Beautiful Lizard at Ugly House

I dropped in to the Ugly House today to see what was new; thank goodness the food and the welcome were as good as ever. The gardens were looking brilliant and I could not resist buying £25 worth of bargains from the plant stand, all in perfect condition and meticulously labelled with pencil on wood.

On the path up to the compost toilet was a basking lizard, incredibly fat with a stubby tail; were baby lizards imminent? Or had it just eaten someone's sandwich?

Further into the woods were a series of beehive boxes marked THN1 and THN2 - Tŷ Hyll Nucleus hives? Apparently they have been left there on the off chance of attracting a swarm. The full scale hives at the top of the woods had increased from 2 to 3. In many places were sheets of corrugated metal and other materials, presumably to attract things like snakes?

In front of the tea rooms was Lisa, with an illustrated hive, taking out the frames to explain cross sections of what goes on inside. More unbelievable than science fiction but clear to understand.

If you would like to learn more about what goes on at Tŷ Hyll there is a bee friendly day on Saturday 31^st May with candle making, seed sowing, tree decorating, bee hunt & quiz, bee-friendly gardening advice throughout the day and visits to bee hives and talks on beekeeping. Full details here.

On 30th June there is another event: A Pollinator Friendly Garden Day -
Trees and Shrubs for Bees. Details of this event are here.