an image of the witch's walk group led by Derek Smith on Saturday 27th october

Witch’s Walk – Saturday 27th Oct,2024

On Sunday, I led the walk to the Witch’s Tree. You never know in advance how many are going to come to such events. My daughter guessed seven, I was more optimistic and reckoned there’d be ten of us. We were both wildly out as 34 showed up, half of them children. The walk started from the garden at 1.10 …

image of a beetle called a Rose Chafer

Rose Chafer – Friday 18th Oct, 2024

I have been reading Insect Crisis by Oliver Milman. It’s quite a tough read as there are so many insect species, and we are mostly given species names such as Coccinella septempunctata (the seven-spotted ladybird). Having got this far, and needing to check the zoological name for ladybird, I got waylaid by this site: It begins: The name “ladybird” originated …

an image of the base of the witches tree located in Bush Wood

Witch’s Tree – Sunday 22nd Sept, 2024

This week, I have been on search for the Witch’s Tree in Bush Wood, woodland at the northern end of Wanstead Flats. I tried to find it nine months ago for my latest crime novel. I couldn’t find it and decided that one of the characters couldn’t find it either. Well, he does in the end and is found murdered under the canopy.

An image of the pond in the garden

Full Pond – Sunday 29th Sept, 2024

Warm air holds more moisture. But you may have noted, I said it is chilly. Well, moisture in the air is picked up over the sea, mostly the Atlantic and that retains its summer warmth well into late autumn. Warm air also has more energy, which gives us fierce winds and storms. Around the country there has been some very wet weather, with extensive flooding in places like Looe in Cornwall:

an image of some grapes in the garden

Grapes – Saturday 14th September, 2024

We have had quite a bit of rain this week, including a couple of furious, rainbursts. They lasted less than ten minutes, but the rain belted down in stair rods, to replenish our almost empty metre cubes (IBCs). Except one. We have three, they hold about a 1000 litres each. Two were filled by the rain to about a third, but one not at all. The pipe from the pergola gutter wasn’t quite reaching the orifice of the IBC. It must have become dislodged, and the water would have gushed out and onto the ground. We have added a piece of pipe to make sure the water goes where it should.

image of ukulele session in the community garden

Last Songs – Saturday 1st September, 2024

I look for spiders in their webs about the garden. This should be their breeding days. I see a web or two but no spiders. It has been so dry and that’s bad for insects and spiders, and for the garden in general. Our water barrels are empty. We have three metre-cubes (IBCs) each with a capacity of a 1000 litres, and smaller barrels too, giving us roughly another 1000. So 4000 litres in total, all used up in watering plants. But we have the hose and we fill up the central cascade of barrels so we can water until this drought breaks.