive any more due to fatigue and headaches, so I would spend every car journey looking out at the road verges for flowers. This led to a passion for plants; photographing them, identifying them, and learning about their biology.

As the depression stabilised the tiredness and pain continued. To cut the story short, I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia. So I have regular appointments for physio, occupational therapy, and check ups. I feel positive that I can manage this and get back to a 'normal' life. I can't wait to get back to work and have a family - I want this to happen - managing fibromyalgia and the depression is the priority. I've found that when I replace them with other priorities - I fall back: badly.

It's a lesson I've had to learn a few times.

So, back to the focus of the blog post: what to expect on Notes of Nature.


1) Mainly photographs: Photo posts use much less energy and make me feel productive. Most of my photographs are from months ago - before all of my fibromyalgia-related appointments and starting a part-time AAT course. I will try to take some new photographs soon, but will keep posting the old ones until I run out.
2) Expect some gaps in posting. Some would say that's a good thing! When my photographs run out, I will try to make some profiles for the plants already on the blog - but this will take time.
3) Book reviews: As I can manage the fibromyalgia better I will be able to read more nature and plant books and will review them as I have in the past.
4) Science writing: I will try to write four posts per year on plant science - I've already done my four for this year, so the next will be in the first quarter of 2014. If you have any suggestions - let me know in the comments!
5) Desktop calendar photos: Jessica Burke who writes the Moss Plants and More blog makes calendar images from her moss photographs and I hope she won't mind if I do the same with my plant photographs. We're already into October, but I'll post one for this month anyway - to get me going!
6) Nature writing: As I am able to get out more again,I'll blog about some of the places I go. Sometimes it may well be a post about something nature I see down the street - but sometimes they're the most interesting places!

I think that's about it. I've probably missed something, but if so I'll make a new post and link back to this!

If you've got this far - thank you - while I always feel I'd continue the blog even if nobody reads it, it's always so nice and appreciated when people comment.

For more information on depression, see this video:
For more information on fibromyalgia, see this video:

This week a very exciting mission began at Antarctica. The search for life 3km under the surface of the ice. While we may have some headlines in the near future, the scientific papers that will detail the findings are not likely to be published until late 2013. Exciting times.

More on the mission here:

Here's a nice easy going book that I loaned from our local library. It's a compilation of Alan's articles in the Gardener's World magazine.

Now with all authors that write about themselves, it takes me a while to decide if I like their writing style and to some degree, if I like them. But with a third of the book gone and the rest on its way to being devoured, I decided that I do like this Titchmarsh lad. I thought I did, after seeing him on Gardener's World and Ground Force for all those years, but now I know for sure.

The book is chaptered off in months, I assume it's to group the articles into the month they were written! It starts in January with Alan talking about gaining wisdom in the garden as we age and ends in December with Alan talking about Christmas during his Parks Department days.

I think you've got to get on with Mr. Titchmarsh if you're to read this book, because really it's a sort of diary. We come across some of the same topics a few times in the book, for instance, those Parks Department days, and the 'sons and daughters of the soil' line, but it's a nice easy read about a topic I enjoy: gardening. There are a couple of fun articles about the meaning of flower names and a brilliant one about his mum and the Duchess of Devonshire, simply entitled 'Mum'.

There are some nice line-drawn ilustrations that head the article titles, these are rotated through the book and don't always correlate with the topic, but are a nice distraction if you need a break inbetween readings!

If you can get it at your library, then I'd suggest giving this a read. It's not going to blow you're mind with life changing revelations, but I don't think the book was compiled for that. It was compiled to give one man's view on the state of affairs that come with gardening. It helps that he's a good writer and adds a dash of humour every now and then. Overall a nice easy read inbetween deeper reading material!


 

This was the best present that I ever bought for Lucy. I'm not sure she's ever actually looked in it, but I certainly have. I spent Spring 2011 reading it during lunch breaks and managed to get around 150 pages in before other things took over my time.

What do I like about this book? I like that it's a general all-rounder, with a breadth of topics and also what it covers within a topic. Take, for instance, Roses. The book begins with buying roses, moves on to planting roses and routine care, before discussing bush roses, climbing and rambling roses, species and shrub roses, and standard roses. Then to finish the topic of roses, the book discusses rose renovation and rose pests and diseases.

I also like the wonderful illustrations of the techniques described, they really make this book something special. An example being all of the illustrations for pruning all the different types of plants in the book, they're all unique. They show you exactly where to chop and how to train that plant. Mixed in are photographs of plants and flowers, which are also sometimes used to illuminate the topic further, as well as for interest.

The book covers the following general topics, there are sub-topics within them, but you'll have to search them out as I only have so much time to copy this list out!!

1. Gardening Basics
2. Wildlife Gardening
3. Ornamental Gardening
4. Growing Vegetables and Herbs
5. Growing Fruit
6. Lawns
7. Water Gardening
8. Container Gardening
9. Gardening Under Glass
10. Plant Propogation

I also like this book because it took a team of about 15 experts in their field to create it. Meaning that you get the best of the current information at the time of print.

But this leads me on to what I don't like about the book. With so many cooks in the kitchen, or more aptly so many gardeners in the greenhouse, the book does lack personality. I know that they have to choose a house style for the book and stick to it chapter after chapter, but it was a bit much for me at times. I have read a heafty chuck of this 480 page book, which is why I go back to it time and time again - because while I may not remember something specific, I remember the information I need is in this book. So for that, it's a go-er for me. I'll just dip in and out over time and get through it - the book's too useful not to.

My review is of the 2008 edition and I've noticed that there is a new edition coming in October 2012, so I've added that to the Amazon widget below too.


 

Lucy over at Loose and Leafy posted about things she'd learned about in the last year and I thought I'd do a short post about what I've discovered in the last year too. To see Lucy's post pop over to her brilliant blog: http://looseandleafy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/what-i-have-learnt-through-year.html

 Mid-January last year I was signed off work with work-related stress, which was later diagnosed as depression and anxiety. For much of the year I rarely left the house, but found that I had an interest in flowers. Much of this blog is a testament to that interest.

I've discovered the people in my life that are real and that are there for me even though they may not have understood how ill I was. When I'm better, these are the people that I'll share my success with.

I've discovered that I have an even more wonderful girlfriend than I thought I had. Without whom I don't know what would have happened to me over the past year. If living with someone with depression wasn't bad enough, she was wonderful in looking after me when I suffered with appendicitis and began the road to recovery from that.

I've discovered that I can live on very little money without losing any comfort. Luckily Lucy and I have been on the same page with this and have budgeted so well that it takes less than 1 wage for us both to life. This has made me more confident with money and has made the ESA money stretch very far indeed.

I have discovered a new found trust in people. When my employer sacked me for being signed off work, it was the people at the job centre that told me I was too ill to work and that I should apply for ESA. My doctor has been great at supporting me and I've been lucky that my ESA assessment result allowed me time to recover.

I've discovered a wonderful interest, not only in photographing flowers, but in understanding them much better. I've watched many documentaries and lectures about plants and botany and even completed a short module with the Open University about Plants and People.

I discovered that I really like decluttering and being more minimal. This has meant many items being sold or given to charity shops so that others can get some use out of the things we longer have room for in our lives.

I discovered that I like cats! We have our own cat now called Toby. He's blind, mostly deaf and totally toothless; but he's brilliant and has brought much joy into our lives.

I've discovered that even in my darkest days, I am comfortable in my own company. That is a blessing as I rarely have any wish to spend time with many people. So while I'm not 100% yet, I do feel that I'm on my way.

Thank you to all those that have supported me, it was very important to me. And while from the outside it may have looked like I was wasting time or that my life had gone off the rails - I was actually very ill. Yet, I have achieved many things in the past year. It was done without some whom I had thought would be here, but has brought me much closer to those that were.

Thank you to everyone for my lessons and to those that read my blog. Happy 2012.

This glossy coffee table book, full of wonderful photography and stories of the wildlife that we have enjoyed watching on our TV screens for the past 6 weeks.

The book asks us to think again if we know Africa. And true enough, there is much to be understood and re-learned as scientists, along with conservationists and the local people, find out ever more about the wildlife throughout Africa.

The book is chaptered off to match the episodes of the television series: Kalahari, Savannah, Congo, Cape, Sahara, and The Future. There are two additional chapters, the first being chapter 8 which is a compilation of Behind the scenes stories and the final chapter is entitled Discover Africa. This chapter advises us on the places to go to watch the wildlife in Africa.

The photography, as you would expect with a BBC Wildlife book, is sublime. A particular favourite is that of the face of a rhino with a near-full moon in the background. Along with the stories of the TV series, there are additional stories within the book, along with a lot of additional information which really enrich what we heard and saw in the series. However, some of these additional stories are a gift and a curse, as they often talk about species you may not have heard of or seen, but do not provide photos. Therefore, we have to go off and do some research of our own to get the full story - but if you have the time this is again worthwhile. The subtitle of the book is 'Eye to eye with the unknown', in the book this is presented as double page spreads of spectacular behaviours of wildlife. A great example is that of the banana frogs depositing fertilised eggs on a leaf to await a heavy downpour to develop.

The book is apparently one of the first to introduce the technology whereby you download an app. With this app you take captures of certain photos in the book which then presents a short video clip of the wildlife in question. I felt that this was a massively missed opportunity as we were only presented with very short bits of footage we'd seen during the series with additional background music. However, it is fantastic that the BBC and their partners do keep up with technology and hopefully in future books this will be developed further.

All in all, a fantastic book. I really enjoyed reading it and would encourage you to loan it from your local library or to purchase it for your collection.


 

The passion flower is not a native of the UK and until recently they haven't done too well in our climate, as botanist Trevor Dines explained in the third episode of Wild Things earlier this year.

So imagine our surprise when one popped out of nowhere and started growing right under our living room window! I didn't know what it was when all we could see were leaves, so we allowed it to grow hoping that it would flower - which would then help us to identify it and see if it's a plant we wanted to keep.

A lovely floral display from our passion flower this year.

We did wonder how it came to be in our garden in the first place and suspected that perhaps one of the previous owners had planted it. It's the ideal location with the front of the house being the southern-most facing.

Then Lucy happened upon an old photograph from an estate agent website. So we then thought that the people we bought the house from had hacked the plant down as there was no sign of it when we viewed the house or in the estate agent listing when we bought it. And that it was planted by the owners previous to them. As you can see in the photograph it used to be well established.

Passion flower far right.

Our suspicions we proved correct when we were chatting to a lovely lady that walks her dog past our house. She told us that the passion flower was very vigorous and used to grow all the way down the grass!

Being happy to keep it, but not to let it get out of control, I fastened some wire to the front of the house earlier this year. This allowed the plant to grow up to the window and be a nice cover for the wall under the window. We've then kept pruning it back when it gets a bit too much! This way it will also be easy to cut out old stems and have the new stems held in place by the wire as they grow.

Either about to open or about to close!

The passion flower has been superb this year and the flowers even went to fruit, which was fun to watch. The fruit begins green, but over time, turns to orange. I think that this makes it a plant of real interest, first the flowers and then the fruit, all through summer.


As Trevor Dines mentioned that it was edible, I took one of the fruits inside. It's a really interesting fruit to look at when it's opened, revealing lots of seeds surrounded by a sticky liquid! I did try some raw, but as is mentioned all over the Internet - it's not a nice flavour and not an experiment I'll try again. Apparently the flower can be used to make a tea that alleviates anxiety.

The ripe fruit cut in half.

As our house is a 1970s build, there is no real history and it's the same as every other house on the street. So it was quite nice finding out something of interest in the history of the house - especially because it's plant related.

Thanks for reading.

Nearly 2 months ago my wife and I found out that she was pregnant!

We code named the baby "Meeple" after our love of boardgames, so that we could talk about the baby without anyone knowing! However, that didn't last too long as my wife came down with severe pregnancy sickness. This has meant that she's been bed bound for around 6 weeks and has lost nearly 2 stone in weight.

The pregnancy sickness seems to be calming down now and we had the 12 week scan last night and were happy to find that everything is progressing as it should! Our little meeple was very active and this meant that we got to see him/her for at least 10 minutes while the nurse tried to get the required measurements. In between these periods of activity, meeple would turn over and go to sleep - which turned out to be very unhelpful!

The benefit of the pregnancy sickness was that we got to see our little meeple at around 7 weeks as the GP needed to check that everything was ok and to find out if it was a multiple pregnancy that was causing the severity of the sickness. By last night the 7 week scan seemed like such a long time ago! It was wonderful to see meeple's heart beating away and to see such active movement.

Now is the wait until the 20 week scan and then finally the birth! We've been given a due date of 26 April.

Earthworm or bookworm!?

Sometimes I'm reading a book - or attempting to - and it's just a real effort to pull myself away from whatever I'm doing, even the most tedious task to sit down and plough through the pages.

This book, however, is absolutely magical. The Washington Post say that this book is 'an enjoyable, enlightening educational experience'. I not only applaud the excellent example of alliteration, but wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment.
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