April is the busiest month…..

One of the reasons that we get so many birds in the garden here is the fact that the Welsh Marches are a convenient route for migrating upland birds. A wheatear in the garden yesterday was a joy to see and brought our garden bird list to 65. But bird watching aside, there is a massive amount of work to do in a garden of this size, in spite of many areas being left relatively uncultivated. Nectar borders still need to be mulched and last year’s dead growth cut back, shorter grass need to be cut and there are vegetables to be planted and sown. For me this is the busiest time of year in the garden so a brief pause to listen to a blackcap or chifchaff, or to watch a bluetit nest building, is the only rest I get.

About wildlifegardening

Jenny Steel was a Plant Ecologist at Oxford University before becoming a writer. She has more than 20 years experience of writing about and teaching ecology, natural history and wildlife gardening. She is also a photographer, journalist and former plant nursery owner, and a lecturer and tutor in adult education. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television programmes including Gardener’s World with Alan Titchmarsh, and she presented a series of items on the BBC 2 gardening show, How Does Your Garden Grow. She has worked with and written for a variety of organisations including the Royal Horticultural Society, Natural England, Atropos, Ernest Charles, the Adult Residential Colleges Association (ARCA), Haiths, Usborne Books, Complete Gardens, Oxfordshire County Council, the charity Growing Native and several of the Wildlife Trusts. She is also the Garden Bird Guru for the wild bird food company JustAddBirds of which she was a co-founder. The Emmy Award winning film company Panache Productions are currently making a film about her wildlife garden in South Shropshire. She has written 10 books on wildlife gardening. Her website can be found at www.wildlife-gardening.co.uk and her bird food company at www.JustAddBirds.co.uk

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