Leave your leaves (oct25)
Do you love a tidy garden? Your wildlife doesn’t. 🍂 Do you sweep up your leaves or blow them away? Why not leave them instead? They’re perfect for sheltering insects that feed robins, blackbirds and wrens, and they keep soil life humming. Hedgehogs, frogs and toads love them too. Of course, you may need to […]
Barbed Wire is a Killer – it should be banned (aug25)
This deer is looking a lot perkier than the one we found…. The faun was squealing in pain and distress as we approached. One of its hind legs had been snagged on barbed wire – the foot was hanging by a thread. I had to twist it off to free the poor animal. My son […]
Have You Noticed an Insect Bonanza in 2025? (jul25)
Bugs are back – let’s fight to save them… Our garden is humming and buzzing with life this year – and it’s glorious. Every step through the wildflower meadows brings a flurry of movement. Bugs of all sorts dart between the grasses, butterflies spiral upward, bees bury into blooms. In the golden light of early […]
No more Wilding Weekends – but Wilding is on the Rise…(jun25)
Have you ever seen a hedgehog, a hare or a barn owl? Heard the song of a nightingale or the unmistakable call of a cuckoo? Have you stood in a summer meadow and listened to the hum of insects? Many people haven’t. And what’s worse – many don’t realise what’s missing. These sights and sounds […]
RenĂ© Haller – an inspirational man (Mar25)
RenĂ© Haller transformed a lifeless quarry into a vibrant, flourishing ecosystem. This blog explores his groundbreaking work on the Kenyan coast and how it led to the creation of the Haller Foundation. Together with RenĂ©, the foundation has expanded his innovative ideas and principles, bringing them to communities around the quarry and across other parts […]
Shameful BBC Totally Ignores Nature March – jun24
What possible reason could there be for the BBC totally ignoring up to 100,000 nature protestors yesterday? The ‘Restore Nature Now’ march, organized by Extinction Rebellion (XR) and numerous wildlife and conservation bodies, doesn’t even feature in the BBC search engine today. I know it happened because I was there. Thankfully, it did get some […]
Wilding Weekend – June 2024
Full steam ahead for our third Wilding Weekend. It will be on 15th and 16th June in sunny West Dorset, near Beaminster! Opening hours will be 10.30am to 4.30pm. The garden is wild. Come and have a look. We have wildflower meadows, a cascade of ponds, insect homes, a medieval walkway, a bat-egg (!), mown […]
Wilding Weekend 2024 (Apr24 Update)
Full steam ahead for our third Wilding Weekend. It will be on 15th and 16th June in sunny West Dorset, near Beaminster! Opening hours will be 10.30am to 4.30pm. The garden is wild. Come and have a look. We have wildflower meadows, a cascade of ponds, insect homes, a medieval walkway, a bat-egg (!), mown […]
To burn or not to burn (Mar24)
Are fires the best way of getting rid of garden waste or clearing landscapes? I believe that the answer is generally ‘no’! But garden bonfires are ubiquitous and even conservation bodies are using burning as part of their land management plans – for example burning the brash from hedge-laying or trimming and site clearance of […]
In conversation with Isabella Tree (Nov23)!!
The Electric Palace in Bridport was packed. The Bridport Literary Festival or Bridlit had managed to get Isabella Tree to come and talk to me in front of the 400 people who were able to get tickets. The focus was the newly published ‘The Book of Wilding‘ which is an easy-to-read manual on what can be done on […]