The weather has cooled after the mini-heatwave in August, but those hot, sunny days promoted a rise in insect numbers. If you are still swatting flies and wasps in your home, you might like to consider a little biological control in the form of plants. Some flowers and foliage give off an aroma that bugs would rather avoid. Fill your windowsills and kitchens with pots or vases of the following in order to help deter insects.
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Are slugs and snails having a feast at your expense?
It’s summer time and slugfest has started! In these day of enlightenment (or an awakening of common sense), it would be encouraging to hope that most people have sealed their poisonous pots for good. But how do you stop slugs and snails (not to mention vine weevils and lily beetles) from decimating your patch of paradise?
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Do these baby birds need your help?
It’s part of the summer scene: parents and babies outdoors enjoying the weather. Human babies and small children need to be supervised at all times, but if you’re an animal such as a bird, a rabbit, a fox or a deer fawn, you have nature as your guide. It’s entirely natural for bird babies to fledge, i.e. to leave their nest once they are fully feathered, then learn to fly and survive in the big open world. What they don’t usually need is human intervention. This is sometimes difficult. You find a fledgling in the garden, hopping around and looking vulnerable. It’s tempting to interfere.
Twitter, Tweets and wild birds in your garden. Is there a connection?
We all know that a tweet is a sound coming from a bird, rather than characters originating from a digital device. Right? The majority of the younger generation wouldnt agree. Tweets are part of Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams idea for what was originally a short message service communications system. A bit like texting, but for groups. In the 12 years or so since Twitter was created, the number of active users has risen to around 336 million each month, making it one of the biggest social networks. This bald eagle (below) would be a wonderful sight to see in the wild!
Read moreChristmas is about to take centre stage andit's good for the soul to rejoice in positive sights, sounds and celebrations. So let's not forget those that are taking place all around, unaided by LEDs. Nature has its own #festivedisplay which doesnt need to cycle through various flashy patterns in order to impress. Whats more, berried bushes are for life, not just for Christmas. There are many wild creatures that depend upon the feast during deepest, darkest December.
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