Blog

The Habitat Aid blog is set in Somerset. The blog tries to introduce some of the issues surrounding our natural environment as understood by a non ecologist. You’ll also find some practical “how to” guides. It’s written by Nick Mann, who runs Habitat Aid. Nick is an increasingly curmudgeonly bald middle-aged bloke of familiar type.

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The Top Ten Flowers For Bees
January 9, 2022
I used to be guilty of blithely writing top ten lists like this. For many, bees tend to be shorthand for pollinators generally, so you might think ...
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Green Roof Update
July 22, 2021
There's a good reason we don't have stairs up to our green roof. It's one of my happy places - if I didn't have to drag my ladder out of the garage...
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Blossom, Blossom, And More Blossom!
April 18, 2020
You can have blossom in your garden from January to May. Here's why you want it and how you can have it!
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Coping With Lockdown I: Recording Wildlife in the Garden
March 29, 2020
The first in a series of wildlife gardening ideas to help stop you going bananas over the next few weeks...
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What's Happening To Our Butterflies And Bees?
March 10, 2019
Insectageddon! scream the headlines. Really? And why should this be? The more bizarre claims on social media I've seen recently range from Electro...
- bees
- butterflies and moths
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Farming With Wildlife in Mind
November 25, 2018
Farming With Wildlife in Mind This weekend the Times recommended Isabella Tree's excellent Wilding as one of its books of the year. It "forces us ...
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Foodplants for Butterflies and Moths
November 12, 2018
What would you think about if I asked you for good foodplants for butterflies and moths? Buddleja? Verbena bonariensis? Hebe? It's true - they're a...
- butterflies and moths
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Native And Exotic Plants In The Garden
April 3, 2017
Native against exotic plants in the garden; a complicated story. Which is best for wildlife and which is best for you?
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Plants for Bugs
August 18, 2015
Last week the RHS published the first paper from its "Plants for Bugs" four-year study in the Journal of Applied Ecology. It's an interesting read,...
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Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare)
July 7, 2015
Viper's Bugloss is one of my favourite British wildflowers. It looks like a kind of poor man's Delphinium, but flowers for ever and it's just great...
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The Invertebrate Conservation Conference
November 2, 2014
Last week I had a very jolly day in London at the Invertebrate Conservation Conference. The presentations were generally high quality and surprisin...
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Native and non-native plants
April 22, 2014
Today's papers reported on an RHS study which looks at "whether the geographical origin of garden plants makes a difference to the abundance and di...
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