主播大秀

In the news....

Binoculars at the ready! I hope you've got your allocated hour marked off on the calendar this weekend.

Yes, it's time for the , in which a large chunk of the nation's gardeners (530,000 last year) take up birdwatching, then give it up again after only an hour (having recorded their findings first, of course).

As we know all too well, it's been one of the coldest Decembers on record, so the RSPB are awaiting reports of the effect such numbing temperatures have had on our smallest birds, particularly in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the 主播大秀 Wales Nature blog has a cheat sheet on bribing more birds to come to your garden: and to whet your appetite, there are some wonderful videos on the 主播大秀 Wildlife Finder.

Incidentally, after our recent post about the uber-expensive snowdrops you can buy at the moment: if you thought 拢265 for a bulb of G. nivalis 'Flocon de Neige' was a bit steep, how about 拢357?

That was the price a single bulb of G. plicatus 'E.A. Bowles' went for this week , setting a new record. Recession? What recession?

Elsewhere on the web...

Garden bloggers, journalists and environmentalists rose up as one this week to protest against the government's plans to sell the nation's forests. Nigel Colborn pointed out ; he was joined by , journalist , and wildlife artist .

Phone-ins and email inboxes at 主播大秀 TV and radio stations were crammed: 主播大秀 political blogger Deborah McGurran tested the mood in East Anglia: 'people are genuinely angry,' one worried local MP told her. And debate was fierce on听主播大秀 Radio 4's Call You and Yours and Farming Today (7m 40s in), which had a rare voice in favour from a woodland owner in North Yorkshire: 鈥渨hy shouldn't somebody who lives in a town be able to buy a wood... and get a huge amount of pleasure from it?鈥�. Quite. This one could run and run.

Elsewhere: for Life in a Cottage Garden, Carol Klein's joyful celebration of her Devon garden. Even those hard-to-please folk on the messageboard are (mostly) full of praise. High summer last night, and we've got autumn yet to come. Bliss.

Out and about...

It must be spring or something. Suddenly, there's so much going on you're dithering over what to do first (and how to fit any gardening in).

Snowdrop celebrations mark the beginning of the end of our long, nasty winter: Londoners can head straight for the , open for just two weekends for snowdrops and other winter bulbs, and Lady Christine Skelmersdale, of specialist bulb centre , visits in Surrey to talk about .

gets the swank prize for having 250 varieties on show; then there's , private gardens opening for the , and so many snowdrop openings at National Trust gardens .

I hope you can still find the energy to visit a : queen of them all is Garden Organic's 16th , at Ryton near Coventry this weekend. Over 130 varieties, rare vegetable seeds from , talks, tastings, and a potato-themed restaurant. It's going to be a busy year!