Papilloma viruses in chaffinches give rise to warty growths - which have colloquially been called "tassel foot", and I think you would agree, looking at the photographs which have been kindly sent to me by David White, it is a very good descriptor.

Papilloma viruses in humans cause skin warts, which are very common but usually resolve spontaneously. In fact, I remember as a child, my Dad 'buying my warts from me' for a 5p (or maybe it was a sixpence?) - and magically they used to vanish! I think he just got his timing about right. More...

There are so many beautiful aspects to our farm and amazing things to be seen and I really want to be able to share the beauty with you all. So what better way to do it than by taking some lovely photographs! Problem was I didn't have a good camera, so last month I took the plunge and bought the business a 'proper' camera.

Now I don't have any skills as a photographer (and I also don't have very good eyesight) so the two factors combined were bound to produce some fairly blurred images - but HOORAH for auto-focus. I have decided to ignore the 345 different set up options and just use the autofocus button. I tried to capture some of our farm birds but rapidly realised I will l need a considerably bigger lens. So while I am saving up for that, I will share 'big views' and 'close- ups' with you! More...

Here is a brief comparison between the two types of Bluebells: More...

We are all encouraged to host a wide variety of wildlife in the garden. Apart from garden birds you can encourage bees, bats, butterflies and lots more bugs etc. Here at Really Wild Bird Food, we have a wide range of wildlife products to help you make your garden more wildlife friendly. 

One way is to establish more wild flowers. At Really Wild Bird Food we have a wide range of wildflower seeds to transform your garden into a haven for the pollinating species! More...

There are bird friendly gardens and there are butterfly or even hedgehog friendly gardens. And now to help the dwindling population of bats there are many people who are encouraging bats to be their garden guests. More...

National Nest Box Week is great for birds. Starting on Valentine's Day, NNBW takes place each year from the 14th to the 21st of February, and after 10 years it is now an established part of the ornithological calendar.

Nest Box Week reminds us to provide homes for dozens of different species, from blue tits to barn owls. While many people now use bird food to attract wild birds to their gardens, there is often a shortage of nesting opportunities for these feathered friends.

More...

Sadly, the numbers of hedgehogs have dwindled over the years. This decline over almost a decade is mainly because of the fragmentation of their habitats and difficulty in finding food.

However, small steps on our part will surely make the life of these tiny creatures significantly easy. There are a number of things we can do to help these gardeners' friends - if you'd like to find out more about thing you can do to help your local hedgehogs, you're in the right place! More...