Passing Of Keith Floyd

1943-2009

I recently heard the passing of Keith Floyd I was a big fan of his programes. I was shocked when I heard the news, he was a famouse TV chef in britain and Im sure in other countries aswell. I offer my tributes to him and my sympothys go to his family.

Loss Of Fish.

It was a sad day yesterday, I lost 9 fish to the freezing temperatures weve had this winter. It has been unusualy very cold this year weve never had a cold winter like this one for a while. Unfortunately it took its tole on my fish, two of them were old between 10 and 12 years old, I still have 4 left and im taking extra special care of them. Sadly you cant do a great deal to help fish over the winter appart from a few things like:
Make shore that the pond they are in is deep enough so they dont get caught up in the ice, say about 4 feet deep.
Make sure that they have plenty of space in the pond to move around a bit and they are not cramped up.
And always make sure that there is a air hole in the ice to allow oxygen in and harmfull gasses out. This can be achieved by placing any floating object like a football or a large plastic pop bottle on top of the pond to take out and put back in to keep the hole open. When making a hole in the ice do not smash the ice with a heavy object this can shock your fish and may be kill them. Melt a hole gently by placing a pan or kettle on the ice to melt through gently with hot water in them not boiling water.

Small Fish Cemetery

Over the years ive been keeping many fish in a pond I have and there have been times where I have lost the odd fish either to predators or disease. I like my pet fish and it does hurt me when I lose one for some reason or another and I dont like just flushing them down the toilet. This is for two reasons one it just isn't very nice after you spent your time looking after them and two they are usualy to big to flush away. So ive used a small ruff area of my garden to bury my pet fish in and ive tried to make into a small wildlife garden. It may sound like a strange thing to do but it makes me feel better and its used up an area of the garden that I didnt know what to do with, also its a little more dignified for my pet fish.

Victorian Cemeterys

Some of the old victorian cemeterys are well known for there architecture such as old crypts and angels made out of stone and used as a headstones. In fact there so well known that now some of the old crypts are now being saved as listed biuldings. Over the years old victorian cemeterys have been decaying slowly but certain trusts have noticed this and are now starting to restore them to bring them back from the dead excuse the pun ;) . I personaly think this is a good thing to undertake because cemeterys are part of a cities architecture, so if the cemeterys are deteriating it may mean a bad image for the city.

Benefits Of A Front Or Back Garden

The benefit of a front or back garden is that it can offer a valuable green space for wildlife. Having shrubs, bushes and a water source like a pond or even just a bird bath can offer water and shelter for many birds. Even if you just had an area of grass with some bushes or shrubs it can help to attract wildlife. Birds like Black birds and Starlings will forage on your front or back lawns for worms and grubs. Small Wrens and Blue Tits will forage in amongst your shrubs and bushes for insects. Put food out in winter and summer and most importantly water, it will atract alsorts of creatures. If you would like wildlife in your front or back garden you must have a green space they will not be all that interested in a completely paved area. Good luck with your green space watching wildlife can be very awarding.

Burslem Park

I enjoy walking in parks, the picture on the right here is a picture I took of burslem park some years ago. The picture was taken about early spring and it was a nice day that day. Burslem park isn't such a large park infact compared to other parks in my area it is small but even so it's still a nice park to walk through. Its kept well maintained and some time ago the parks childrens play area was improved and I must say it looks an awfull lot better. The lake they have holds alot of birds and it even had nesting swans on there. Fisherman sometimes use it to do a spot of fishing now and then, infact there was one time I noticed one person catch a perch or a roach. Burslem park even had its own greenhouses to grow its own bedding as most other parks did in the area, but sadly they have now ceased to work. If your in the area of Stoke-On-Trent try walking through Burslem Park and other parks they are very nice to try :)

My Allotment Garden

The picture you will see on the right of this post was my allotment when I had it for the first time, it was shell we say somewhat over grown. Im pleased to say though since then it has improved greatly and is producing crops. Even though it is now producing crops I purposely left some areas wild for wildlife and ive found it works. Ive seen a fair few insects like ladybirds, garden beetles and woodlice. Also ive seen little mammals like field mice, voles and even a mole. We have toads and frogs that like to live around over grown areas where it is shaded and damp, Im even thinking of putting a wildlife pond for them. My allotment continues to improve and I like going to my allotment over the summertime to do little projects on it, I find it very rewarding.

Good Things About Cemeteries

It might sound a little morbid but I find cemeteries especialy some of the old ones interesting to look at because they are full of information about the people who rest there. Not only that some cemeteries can be very nice places to walk through. Cemeteries are not just some land to bury the dead in, they make them into nice gardens and councils or volunteers do a good job looking after them. Also another good thing about cemeteries they are a hot spot for wildlife like insects, birds and mammals. So it shows that there is life in cemeteries and not all death. Infact they are fascinating and pleasent places to walk through especialy on a warm summers day when wild flowers or bedding flowers are starting to blossom.