I awoke to a chilly view from my bedroom window photo-20.JPG My butterfly garden hidden beneath a blanket of snow. But If the snow does not particularly impress me it was nonetheless sufficient to inspire my Basset Hound to leave his couch for an all too rare gambol photo-17.JPG I later took a walk ...

In July when I'm sitting in my garden sipping Pimm's, surrounded by fragrant flowers, idly watching Small Tortoiseshells, Peacocks and Red Admirals frolicking amongst the blooms, it will be nice to look back to January in my diary and comfort myself with thoughts of how well shot of Winter I am phot...

These days an early finish at work for me means another visit to the Garden Centre with further dents in my credit card. I have come to relish the whole process, from reading about plants that are suitable for a butterfly garden, looking them up on the internet, planning where they might be happy in...

It was only last week that I took up Gardening and it has already opened my eyes to some of the things that are going on there, things I would almost certainly have missed. For example, an early sign of Spring: Yesterday I found a Primrose had come into flower by the garden path P1020091.JPG And thi...

That's a lovely photograph Chris,thanks, and just what I want my garden to look like in the Summer. It's pouring with rain as I type this but it wasn't so bad this morning. I continued digging to make the flowerbeds bigger and now I think I've got them just about big enough. I'll see how it goes. ph...

Thanks everyone I appreciate all of your support. For me it's literally breaking new ground as I have no gardening experience beyond mowing the lawn. Fortunately there are good websites and the garden centres themselves are happy to give advice. I must say that buying plants is addictive! I think yo...

Spot on David - the garden is narrow but long. The house is 1930's and I think they were more generous with the land in those less crowded days. In fact a few years ago some neighbours were selling off the bottom half of their gardens for housing. My garden is quite long established: I've some fairl...

I was determined to devote some time over this Christmas Holiday to getting underway with my Butterfly Garden, making a start with the first flowerbed. Well, after a day of rest, this morning I dug a second (on the left as you look at this picture ) photo.jpg The idea being that on Summer afternoons...

Thanks very much for your encouragement guys. I think you've gone to the heart of it Susie : gardening is about looking ahead. At the moment all I've got is a lot of mud that after last night's rain is more like a World War One trench than a flowerbed. But Spring and Summer are not so far away and b...

I never thought I'd hear myself say this but this afternoon I dug a flower bed P1020076.JPG I tried getting my Dad to come around and dig it for me but he muttered something about being retired and that I'm thirty years younger than him. He did however offer plenty of advice : which way up to hold t...

There was a time during this Summer when my garden seemed to be full of butterflies: I had Holly Blues P1010008.JPG Peacocks P1010690.JPG And Commas and Red Admirals on the windfall plums IMG_1989.JPG A Painted Lady stayed for a week IMG_1804.JPG IMG_1809.JPG But for me the highlight of this Summer ...

Not a butterfly sighting but maybe a promise of surprises to come: I saw two Swallows hunting over waste ground near my home in Ashford, Kent this morning, 22nd of November!

Red admiral and comma on the buddleia this morning despite there still being frost pockets in the shade. Good spot, Susie. Proves there are still opportunities to be had. Minutes after reading David's post this morning I walked into my garden and was buzzed by a Comma! Mind you,down here in Kent to...

Will do Neil, thanks

Hoggers

I've got my fingers crossed for them Susie, thanks! What about next Spring and Summer? Any need to trim them back then, or should I just leave them?

I've noticed that a small patch of Stinging Nettles has appeared in my garden which I'd like to encourage for Butterflies & Co next year. The plants are about 4 inches tall. I dimly recollect reading somewhere that it's best to cut nettles back so as to produce new,fresh growth as this is prefer...

I hadn't expected to be posting any more sightings here until at least Spring 2013: It's been well over a week since I last saw a butterfly ( a Small White ) and today, although dry and mild, has been foggy and dull. But a dark and distinctly butterfly-like shape caught my eye this afternoon, restle...

This morning I paid a visit to Samphire Hoe . The sun was shining and by noon it was very warm. There were good numbers of Large Whites, a few Small Whites and a couple of Red Admirals too. I hadn't expected to see much in the way of butterflies and so was delighted to come across a couple of Common...

Fair weather and a day off work saw me at Dungeness this morning for a stroll around the Observatory trapping area. I came across Red Admirals aplenty ( easily 30 ), some gliding overhead, others soaking up the sun on the shingle or stopping off at the Blackberries: IMG_2339.JPG IMG_2352.JPG IMG_235...

Sunshine,Blackberries and Butterflies Six Commas, four Red Admirals Several Large and Small Whites with a single Brown Argus All seen on this morning's walk with the dog.