Photo Gallery...
Hello and welcome to Wild at Heart Garden.
I walk around our garden several times a day and take my camera with me. I look for sunlight through the trees, or butterflies on fallen apples in the orchard. Frosty days can be spectacular too.
HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OVER THE YEAR...

Sunlight on grass on the path to FOX pitch.

A cluster of ladybirds on dead Hogweed stems.

Sunset across the field beyond our west boundary.
I love the wide open skies here.

I can 'borrow' the view from the farming neighbours.
This photo was taken where some seats are in our trees at the edge of the paddock.

Winter across the landscape looking towards the Trent Valley.
The tractor wheelings and stand of trees add artistic shapes and contrasts.

This is the old cowshed with rambler roses and honeysuckle growing over the roof.
The track to FOX and DIXIE pitches is on the left ...

A Verbascum coming into flower

Small tortoiseshell butterfly on wild scabious

The 160 year old English Oak stands majestically in the woodland area near a copse of Silver Birch trees

The stately Oak in early Spring

Winter round the tracks

Seed heads and sculptural plants

Rosebay Willowherb in July

An old pear tree stump with a strange powdery fungus today (8th September)

Viburnum opulus with its berries...the birds don't appear to like them until winter

The farmer has cut our north boundary hedge today...
I can see across the stubble now

We need strong machines here to mow...
this one is lovingly named 'Beast'. Photo taken as the Dixie pitch was created.

Foxgloves. Always a welcome plant in the garden...it's not often I get white

Surrounded by Red Campion

Silver Birch log pile...a home for wildlife

'The Robin's pincushion', on a dog rose...
is a gall caused by the larvae of a tiny gall wasp, Dipoloepis rosae.

Grasses in the paddock. I like them when they turn blonde.
We get meadow butterflies here, Ringlet and Meadow Brown.


Walking with Whippet...early morning sun on the Rosebay Willowherb seed heads.
Below, a detail of Geranium Rozanne in my garden.


A tangle of wild roses, Rosebay Willowherb and Hogweed alongside the mown tracks. The Dixie pitch is in the background.

Lots of Fly Agaric fungi about near the Birch trees.

I planted this Hornbeam many years ago...it was just a twig. I particularly like the shrubby growth.

Above, the track to HOLLY pitch through the old orchard.
Below, the track on the left to FOX and Dixie pitches past the old cowshed.

The woodland is getting a carpet of autumn leaves...

Tangled grasses and Hogweed seed heads along the boundary track.
Autumn brings relaxation to the garden.


The old hen house gracefully ageing amongst piles of logs
I love the old buildings in the trees.


Above...rusting iron totem pole sculptures in the woodland.
Below...the meadow is a tangle of Rosebay Willowherb and grasses changing colour in November.

The November view below from my West boundary across the neighbouring farm field.
At sundown the noise from roosting crows is like an orchestra.

I planted these Silver Birch trees in 1984. They were little saplings. Now they must be 60 feet high.
This photograph was taken on Remembrance Day 2021

"Who lives here?" .... an old caravan below is ageing in the garden near the hedgerow. I love the way Ivy is claiming it. The Ivy flowers are excellent for bees and the berries are enjoyed by birds. I think the thick leaf growth also provides roosting facilities.

A morning walk with Whippet along the leaf carpet in the woodland. Sunlight created wonderful patterns on the trees.


New Year...2022 looking west from Dixie pitch.

New Hazel catkins along the track..

I am always delighted to see plants which have decided to take up residence. Here is a self sown fern starting to unfurl in the grass near a young Birch tree.

Sunday 8th May...
I found this handsome beetle on a log cover...it's enlarged for a better view.

I have cut 5 Hazel rods to make a simple teepee near the west boundary. Next I shall cut some thinner ones to weave for added strength.
It will have camouflage material for a bird hide.

A pretty Aquilegia at the drive side...
Below is our welcome sign at the gateway


I made a bird hide with a fishing umbrella and some camouflage netting. The white throats from Africa nest in the wild rose bushes.

A visitor to my pond plant holding trough...not at all worried about the photo shoot.

Early autumn after the heatwave...beautiful rose hips

After the welcome rain in September...moss is soft and fluffy on the Birch logs.

Sitting under the camouflage umbrella in early October. Plenty of rose hips for wildlife.
More photographs will follow...