11 nature blog posts for the year 2011

As we come to the end of another year, I am sure this one went in a blink of an eye ;)

I thought I would do a roundup post looking at some of my nature blogs that I have posted at my other blogging home – Birds on the Blog.

 

This year some of the things we have looked at are -

All about my love of the snowdrop and where to see this beauty.

 

Well that was a heart wrenching time, when there was the heated debate about our precious woodland. With rumblings still going on in the background, it’s important for us to keep an eye on new policies being lined up for our forests.

 

I  had the privillege of seeing a carpet of thousands of crocuses at Forde Abbey and gardens – I will be definitely be going there again next spring!

 

Blessed by a sea of blue in a gorgeous woodland, enjoyed and treasured by many! Can’t wait to visit again next year!

 

The joys of the National Garden Scheme – the NGS

 

A bizarre plant that doesn’t flower often and smells horrible, but still ends up being a popular plant to see.

 

Getting out there in the summer and enjoying what nature has in store for us.

 

Along the theme of my love of flowers is the language of flowers. This post looks at some suggestions for wedding anniversary ideas!

 

Who knew that hydrangeas were so popular. So many joined in enthusing about their love for the hydrangea :)

 

We look at suggestions of what food we can give to our feathered friends, with a couple of recipes of seed cake and fat balls thrown into the mix.

 

A controversial one … looking at the many benefits of Ivy for wildlife.

 

I hope you will enjoy the posts :)

 

Let me know which posts you particularly enjoyed!

 

Anita :)

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Gardens To See Snowdrops

It may be cold, wet and miserable out there, but I am eagerly awaiting to welcome one of my favourite things- the magnificent snowdrop!

© Nita Joy Design

Snowdrop just a note to say © Nita Joy Design

In the run up to Christmas, when things can be a tad stressful, I think ahead to the little beauty that will soon be growing in their thousands, bravely pushing through the snow and ice, to find their beloved daylight.

This year I have been looking out of the window each day, searching for the first delicate green shoots of this pretty flower in my front garden, but due to the extreme weather we have been having, my freshly laid bulbs I planted last year, may find their first year of growth a little difficult.

If you love snowdrops or don’t know what all the fuss is about, I invite you to check out my latest blog on – Birds On The Blog looking at the lovely snowdrop, giving suggestions of gardens to visit in the UK, to admire their beauty.

You can find the post here – One Of My Favourite Things

If you love snowdrops, we have a selection of greeting cards, kitchen splashback….

If you have a favourite place that you like visiting to see snowdrops, and it isn’t mentioned in the blog post, please leave a comment, as I always love finding new places – and it’s great to share with others.

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Other places to see snowdrops

Last week, I went on my annual trip with my dad, looking for snowdrops.

Snowdrops in the Dorset and Hampshire region have flowered quite late this year and after all the cold windy weather we have been having, some snowdrops which are open to all the elements, have had a rough time holding their delicate heads held high.

In the language of flowers the snowdrop means – A friend in adversity and hope.

If you know someone who is having a hard time, a trip to see the lovely snowdrop is sure to life their spirit.

Now is the time to plant snowdrops ‘in the green.’ Planting them now will give you a fantatstic display next year.

On my day out we decided on visiting 2 areas that we knew would be excellent to see this lovely flower.

Damerham church has the wow factor of several thousand snowdrops planted together in the church grave yard. They often hold special snowdrops days to welcome visitors. It was lovely to see, and just how I remembered.

The snowdrops were beautiful, even though they were a little windswept. If you want to see snowdrops in their thousands, then this is a lovely place to visit next year.

We then moved on to Breamore church.

As we carefully moved around the wonderous display of snowdrops in the pretty church yard, I counted around 5 different varieties growing there. There was probably more, but this was the number I spotted. These snowdrops had a little more protection from the elements than the ones at Damerham, so there was plenty of opportunities to photograph them.

There was also a lovely area of winter aconites.

The yellow of the aconites and white and green of the snowdrops had a really fresh, spring feel.

I watched Countryfile the other week, and the presenter looking at snowdrops in Scotland said he thought snowdrops looked all the same. Well if you view them from a far, you may agree. It’s not really until you examine the detail of each of them, that you will see how different and special they can be. It’s epecially hard to see the differences, due to the fact that they are low to the ground, and the flower heads point downwards.

This particular snowdrop wanted the world to see her beauty, as this flower head was pointing outwards. I was so pleased to have spotted this one and capture the image. I have heard of some people using dental mirrors to see the insides of low growing flowers, and I can quite see how useful this would be.

If you like this snowdrop image, it is available to buy as a framed, mounted or canvas print

As I have said before you can see beautiful flowers all over the place. You don’t always need to go to a specific garden to see them, it’s often fun to look into alternative places, such as church yards, roundabouts etc…

Where are your favourite places to go?

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