"Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day.

 Teach him how to fish and he will eat forever."

An old Chinese proverb.

The garden group have been busy working on the Jurassic viewing platform. The flooring has now been installed and the next step is to shape the edging and start the construction of the sides and the access ladder.

The frame all ready

Some very large bolts!

Tools of the trade

The outside workshop

The decking  floor completed

Garden group helpers testing the new floor

Starting to make good

This part of the garden will be off limits for the time being until the project is finished.


Around the garden there is still much interest

The Morning Glory in flower in the greenhouse.

The Sweet corn patch - lots of cobs this year

Agastache- self sown from last year. Bees love this plant

The Ginger is about to flower

The Canna is still flowering and the Bananas are thriving

Our tallest sunflower this year!

Inbetween the construction work and  gardening there is always time for a bit of wildlife spotting.  Recent sightings have included the following

Hoverfly which mimics a Hornet

This was at first thought to be a real Hornet which was about to enter and attack the wasp nest at the back of the World War 2 garden shelter.  On closer inspection it was a  species of hoverfly which mimics the Hornet.  It has similar ambitions!  It sits outside the wasp nest then sneaks in and lays it eggs.  The young hoverfly larvae probably feed on the detritus at the bottom of the nest.

A Sycamore moth caterpillar. 

Female Southern Hawker egg laying at the pond edge

Longhorn Beetle- possibly the Musk beetle found on Willow

The garden group welcomes new pupils to the school this term and hope that they will get a chance to look at and explore the environmental garden before too long.