Now that the dark nights are upon us and the days are relentlessly shortening, we find ourselves confined indoors and apt to miss what’s going on in the great outdoors. One animal associated with darkness is the bat and back in September the Teme Valley Wildlife Group enjoyed an excellent evening walk around the walls …
Autumn seems a good time to talk about meadow saffron, a beautiful autumn-flowering plant that I have recently seen an incredibly large swathe of. It is a wild plant with pale pink goblet-shaped flowers held on fragile silvery tube-like stalks that are not actually true stems. Neither, despite its name, is it the saffron familiar …
I have always been addicted to books and despite running out of shelf space long ago I am unable to stop buying more. A volume I couldn’t resist came my way in the summer which is a modern reprint of an 1882 “Glossary of West Worcestershire Words” by Edith L Chamberlain. Many of the words …
When the sun is shining it is a great joy to watch the garden come alive with insects. This year I have been trying to learn a little about shieldbugs and have been pleased to identify five species on my patch. Shaped like a shield, as you might have expected, they also go by the …
The wildlife interest brought by a pond makes it one of the most worthwhile assets that an eco-friendly gardener can create. Our garden pond was dug more than thirty years ago but we continue to be surprised by the range and diversity of both its residents and its visitors. We particularly enjoy the aerial displays …
The Teme Valley Wildlife Group is meeting again at Stoke Bliss and Kyre village hall now that corona virus restrictions have been lifted. One of our speakers has been Nick Dunn from Frank P Matthews Tree Nursery who gave an excellent talk on trees and shrubs for gardens and wildlife. The meeting was well-attended and …
I’m always on the look-out for information about the Teme valley so was interested to read a recent report about a project called “Riverscapes”. It is a partnership between four different trusts, which are The Rivers Trust, The National Trust, The Woodland Trust and The Beaver Trust. Its aim is to promote healthy rivers through …
Last year I wrote about sparrowhawks in one of my articles and had not imagined that I would return to the subject so soon. However a couple of weeks ago I witnessed a sight that I think is worth describing. It happened in the town of Stourport-on-Severn. As I descended a canal bridge on my …
“I’ve heard that Tommy Tittle-mouse lived in a little house” began Beatrix Potter in a nursery rhyme about one of our most loved garden birds. The old word titmouse once applied to the tit family in general, but here she was referring to the long-tailed tit, which does indeed have a splendid little house, woven …
February “fill-dyke” is a good month to stay indoors and avoid the slush and sogginess outside. The topic I have chosen for today’s article can be contemplated indoors and concerns the plants and animals which feature in place names. Some can be obvious; a name such as Ferny Hill needs no explanation. This hillside area …