This gallery contains 3 photos.
An unusual post. This morning I was due to give the above short talk to a local group I’ve been a member of since its inception. Instead, I’m at home typing up this piece. All was fine until 3 days … Continue reading
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Autumn’s first named storms arrived at the weekend. Austen and Boelo swept across the UK in the space of two days. Here we lost our landline connection and had a few days of heavier rain, but otherwise the events fell … Continue reading
This gallery contains 9 photos.
A delightful week in Pembrokeshire, with wonderful light and views, helped slow me down a little more. Was it the unique ‘summerhouse’ base with its eclectic library of fascinating, beautiful books: The Spell of the Sensuous; Cabin Porn; The Holy Wells … Continue reading
This gallery contains 29 photos.
A burst of more “creative” writing. Triggered, as with the second flush of growth being seen all around us in the garden, by the rain which has fallen so far every day this month, I caught up on some acrostic … Continue reading
This gallery contains 81 photos.
I’d read the hype – new moon, clear skies, planetary alignments, solar eclipse, meteor showers. I’d woken around 2.30 am after fitful sleep following a longer-than-usual day of toil: hedge trimming, rush cutting and raking, topped off by the now … Continue reading
This gallery contains 16 photos.
This seems like a big moment. As this endless summer of heat and drought grinds inexorably on for us in West Wales. I reflected this morning that there has been no significant urban unrest as typically happens during such hot … Continue reading
This gallery contains 55 photos.
Vignettes from an atypical Welsh summer: The early bird catches the worm. But not this year. With almost no rain falling since the 4 mm that fell on July 2nd, the worms are in summer aestivation survival mode, and deep … Continue reading
This gallery contains 143 photos.
Utterly bewitching! This was the succinct two-word comment that Mark, one of my fellow AGOG’ers, made in response to the email I sent him, which included a link to this short video I’d just edited and uploaded in early June. … Continue reading
This gallery contains 78 photos.
The last daffodils finally faded in late May, after the wonderful, cool spring. Their memories are captured below in a final, brief video I stitched together once we’d replaced my failing desktop. All filmed on the day after Storm Dave, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 59 photos.
It has to be our worst garden weeding challenge. Ever. A consequence of very poor forward thinking on my part. We knew that last autumn was a mast year for most of our oaks – something which happens every few … Continue reading
This gallery contains 50 photos.
I scanned a fair few sites to find a suitable quote to begin this post, and felt the lines below best summarised the real joys of April 2026 in the garden and landscape of West Wales: “April, the angel of … Continue reading
This gallery contains 36 photos.
Happy Easter. No news has been good news, at least here, over the last month as the world continues to convulse. Again. I’m posting this on Easter Sunday, to record some of the many things that have occupied me for … Continue reading
This gallery contains 30 photos.
Ever the optimist, I’m hoping for the weather to turn in March. Now that February is over, it will be remembered for its lack of light (our gloomiest ever February) and only one dry 24-hour period. (As I write this, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
I was going to begin with the crime scene. Or should that be the murder scene, for that is what it seemed to me to be. Except that is, by definition, the unlawful and pre-meditated killing of one human by … Continue reading
This gallery contains 79 photos.
Once more, January has worked its magic. What?? This image, above, from this morning paints a more accurate picture of the often wet, grey gloom, and sodden ground which limits outside work at the moment. Not to mention the cold, … Continue reading
When the world whispers When the world whispers, then words feebly trace Memories and visions of light, time and space. No need for speaking, so silence is best. Walking or seated, our minds need to rest. Switch off … Continue reading
This gallery contains 8 photos.
I was surprised to see the Met Office forecasting in mid-December that 2026 was likely to be one of the hottest years yet (since their records began – in the mid-1800’s). After the exceptionally sunny, if cold, Christmas we enjoyed, January … Continue reading
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Another brief post to record that this year’s Christmas weather was unusually benign. It had me trawling through past blog notes, which confirmed that it was indeed our best ever – for lovely light and lack of rain, if not … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
A brief post for Christmas Eve. “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious dawn.” “O Holy Night” originated in France in 1847, when the poet Placide Cappeau wrote a poem ‘Minuit, Chrétiens’ … Continue reading
This gallery contains 25 photos.
Our knotweed is rusting. I see that it’s another one of those garden plants which now has multiple, different names: rock, whortleberry-leaved, or rose knotweed. Or if you prefer scientific names, Persicaria (as I’ve always known it), Bistorta or Polygonum … Continue reading
This gallery contains 25 photos.
November 6th already seems an age ago. It arrived as a wonderful change after 48 hours of continuous rainfall, which saw 116 mm fall locally. The Met Office forecasts had suggested 2 wet days, but gave no hint of the … Continue reading
This gallery contains 36 photos.
It’s recognised by mycologists that West Wales (and parts of Scotland) are some of the world’s hotspots for grassland fungi, in particular the colourful range of waxcap fungi which typically fruit in late summer through autumn. In part because there … Continue reading
This gallery contains 20 photos.
After a deluge on the first day of a week’s break in Pembrokeshire, the weather perked up, and we had six days of glorious sunshine, light winds and fairly warm temperatures. A delight and a much-needed switch off for us … Continue reading
This gallery contains 27 photos.
After all these years, I’ve created a killing zone. Right outside our back door. And not simply covered and stabilised the shale bank with spreading plants which flower for a small part of the year, which was the original intention: … Continue reading
This gallery contains 19 photos.
Look at the NBN Atlas map for the distribution of kingfishers, Alcedo atthis, in Wales, and if you zoom in, it’s obvious that although it’s a widely distributed species, there are currently no records for the hilly terrain around us. The … Continue reading
This gallery contains 41 photos.
This morning, at dawn, it felt like autumn is nearly upon us. Early. In less time than it took for the kettle to boil for our first cuppa, the nearly impenetrable mist filling the valley below us had cleared enough … Continue reading
This gallery contains 14 photos.
Last week was quite something, in this insignificant part of the world. Culminating in me managing to watch sunrise on the summer solstice from the peace and quiet of our shepherd’s hut. A first for me, and an evolving couple … Continue reading
This gallery contains 40 photos.
With perfect timing, for once, our week away on the Pembrokeshire coast coincided with the final week of unbroken, dry sunny weather of this record-breaking spring. The Met Office has now confirmed that not only has it been the warmest … Continue reading
This gallery contains 70 photos.
Inevitably, over time, this blog has shifted and drifted in topics and style. Just like the garden has morphed and changed. Sometimes diary, sometimes investigative, sometimes creative, sometimes science-based, sometimes poetic. I can’t discern any obvious pattern for these changes, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 59 photos.
Before lambing started, I had several sessions collecting dry Purple Moor Grass, Molinia caerulea, from the uncut wet area of our lower hay meadow. I’ve mentioned this before since we use it as bedding for our sheep lambing pens. But this … Continue reading
This gallery contains 63 photos.
It’s not often that one goes to bed reflecting on having saved a life, but yesterday was one of those days. (So much has happened since I sat and wrote this, that yesterday, it wasn’t) Or maybe it wasn’t just … Continue reading
This gallery contains 38 photos.
At last! March has broken the weather run that stretches back an awfully long way, into 2023. We’ve enjoyed multiple dry days in a row, with just enough rain to keep the soil moist. And a fair bit of sunshine, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
A brief post to record a memorable weekend. Saturday saw some warmth (perhaps 12 degrees C), sunshine, light SW winds and at last the garden came alive with honey bees and other insects. Though I’ve still to record the first … Continue reading
This gallery contains 17 photos.
Let’s get the fleeting moments out of the way. It references the very brief periods of blue sky and sunshine we’ve experienced thus far this February. In the main we’ve had a lot of cold, grey, dry weather. And now … Continue reading
This gallery contains 16 photos.
One of my most dramatic local wildlife experiences comes later in this post. But firstly, I should record that the extended ‘dunkelflaute’ period has now well and truly passed (from the German dunkel – ‘dark’ and flaute – ‘lull’). Storms … Continue reading
This gallery contains 41 photos.
January, named after double-headed Roman God, Janus, is a special time for both reflection and anticipation. (Picture of Janus feasting – from the twelfth century Fécamp Psalter). For looking back at 2024, and forwards to what the New Year might … Continue reading
This gallery contains 66 photos.
We were due a change of weather fortune. Two out of three Christmas dates put smiles back on our faces, with their own special tales, and made an end-of-year to remember. Christmas Eve: As soon as I popped outside, I … Continue reading
This gallery contains 137 photos.
What’s in a name? This name. Darragh. The seven letters which gave this Storm its identity. Perhaps reflected its massive personality. Chosen long before the computer models showed something brewing out in the Atlantic. And eventually barrelling towards Ireland, with … Continue reading
This gallery contains 4 photos.
I thought after this last unusual month of November weather and sights, it was time to move on from the often-quoted poem ‘NO!’ about this month on page 44 of Thomas Hood’s Complete edition of Comic poems, written in 1844. … Continue reading
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Named storm Bert arrived overnight on Friday 22nd, and by the time rain eased off 36 hours later, we’d had 103 mm of rainfall.Fortunately, I’d done preparatory work on our access track, clearing out chevron channels and the central main … Continue reading
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Earlier this week I received a letter with a strange small knobbly item lurking in the envelope. I tried to work out what it was by feeling it. I couldn’t see any obvious sender identification on the letter, and without … Continue reading
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Friday Night Fever Night Drew me, etched my stretched back lines Night knew me, warm on chill cast iron No thoughts were passed, no words were said We were alive, yet could have passed for dead No shooting … Continue reading
This gallery contains 8 photos.
After all this time, why did it surface now? That’s just one of the questions I’ve been asking recently, after finding another object earlier in the month for what we’re now going to call our ‘Tossed and Found’ shelves. Which … Continue reading
This gallery contains 3 photos.
I see it’s been over a month since I wrote this: Anniversary Stars Why now, this day, this swallow time? The flight swoops, riveted I gulp Their bubbling kettle richness. Count, Or try as back and forth, High and … Continue reading
This gallery contains 21 photos.
Swansongs. Where did this word with familiar connotations of final performance, arise? It’s strange how many innocent words one might use over a lifetime without ever giving them a second thought. Until in the case of this word, for me … Continue reading
This gallery contains 28 photos.
Fire weather? The four crows of the anthropocene apocalypse, perhaps? Sitting in a leafless, dying ash tree. In our part of West Wales, this July certainly hasn’t lived up to an obvious Fireweather description. The Met Office summary for the … Continue reading
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Hats off to anyone who can identify the material above with its own aged patina, which we found during a recent garden visit. The complete element is shown later on. “To know fully even one field or one land is … Continue reading
This gallery contains 44 photos.
The recently compiled Met Office climate summary for May, and spring 2024 confirms my own limited observations. Once again records have been broken for the highest mean daily temperatures in a series dating back to 1884. But this was mainly … Continue reading
This gallery contains 18 photos.
For once we timed a short break to perfection. Not only did we enjoy a week without a single drop of rain, but our return trip to Felin Hescwm, just beside the sea near Dinas Cross in Pembrokeshire coincided with … Continue reading
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Write some first words. Now, Julian. While the memories are as clear as the cool May air on the morning of the 16th. A dawn of such clean freshness, blue skies and sharp shadows that my ‘quick’ garden walk extended … Continue reading