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

Coquet Island & new tomatoes

·40 min·4 clips

A grey-headed lapwing from China turns up in Northumberland, marking the first record of this species in Britain.

Carl Steinsohn hosts this episode of The Nature Garden Podcast with contributions from gardener Tom Pattinson, birder Tom Cadwallander, and poison garden guides John and Dean. Tom Pattinson details his greenhouse activities, including thinning peaches on an eight-year-old Peregrine tree and pinching back grapevine shoots after the sixth leaf to direct energy into fruit. He is growing grafted tomato varieties like Shirley, Alicante, Sun Gold, and the prolific Aviditas, alongside eight new experimental cultivars such as Gormanson and Crimson Crush. Tom Cadwallander reports from a cold Bank Holiday Monday volunteer trip to Coquet Island, where he helped erect a monitoring hide for roseate terns, a species he has monitored since 1991. He observed thousands of puffins gathering at sea before breeding, six razorbills settled to breed, and the first roseate tern of the season in distinctive pink-blushed plumage. Cadwallander also notes the concerning overlap of wintering birds like 85 purple sandpipers with arriving breeders and expresses worry about the potential impact of bird flu on the colony. The episode covers the surprising history of tulip consumption in wartime Holland, where dried and cooked bulbs were eaten during the 1944-45 famine, a diet that affected a young Audrey Hepburn. A major birding event is detailed: the discovery of a grey-headed lapwing at Low Newton, marking the first British record and only the fourth European sighting of this species, which normally breeds in China and Japan. The finder, Gary Woodburn, had created the scrapes habitat where the bird appeared, attracting over a thousand birdwatchers within days. Tom Pattinson shares gardening tips, including using a hot water soak in an egg cup to speed parsley germination and planting sweet corn in a tight block for wind pollination. The tone is conversational and educational, blending practical gardening advice with enthusiastic wildlife observation and historical anecdotes. Listeners who enjoy gentle, detailed updates on seasonal gardening and local British wildlife will find this episode engaging. Those seeking high-drama narratives or controversial topics should look elsewhere.

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