It's Chrisssstmaaaaassss!
And so I thought I'd delve into my photo archive from the year and bring you a little Gardening for Wildlife Picture Quiz to accompany your latest glass of port or egg nog.
You've got fifteen questions - five on birds, five other creatures, and five plant-based questions. And each set of five gets a little bit harder as you go through them.
So, if you're ready, here goes (with answers at the foot of the blog):
1. Nice and simple, to ease you in: what was this sat outside my lounge window?
2. Ok, perhaps a bit trickier: what's this garden bird?
3. Before you think this is getting really easy, I don't want to know that this is a Great Tit - I want to know if it is a male or female.
4. Yes, this is a Chaffinch. But what is the name of the terrible disease that is thought to be affecting Chaffinches and Greenfinches at the moment (and is the reason we should all keep our feeders and birdbaths squeaky clean)?
5. We all love the Wren, but what is its scientific name, and what does it mean?
6. Ok, easy again. What is the name of this gorgeous, raggedy-winged butterfly? There's a clue in the middle of the question!
7. A bit of multichoice: is this a type of moth, fly or beetle?
8. This is the Batman Hoverfly, a common species found in gardens. But where do its larvae live?
9. This one could be a stinker for anyone who just calls white butterflies 'cabbage whites'! We've got three types of white butterfly commonly found in gardens - Small White, Large White and Green-veined White. So which one is this?
10. And finally on the non-birds, the plant is Nettle-leaved Bellflower, but what is the name of the tiny bee perched on the edge of the lower flower?
11. Onto some flower-power photos. Another simple question to ease you in - what is this easy-to-grow herb with an aniseed flavour whose flowers are great for hoverflies?
12. This is a really easy-to-grow annual that you might find listed as Limnanthes, but what is its common name that sounds more like something you'd have for breakfast? The colours on the petals are a great clue.
13. These are the seedpods of a plant known as 'the meadow maker'. What do we more normally know it as?
14. This is one of my very favourite natve wildflowers for attracting nectaring butterflies. Its name joins together two other unrelated plant names. What is it?
15. And, finally, this is a glorious woodland flower that is loved by bumblebees. It grows to about a foot high, and this is a garden cultivar called Catlin's Giant. What is it called?
Well done! You've made it.
Here are the all-important answers.
1. It is of course a Sparrowhawk, and with the steel-grey upperparts, lack of a white stripe above the eye and rather slender frame, this is an adult male.
2. This is a Coal Tit, with its BIG black bib and mid-grey back with two wingbars
3. In male Great Tits like this one, the black belly stripe flares thick and wide between the legs.
4. The nasty disease is the tongue-twisting trichomonosis.
5. The Wren's scientific name is Troglodytes troglodytes, meaning Cave-dweller cave-dweller or Hermit hermit.
6. The butterfly is a Comma. I did try to help by putting a comma in the sentence.
7. It's a moth - the amazing Green Longhorn Adela reaumurella.
8. Instead of eating aphids, the larvae of this hoverfly live in ponds as 'rat-tailed maggots' which I prefer to call snorkel grubs.
9. It's a Large White - Green-veined Whites have the outer margins of the veins on the under hind wing edged with green, and in Small Whites the black on the outer tip of the forewings doesn't extend down the outer edge of the wing. Phew, it's quite a lot to remember!
10. Ah, the gorgeous Small Scissor Bee. Plant Campanulas (bellflowers) and there is a very good chance you will have lots of this tiny bee visit.
11. Fennel. Yuk! (the taste, not the plant).
12. The Poached-egg Plant. So easy to grow.
13. Yellow Rattle. I want to see it in every pop-up meadow-lawn in the future!
14. Hemp-agrimony. A doddle from seed, and over time it will clump up wonderfully.
15. The ever-lovely Bugle Ajuga reptans. I'd recommend it for any garden, sun or shade.
How did you do? Whether 0 or 15, we're all on the learning curve somewhere. The key is just to enjoy the journey.
I wish you all a very hapy Christmas, and thanks for following this weekly blog, now completing its 11th year. I was a young man when it started!