Monthly Archives: March 2025

Red Sky at Night

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Julia took the photos for this post, including the sunset, which appears to have been made less colourful by the camera. Isn’t it always the way?

Looks like butter wouldn’t melt in its mouth, doesn’t it? Based on size and colour, we seem to have four regular visitors. And based on the way the seed is going they are all eating well. I know there’s more to nature gardening than just feeding birds, but it’s not as if squirrels really need much help to prosper.

It looks like it is time to bring some gardening tools down, as things are starting to happen and we will need to get on top of it. That means it’s definitely time to start the compost heap. I’ve been putting it off because Julia always worries about compost attracting rats, and has been particularly jumpy after we spotted the rats a while back.  Me, I’ve rarely seen a rat near compost – they tend to have better things to do in suburbia, where there is plenty of decking to hide under, and plenty of spilled bird food. Some people down our old road even used to put food out for foxes overnight, which is a surefire way to get rats.

A leap like that deserves a few seeds . . .

Meanwhile, it’s been a slow week for reading blogs. I’m sorry about that, but I left myself with a lot to do this week and am only just coming down to earth after a marathon writing session. I’m hoping to catch up with my reading this week before starting on a slightly more sensible writing spree this month. I have ten submissions to do, if I move to each form being a separate submission, which doesn’t sound much better, but if I start now instead of leaving it for three weeks I should be in much better shape to get it all done.

And finally, a robin.

Bee Banks and Bug Hotels

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This is the new Welcome sign at Ferry Meadows. It’s a massive bug hotel, as you can probably see from a closer examination of the individual cells in the picture. It seems that this is a new fashion I had been totally unaware off, as can be seen from this site, for example. The one at Ferry Meadows can be seen better in this picture and has been built by Green Earth Habitats.

I’m not sure if they are better than having plain bug hotels around the place. If they were actually properly publicised I could see he point, but posting them on Facebook and Instagram isn’t doing it, whatever people may think. Look at it this way. I live on the doorstep and I didn’t know about it because, like many other people I don’t use social media.

The other thing they are doing is the Bee Bank. This is as much as i could find about it, so i had to dig a bit further.

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And, as I suspected, it’s a bank made up to provide habitat for bees and, butterflies, according to Ferry Meadows, though butterflies don’t need banks, they need appropriate food plants. I suppose a bank gives a patch of warm earth for them to draw warmth from, but that’s about as far as it goes. Everyone else seems to call them Bee Banks. I will remember it when we redesign the garden, but I’m not sure it’s going to be easy to fit one in.

Small Tortoiseshells on red buddleia

Four Minutes to Spare

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A big Bug Hotel

I managed eight submissions this month, one with four minutes to spare. This is slightly better than last month when my final submission went off after midnight my time, and relied on the time zone to get it there on time.

I have been looking at a different way of counting submissions. At the moment I count submissions to editors. If the magazine has two editors and I submit to both, I count it as two submissions. If it has one editor and accepts two forms I count it as one submission. I’m thinking that I may start counting the two forms as two submissions. It seems to me that as I am trying to extend my range, and write more forms, it’s fair to count the different forms as individual submissions. Does this make sense, and does anyone have any thoughts on it?

Yes, I like teasel

I’m also going to have to look at the way |I make submissions. Four minutes makes for a good title, but it’s a poor way to write poetry. As happened last month, some of the poetry is so fresh that if it were paintwork it wouldn’t be dry.

As you can see from the header picture, I was out and about today. The violets are out and I’m regaining my eye for detail. It’s a slow start. It always seems to take a long time to regain a habit once you have lost it.

A very pleasant day

Anyway – nine submissions last month, eight this month. This month will be busy (it’s already twenty minutes into March as I write) – 10 submissions to write, though if I apply the editor rule, I will only be able to count them as six.

This is a Bee Bank – I assume it’s going to feature nesting places, but I’m going to have to find out more.