• Living in a creche

    This rather gorgeous speckled little thing came visiting my garden boudoir this week for the first time.

    It's a sight that makes my heart sing because it means that a pair of Robins has been successful, either in the garden or nearby. They've managed to build a nest, lay the eggs, raise the chicks and get them to the point where at least this one youngster has popped out into the big wide world.That's no mean feat…

  • Welcome to my garden boudoir

    When it comes to having a good wash and scrub up, my garden is currently the place to be. Take a look at this:

    If you can make it out, it is a Blue Tit getting itself in a right lather. See how it tosses its head about violently in order to create as much splash as possible. Oh, how it rekindles happy memories of bath-time as a kid.

    The bedraggled result was this:

    It's a wonder their feathers ever get back into…

  • Wildlife gets set to come indoors at Gardeners World Live

    Although the BBC will turn their attention to Chelsea next week (the Flower Show, not the football team) in a blaze of publicity and celebrities, our hard-working Events Team of staff and volunteers have been at it again in their secret bunker in Bedfordshire, pulling together their feature garden ready for Gardeners World Live.

    This annual giant of a show is at the NEC, Birmingham, from 11-14 June, and I know many of…

  • Hedgehog champion

    A few weeks ago I was delighted to meet up with the Henry Johnson from the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species, who has the fantastic job title of Hedgehog Officer as well as being upliftingly enthusiastic.

    He helps run a project called Hedgehog Street, which is a simple campaign focusing to get people to pledge to cut holes in their fences to allow Hedgehogs to wander between gardens. In the box-like world of our gardens…

  • A hidden world among the blossom

    If you live in one of the fruit growing areas of the country, or even if you just have a fruit tree in the garden, I'm sure you're currently enraptured by the sight - and smell - of all the blossom.

    I've inherited about 80 apple trees in my new garden (way too many for the size of the garden, and a recipe for all sorts of fruit-tree disease), but they do look glorious. Here's a Bramley this week: