The Nature Garden: gardening, wildlife and nature notes · The Weekending Show

Cherries, care & cuddy ducks

·42 min·4 clips

Tom Cadwallander proves eider ducks are breeding locally in Northumberland, with five broods observed this year.

This episode of The Nature Garden Podcast, hosted by Carl Steinsohn, blends gardening advice, wildlife observation, and local Northumbrian stories. Tom Pattinson offers safety tips for gardeners, while Tom Cadwallander observes eider ducks and shares a story about a pied flycatcher. The episode also features John Knox and Dean Smith discussing the cherry orchard at the Annick Garden. Tom Pattinson cites Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents statistics listing lawnmowers, spades, and garden canes among common causes of garden accidents. He warns about tripping hazards like uneven paving, coiled hoses, and rakes left with tines facing upward. Cadwallander observes eider ducks, known locally as cuddy ducks, on the Almouth estuary, noting five or six broods this year. He describes how non-breeding female "aunties" help raise ducklings, using a distinctive "pop pop" call to keep them together. Cadwallander recounts a story from the 1980s where he successfully reunited a lost eider duckling with a crèche by throwing it toward the group. John Knox explains the Annick Garden's Taihaku cherry orchard contains 329 trees, the largest such collection globally. He details how the trees are grafted onto hardier rootstock to survive the UK climate. The orchard features 50 swing seats, inspired by a romantic gesture the Duchess witnessed from an elderly couple. The history of the Taihaku cherry involves collector Collingwood Ingram, who recognized a lost variety from a 120-year-old Japanese scroll in 1926. Ingram successfully reintroduced the tree to Japan in 1932 by sending grafts via the Trans-Siberian Railway with their ends inserted into potatoes. Cadwallander shares an email from an old friend reminding him of a pied flycatcher study involving nest boxes in the Wansbeck Valley. They used a paperclip fashioned into a non-return valve to trap a male pied flycatcher for ringing. That male bird, ringed the previous year, was found to have returned from its migration to West Africa to the exact same nest box. Tom Pattinson advises on garden chemicals, stressing they should never be decanted and must be locked away. He recommends using a Residual Current Device (RCD) with electric tools, which costs about £20-25, to prevent electrocution. He lists potentially harmful plants like lily of the valley, monkshood, and euphorbia, which can cause allergic reactions or poisoning. For garden tasks, Pattinson suggests planting out half-hardy annuals, sowing successive rows of lettuce, and watching potato plants for blight signs in late June. The tone is conversational, educational, and warmly anecdotal, reflecting a deep appreciation for Northumbrian nature and practical horticulture. Listeners who enjoy gentle, story-driven nature observations mixed with practical gardening tips will love this episode. Those seeking fast-paced, debate-driven content or purely scientific analysis might find it too leisurely.

As heard by us

Seasonal garden advice, bird notes, and poison-plant caution with useful Northumbrian tips.

This episode reads as a garden ramble rooted in Northumbrian bird notes and practical care. Cherry talk, a cuddy duck story, and a pied flycatcher piece sit alongside Tom Pattinson's reminders about lifting safely, keeping ponds and barbecues safe around children, and treating…

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Why you'd press play

Press play for cherries, cuddy ducks, and garden advice that keeps you looking down as well as up.

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