My annual trip to the British Birdwatching Fair is always something I look forward to, whether I am working or just being a visitor. Apart from fuelling my (slight) obsession with birds, it also reminds me to catch up with other organisations and causes I support. A passionate lecture on cork oak forests by Frank McClintock from Paradise in Portugal, had me scouring my local shop for wine with proper corks when I returned. And after three days away from the garden I was keen to return to see what was around here. My curiosity was rewarded with a new butterfly species – a purple hairstreak – and several juvenile chiff chaffs and willow warblers, joining our young whitethroats that have been feeding around the garden for a while. Good to venture abroad, but also to come home again.
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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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