I've
just got to the end of my current pocket-sized sketchbook, so when Danny
handed me this Nature Journal it struck a chord, especially as
Clare Walker Leslie, in her introduction, emphasises
how little time it takes to get out to draw, write and, through that,
tune into your everyday environment.
This
small nettle, Urtica urens (left), which has
roundish leaves with serrated edges, is the one that thrives in the dry
soil around the tomato buckets in the greenhouse. Its larger relative,
common nettle, Urtica dioica(right),
out of control by the compost bin, leans against the glass, 5ft tall.
I've
brought this weather station down to the greenhouse with
me. It's the first time I've got around to using it out of doors, for
the past six months we've been monitoring the weather in the lounge and
dining room.
Here
in the greenhouse, at 6.52 p.m. continental time (the station is tuned
to a European satellite time signal; British Summertime is an hour earlier),
it's a comfortable 18°C, 66% humidity, while out on the patio
table where I've placed the remote sensor it's 13.9°C, 86% humidity.
It would be: it's spotting with rain.
There are yellow flowers on the tomato plants and plenty
of green fruits too, including one the size of a golf ball on the Shirley.
This fern grows under the staging in the greenhouse.
Cushion
moss grows as stubby stalactites from the struts of the roof,
where water dribbles down. A small mite or spider crawls around its small
green world as I draw the clump. Beak-shaped rust-coloured sporangia(right), grow at the tips of golden-green wiry filaments of stems.
Leaflets are moss green with golden tips.
I've
just got to the end of my current pocket-sized sketchbook, so when Danny
handed me this Nature Journal it struck a chord, especially as
Clare Walker Leslie, in her introduction, emphasises
how little time it takes to get out to draw, write and, through that,
tune into your everyday environment.
This
small nettle, Urtica urens (left), which has
roundish leaves with serrated edges, is the one that thrives in the dry
soil around the tomato buckets in the greenhouse. Its larger relative,
common nettle, Urtica dioica (right),
out of control by the compost bin, leans against the glass, 5ft tall.
I've
brought this weather station down to the greenhouse with
me. It's the first time I've got around to using it out of doors, for
the past six months we've been monitoring the weather in the lounge and
dining room. 
Here
in the greenhouse, at 6.52 p.m. continental time (the station is tuned
to a European satellite time signal; British Summertime is an hour earlier),
it's a comfortable 18°C, 66% humidity, while out on the patio
table where I've placed the remote sensor it's 13.9°C, 86% humidity.
It would be: it's spotting with rain. 
Cushion
moss grows as stubby stalactites from the struts of the roof,
where water dribbles down. A small mite or spider crawls around its small
green world as I draw the clump. Beak-shaped rust-coloured sporangia
(right), grow at the tips of golden-green wiry filaments of stems.
Leaflets are moss green with golden tips. 