In the news....

Binoculars at the ready! I hope you've got your allocated hour marked off on the calendar this weekend.

Yes, it's time for the Big Garden Birdwatch, in which a large chunk of the nation's gardeners (530,000 last year) take up birdwatching, then give it up again after only an hour (having recorded their findings first, of course).

As we know all too well, it's been one of the coldest Decembers on record, so the RSPB are awaiting reports of the effect such numbing temperatures have had on our smallest birds, particularly in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the BBC Wales Nature blog has a cheat sheet on bribing more birds to come to your garden: and to whet your appetite, there are some wonderful videos on the BBC Wildlife Finder.

Incidentally, after our recent post about the uber-expensive snowdrops you can buy at the moment: if you thought £265 for a bulb of G. nivalis 'Flocon de Neige' was a bit steep, how about £357?

That was the price a single bulb of G. plicatus 'E.A. Bowles' went for this week at internet auction, setting a new record. Recession? What recession?

Elsewhere on the web...

Garden bloggers, journalists and environmentalists rose up as one this week to protest against the government's plans to sell the nation's forests. Nigel Colborn pointed out just how much we have to lose; he was joined by Green MP Caroline Lucas, journalist Julian Glover, and wildlife artist Robert E Fuller.

Phone-ins and email inboxes at BBC TV and radio stations were crammed: BBC political blogger Deborah McGurran tested the mood in East Anglia: 'people are genuinely angry,' one worried local MP told her. And debate was fierce on BBC Radio 4's Call You and Yours and Farming Today (7m 40s in), which had a rare voice in favour from a woodland owner in North Yorkshire: “why shouldn't somebody who lives in a town be able to buy a wood... and get a huge amount of pleasure from it?”. Quite. This one could run and run.

Elsewhere: rave reviews for Life in a Cottage Garden, Carol Klein's joyful celebration of her Devon garden. Even those hard-to-please folk on the messageboard are (mostly) full of praise. High summer last night, and we've got autumn yet to come. Bliss.

Out and about...

It must be spring or something. Suddenly, there's so much going on you're dithering over what to do first (and how to fit any gardening in).

Snowdrop celebrations mark the beginning of the end of our long, nasty winter: Londoners can head straight for the Chelsea Physic Garden, open for just two weekends for snowdrops and other winter bulbs, and Lady Christine Skelmersdale, of specialist bulb centre Broadleigh Bulbs, visits RHS Wisley in Surrey to talk about all things snowdrop-related.

Colesbourne Park in Gloucestershire gets the swank prize for having 250 varieties on show; then there's Rode Hall, Cheshire, private gardens opening for the National Gardens Scheme, and so many snowdrop openings at National Trust gardens they've picked out a top ten.

I hope you can still find the energy to visit a Potato Day: queen of them all is Garden Organic's 16th National Potato Day, at Ryton near Coventry this weekend. Over 130 varieties, rare vegetable seeds from the Heritage Seed Library, talks, tastings, and a potato-themed restaurant. It's going to be a busy year!