Bee arriving at sunflower. 3rd August 2026.

Anyone know who this is? A friend sent the photo to me thinking I'd know. But I don't!

While re-potting a small, cultured, multi-coloured buddleia that had got congested in its pot, I saw blackberry flowers creeping over the dry stone wall where the ferns are . . . and realised . . . I'm happiest when my allotment resembles a hedgerow. Other allotmenteers may disagree. 20th June 2026

Ladybirds and daleks: with both we are impressed by their outer armour but under it they are tiny, ugly and almost disgusting.

I suppose it's a Harlequin - but it was very small and entertainingly coloured. 25th April 2026

Cat at allotment wants to look in watering can, seed packet, take part in everything. Weevil turns up in the greenhouse. I reckoned both might be happier outside. No. I'd be happier. Ejected them. Cat then spent time stamping on the roof and peering in at the windows. Don't know what the weevil did

A while back @greenjimll.bsky.social advised me to get a sharpening tool. I took his advice and - many, many thanks! - it works! I now have functioning secateurs again. This is the one I bought from Amazon for £7.37. Cheaper than buying new unnecessarily!

Isn't this lovely? I'm breaking old bits from the hydrangea, cutting off other bits with secateurs, sawing other bits with a saw . . . ladybirds wandering round on the ground in the sunshine, then find this one still asleep in a groove in the bush. First the long shot, then a crop.

This is the time of year. Winter still beyond the grubby window; cold, drizzle, wind, bare trees. But new growth emerging on the windowsill. Summer in the seed leaves. 15th March 2026.

Field of Moles. Evening 4th March 2026. This field is always full of molehills while the landscape around it isn't. I don't know about moles so I don't know why this is - but do find it intriguing. If I had taken a video, you would hear a Lapwing and a Whimbrel. Calderdale.

While transplanting foxgloves this morning I came across this Shieldbug - don't know what kind it is and its looks are marred by a lump of earth on its face but I really like Shieldbugs. Robins weren't there. Blackbird wasn't there. Bluetit took the opportunity to shout from the top of the tree.

Over the years, I've not had much success with snowdrops, so this little clump - amid what will turn out to be a bed of yellow tulips coming up through the grass - pleases me quite out of proportion to its current size. 22nd February 2026

And a Seven Spot Ladybird. There were quite few ladybirds at the allotment this morning. Not sure if they were drawn out by the sunshine or simply showed up better in sudden bright light. Don't know where the rain's gone. Had got used to it as if it's a permanent state! Very windy though.

I think 22 Spot Ladybirds are common - but not to me; so I was pleased to find a tiny, tiny one on the underside of a brick. Woodlouse included. 22nd February 2026

To renovate or to move home? Crows viewing a nest that was in use last year. 14th February 2026. Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. #birds #spring #trees We had sunshine today. Very cold and icy though. A one day break in the rain.

Someone on Bluesky told me about a small, multi-coloured buddleia so I asked for one for Christmas. Here it is now, re-potted and on the allotment. Quite a lot of bees visit over the summer but not many butterflies. Hopefully that will change now - even if it's a mono-culture of painted ladies.

I buy a very little tree that lasts several years going in and out each Christmas. When it's too big for that I leave it outside and decorate it there. I'm in Calderdale where trees can be taken to Ogden Water where they are used as a dead hedge round the reservoir. www.facebook.com/OgdenWaterLNR

Oh, the blue sky and the ivy! 5th January 2025

I'll need to return to Saddleworth Moor when it isn't evening. Being a bit warmer might help too. But here are some woods. At the foot of the woods, a reservoir. Towering over both, more hills. It's all very wonderful. There were some exotic pheasants too but I didn't photograph them. 28th Dec 2025

And this afternoon (29th December 2025) in Halifax. West Yorkshire. The variety of terrain within easy distance is almost overwhelming.

On Saddleworth Moor yesterday afternoon.

And everything is made beautiful when decorated with mist droplets. Withens Clough Reservoir, 21st December 2025

I tend to think of lichens as delicate but, assuming this is a lichen . . . ? It's like a plant one might find growing on pebbles beside the sea. Very leathery. Withens Clough Reservoir, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England, 21st December 2025. I don't know what the red is on the wall. Lots have it.

Lichens are always interesting but not necessarily beautiful. This one is quite large and looks as if someone has been sick on the wall. Withens Clough Reservoir, 21st December 2025.

The wall along the walkway at the end of Withen's Clough Reservoir (Calderale, West Yorkshire, England) is a moss and lichen jungle. Toady in the mist - 21sr December 2025.

View today across the valley below Withens Clough Reservoir. Um . . .

It was summer when I woke this morning. By lunchtime autumn had returned.

Of the things I've wished for . . . a robin on my allotment. And at last I seem to have one. This one spends a lot of time singing in my apple tree - by which I hope he means he is claiming it as his. Here, he has flown down for a moment to sit on the earth of the empty next door plot. 7th Nov 2025

Rather fun to have tomatoes still in November. And, not only that, to have tomato flowers too!