Heather

I get this a lot too. I don't use ChatGPT or any LLMs in my work because I want my writing to sound like me, not like the averaged-out voice of the internet. But also, writing is thinking, and thinking is a habit. I don't want to get out of that habit.

A view looking down on a group of families surrounding a lit bonfire. Almost all the illumination in the picture comes from the bonfire and the contrast is warm and striking

Other work of the Ladybird artists

‘Bonfire Night’ (1951)
Artist: Ronald Lampitt

An acidanthera bloom viewed from underneath. It's got 6 long, pointed petals that are white with deep purple in the centre of the flower. In the background are the tall, narrow sword-like leaves. Vibrant purple Callicarpa berries and a large hydrangea head are in the background against a wooden garden fence.

I've got alstroemeria, roses, salvias, hydrangea, verbena bonariensis, seaside daisies and nerines, but the star of the show is the acidanthera. It's been going for weeks! 🌱

Photos of my 'egg box monsters' made from just one recycled egg box.

Photos of my 'Cardboard Tube Lanterns', made from just one recycled cardboard tube.

Photos of my 'Paper Plate Ghosts', made from one paper plate.

If you're looking for some cheap Halloween craft ideas, all three of these are on the website. All you need is some glue and a bit of tape . . . one paper plate, one cardboard tube, one egg box. 🤩
Here's the link www.darrellwakelam.com/news

A group of 6 goldfinches feasting on sunflower hearts from a hanging feeder. Four are on the perches while the other two are clinging to the hanging pole. There are plants, a wooden fence and two more bird feeders hanging in the background.

The bird life in my garden is even better than I'd hoped it would be when I moved 6mths ago.
While this little charm of goldfinches was having breakfast there were also blue tits, great tits, a pair of wrens, a robin, young blackbird & the wood pigeon waiting to hoover up the crumbs. So happy! 🪶

It's mad how much people care about immigration when it is so proportionately unimportant compared to healthcare, cost of living, poverty, climate change, wealth inequality, war etc. How easily people are convinced to rage about the wrong things by charismatic manipulators and social media posts.

Flippin' heck! Almost ran out of letters to try!😆

Wordle 1,590 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A collage of Japanese maples (Acer) in peak autumn colour, with leaves ranging from gold and orange to vivid scarlet and crimson. Close-up shots highlight the finely cut foliage, while wider views show the fiery trees brightening a garden landscape.

“The chestnut trees turned yellow,
The oak like sherry browned,
The fir, the stubborn fellow,
Stayed green the whole year round.
But O the bonny maple
How richly he does shine!
He glows against the sunset
Like ruddy old port wine.”
- Christopher Morley (1890-1957)
#poetry #nature

Loch Lubnaig #Scotland #Trossachs #Stirling www.damianshields.com

Loch Lubnaig #Scotland #Trossachs #Stirling www.damianshields.com

Glorious!

It's brilliant. They've invested in a quality cast and it's making for proper old skool, appointment-to-view, water cooler telly.
#celebritytraitors #traitorsuk

A fox curled up in the sunshine, surrounded by foliage. There are a couple of verbena bonariensis flower heads in the foreground.

Foxy found a cosy corner of my garden to curl up in the sunshine today. 🌱🦊

Still life painting of calendulas in shades of gold, orange, and cream, mixed with blue cornflowers, arranged loosely in a blue and white ceramic vase on a table before a framed artwork on a pale wall. Painted by the 20th century British painter and printmaker Freda Marston.

The marigold (Calendula officinalis) is the last birth flower for those born in #October. Sacred to Apollo, the sun god, its golden blooms were thought to hold protective and healing powers. To keep marigolds in the home was to invite sunlight and good fortune. #folklore #flowers

A collage of nine photographs of Dahlias in bloom. The flowers show a range of forms and colours, including pink, red, white, and yellow varieties, with layered petals and golden centres, all set against leafy green backgrounds.

The Dahlia, a birth flower for those born in #October, symbolises dignity and elegance in the language of flowers. Folklore says dreaming of colourful Dahlias brings good fortune, while in folk magic they are charms for spiritual growth and evolution. Happy new month! #October1st

A mother red squirrel brushes the bushy tail of a baby red squirrel as he stands on a stool

Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed?
1st of October

(Bob Bushtail, 1941)
Artist: A Macgregor

It's a fantastic garden. I went for the first time a few weeks ago - it'd been on my list for aaages and was worth the wait.

I've watched two episodes of Andy Pandy (on now, BBC4) and now I'm going to bed while it's still light. I am officially 4 years old.

The aggregate effect of rainwater gardens, swales, and street trees on biodiversity, heatwave mitigation, and surface water absorption, and mental health and wellbeing is enormous.

Getting them into every city, town, & village in the U.K should be a strategic national priority.

People under trees in Lisbon

It is 39°C in Lisbon today. The same in Madrid. In Paris next week it will also be 39°C.

Look at this picture. People are under trees, where it can be up to 12°C cooler.

Given trees take decades to mature and many don’t survive, cities need to plant many more street trees. And urgently.

👇 #Breaking #Spain - new National June Maximum Temperature record!
28/06
AEMET has now confirmed that Spain has a new June record, with the final Maximum reaching 46.0C in El Granado, Huelva. 🥵🥵

Ooh, good tip, thank you. I use PlantNet mostly but I'll check out your suggestion too.

Yes it's the same kind of pattern, isn't it? Yours is lovely too - that pink is a zinger!

Cirrus clouds over Portsmouth Harbour at low tide. In the foreground there's a boat sitting on the beach below the high water line along with a muddle of chain and anchors. In the background, two decommissioned Royal Navy ships sit on the hulks moorings, waiting to eventually be towed away to be scrapped.

Snap - different location but more seaside cirrus!

A Patty's Plum papaver. Faded purple petals with deep pink and purple markings inside.

Well, that was useful, thanks #GardenersWorld - turns out I have a Patty's Plum! That's another plant identified! 🌱

#gardenersworld That's a great tip for identification: "sedges have edges". Took out a looooad of sedges earlier this year - they spread like mad.

A beautiful half-furled rose. It's about the size of a tennis ball, maybe a tiny bit bigger, and shades of salmon pink, peach and apricot The rose is in the centre of the frame. Out of focus in the background at the top there's a pink hydrangea and on the bottom third there are light and dark green rose leaves

One for #rosewednesday...
I have no idea of the name of this rose - it came with the garden. Any suggestions gratefully received! I just love the colour of it.
#bloomscrolling #flowers #roses 🌱

I had a hummingbird hawk moth on mine this morning. Only for a few seconds - they're super speedy!

A white gull with light grey wings and black upper tail feathers with three white spots on the edge lying on pale gold sand with a smooth pastel grey/green background. The gull has its eyes closed and its bill tucked under its wing.

Silver Gull sleeping. #SuperSeabirdSunday #seabirds #WildOz

Alstroemeria flowers in shades of buttery yellow. The upper petals have little marks in a pinky-bronze colour, the size and shape of grains of rice.

For #sundayyellow, this buttery alstroemeria. It's a 2nd generation propagation from a bunch of them from a friend's garden exactly 5 years ago. One stem had a tiny bit of root, which I planted & it took & grew quickly. I propagated these from that plant when I began my house move prep last year. 🌱

Collage of fern images. Left: large sculpted wooden fern fronds rising from a mossy fallen log in a woodland setting. Top right: close-up of fern leaf with rows of brown spore clusters. Middle right: curled young fern frond (fiddlehead) covered in fine hairs. Bottom right: mature fern growing in a forest among birch trees and undergrowth.

Legend tells of a magical fern that blooms only once a year, at the stroke of midnight on #Midsummer Eve. From its fleeting flower falls a seed that grants invisibility. Fairies and demons clash in the darkness at this time, each seeking to claim its hidden power. #FolkloreSunday