It's time for a new way to help our garden birds - by taking our seed and peanut feeders down. Sadly, some of our finches have been very badly hit by a deadly virus that spreads where birds are gathered together at our feeders. National bird charities are asking us to stop feeding the birds from May to October (there's lots of natural food around now) when the virus spreads best. Help instead by allowing plants to go to seed and encouraging insects in your patch. Feeding mealworms and fat balls is still ok. More details from the RSPB here.

No mow may is a national campaign by Plantlife that asks people to give the mower a rest in May (and if possible also "Let it bloom June"). This is a great time of year for flowers popping up in the lawn and providing much appreciated nectar for bees and butterflies and all the other insects that make the world go round. If you want to make it look neat, mowing a border or path, or mowing a patch and leaving a patch can really help. Even leaving a tiny patch unmown will help! It all adds up :) For more details on creating a varied lawn habitat check out the in depth guidance here. 

Many local people have been involved with Restoration Forth's efforts to reintroduce European flat oysters to the Firth of Forth and will be pleased to know that the project is a success so far! Our oysters are growing well and have a high survival rate. Read more on the BBC website.

As the weather turns colder and the days grow short the temptation for as all to curl into a wee ball and find somewhere warm and dry to sleep is strong.

With that in mind, please remember our local hedgehogs when you're planning any autumn bonfires (should the rain allow!). They love a big cosy pile of sticks and kindling so if you have pre-built a bonfire, please make sure you have a good check inside before starting the fire. Even better, build it on the day.

Thanks to the wonderful Dom Black for illustrating this point so well for us!

Check out Gardener's World from 3rd October to see Granton's Asheigh Whiffin enthusing about meadow planting and the changes made at the National Museum's Collection Centre in Granton. She gave us a wonderful day out at the site in September with artist Natalie Taylor.

The news isn't great. Although it was great weather for butterflies this year, the numbers were much lower than hoped. Have a read through the results and find out how you can help butterflies at the Butterfly Conservation website. Thanks if you were one of the 125,000 people who submitted their butterfly counts!