wildlife moment of the month #3

It's a beautiful sunny day today on the south coast of England, and this sunshine has also brought lots of butterflies! Today I have seen many brimstones, peacocks and red admirals; but I was very surprised to see my first blue of the season! This lovely holly blue has been fluttering around my garden all afternoon and it is so wonderful to see! Holly blue butterflies are one of my favourite butterflies, coming just behind the scarce silver-studded blue. The holly blue can be seen throughout England but is most common in the south. This little butterfly has a wingspan of just 35mm but it really is beautiful! I can't wait to see even more blue's on the wing!

creating a wildlife-friendly garden patch

It's May and I have been busy finishing my final weeks of university. As a lovely distraction, I have created a small wildlife friendly garden patch in my garden. Here is how I made it and a few tips on getting started on your own!! 

Firstly I filled up a raised bed with peat free compost from my local garden centre. 

I then selected the species that I wanted to grow in my patch! I did this by doing a little research into the plants and flowers that are favoured my bees, butterflies and other insects. I decided on... 

Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) 

May Night (Salvia)

Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus)

Scabious (Scabiousa columbaria) 

I also got a simple wildflower seed mix from my local garden centre. 

I then starting planting! 

Firstly I planted my sweet peas at the back of my raised bed. 

I then intertwined four wooden poles to wrap my sweet peas around so that they can grip on tight and grow up the poles. 

I created four of these intertwined poles for my sweet peas as shown below. 

I then planted all of my plants along the middle stretch of my raised bed and sprinkled my wildflower mix at the front. Here is the result...

I have been watering daily and here is the result one month later...

It's blooming away in the sunshine! 

I have loved making mine and the insects are loving it! 

spring snaps

It's the beginning of April! I can't believe how quickly this year is going! Here are a few snaps from what I have been up to this March!

Taking a walk at a local nature reserve.

Overlooking Kimmeridge Bay.

Lulworth Cove on a beautiful summers day. 

A pheasant flying above the Lulworth Ranges.

The view of Kimmeridge through the Lulworth Ranges.

Bluebells! 

6 favourite things to make 2014 the happiest year

We are now nearing the end of February which has gone so quickly! I wanted to share a few of my favourite things that I've been trying to do as much as possible to make 2014 my happiest year yet. I hope that you can gain some inspiration from my favourite things!

Who doesn't love the sun eh? Unfortunately England isn't the best place for sunshine in the winter months; however I am now taking EVERY opportunity to seize the sunshine and soak up that extra vitamin D for that feel good factor! 

We all know that eating lots and lots of cakes & pies is terrible for you. HOWEVER eating my favourite desert as a treat is 100% good because it is delicious and always makes me feel all warm inside! 

Here is me looking a bit wind swept on a walk! I love getting out into the countryside and even the shortest walk out in the country will make me feel great! On my last walk I saw a buzzard! 

Tea. No explanation needed. 

The sea! The best place to be is by the seaside! Getting some sea air is always my cure for the blues. It works every single time. 

When life needs brightening up my favourite thing to do is to organise a fun trip. It doesn't have to be long and can just be a day out, but it sure does make me feel happy and will always produce some happy memories to pull out on a rainy day! 

Hope you like my favourite things,

Lauren 

here comes the sun

Finally the sun returned today! It felt so good to see the sunshine! I went for a walk at my favourite beach, Knoll Beach at Studland. I absolutely love it there and it is a beautiful beach. My favourite wellies also came out of the cupboard for a sunny walk! 

Being a third year university student, means my first lot of third year uni exams are about to start which is really really scary! Therefore a lovely walk at the beach was the perfect break from revision! Here are a few snaps from my day at the beach.

 

Taking a walk is definatly the cure to the cooped up revision feeling! 

Lauren