Taexalia

wild.life

Seeds or Weeds

I saw a Roe Deer this morning as I walked up the hill. It move behind us as we followed the turn in the path, and I wondered how close we had been to it without knowing. It stopped, ears pricked and watched us and I stopped too. The hound was oblivious, which is pretty funny for a sighthound.

This Roe Deer appears to live a solitary life away from the small herd nearby. It has been chased by dogs ... read more

Hawthorn Shield Bug

Hawthorn Shield Bug ~ Acanthosoma Haemorrhoidale

True Bug ~ Suborder: Heteroptera

One hundred years ago these bugs were found only in the South of England, now the climate means they can live further North. I found this one in my garden, here in Fife, and she's a testament to my focus on creating a wildlife friendly garden. The wildlife hedge, which has lots ... read more

Tree Goddess

she makes me want to stretch and ... read more

Fledgling Robin

After a morning of heavy rains, the skies cleared for a time and it got so warm the greenhouse flaps had to be opened - it's always a good day when that happens. I stood at my window looking out over the garden and plotting my planting pattern for the coming year. Two birds distracted me just below the window and I realised they were babies, the first fledglings I've seen this year. At first I thought they were Sparrows, but then I noticed the beak was not the right shape. Mostly I watched, ... read more

Note To Self

Pruning For Wildlife

One of the most common suggestions for attracting wildlife to the garden is "plant a Buddleia". If you are like me, you may just need to let nature take its course - two of my Buddleia bushes arrived as seeds on the breeze, but they are easily found in most garden centres.

Different beasties like different colours, so choose according to whom you wish to attract. Bees like darker blues and ... read more

Signs of Spring

Yesterday I saw flocks of geese travelling North and I smiled up at them, hoping their sky arrows pointed to Spring. Today I went to the garden to tackle some of the detritus of Winter - one carrier bag of cat poo lifted from the main veg plot the remains of my first greenhouse after "Hurricane Bawbag" I'm sure there will be more cat poo, but I could only stomach lifting one bag today. It needs to be said that I do not own cats, nor do I hate ... read more

Beginning With Fox Droppings

I have been staring at my screen trying to decide where to begin again on this blog. The more I think about it, the less likely I am to write about it. So I went to my stats page for a bit of inspiration... and the top reason people are finding this blog is because they want to identify poop. Fox poop is the poop of choice today. Well - if I'm going to write a pile of shit in an effort to be creative, I might as well try to be useful. *grin* Personally, I think that getting to know ... read more