Science & Nature Archives - A Simple Life of Luxury

The Pond Overfloweth

Alan Cole — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:07:30 +0000

It’s lovely having a small wildlife pond tucked away amongst the plants in the garden. It’s nothing grand, certainly not one of those landscaped affairs with waterfalls, lighting systems and ornamental fish, but it punches well above its weight when it comes to attracting wildlife. With nettles and weeds behind it, and plenty of slightly...

The post The Pond Overfloweth appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

Costa Rica Coast to Coast – Reaching the Caribbean

Alan Cole — Tue, 26 May 2026 06:37:55 +0000

Today was the day we would finally reach the Caribbean coast and complete our coast-to-coast journey across Costa Rica. The Pacific now felt a very long way away as we prepared for the final push. Early Start We had another early start, which suited me perfectly. Everyone else had been going to bed incredibly early...

The post Costa Rica Coast to Coast – Reaching the Caribbean appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

Fata Morgana in West Wales

Alan Cole — Mon, 25 May 2026 05:59:28 +0000

Yesterday afternoon’s stroll over to the beach here at Ynyslas brought an unexpected surprise. Out across the water, the distant outline of the Ll?n Peninsula appeared to be floating above the sea — stretched, distorted, and shimmering in the warm haze. It was a classic Fata Morgana mirage, caused by layers of warm and cool air bending the light...

The post Fata Morgana in West Wales appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

Wax Caps and Workshops: Plant Science Wales 2025

Alan Cole — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 06:22:57 +0000

I somehow ended up coordinating the Plant Science Wales Meeting at work. Somewhat stressful, but it all came together in the end — and it meant a trip down to Carmarthen last week. It was a joint event organised by IBERS, hosted by the National Botanic Garden of Wales, and supported by the Learned Society...

The post Wax Caps and Workshops: Plant Science Wales 2025 appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

Wildlife vs Garden

Alan Cole — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 06:32:00 +0000

I like to keep our garden as wildlife-friendly as possible, but it’s always a bit of a balancing act. In some ways, making it wildlife-friendly is easy — I could simply leave more of it to grow wild and give myself fewer chores. But then it looks messy, gets out of control, and… well, I...

The post Wildlife vs Garden appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

Ynyslas in Colour: An Unexpected Double Rainbow

Alan Cole — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 11:26:16 +0000

I quite often walk across to the beach to see what’s happening. It’s not far, only takes a few minutes, and there’s always something different to see. On Sunday, as I started to head over, I caught the glint of a rainbow in the sky. It wasn’t fully formed, but its bright colours lit up...

The post Ynyslas in Colour: An Unexpected Double Rainbow appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

A Solar Year

Alan Cole — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 10:19:48 +0000

The weather has been terrible lately, so much rain and wind every day hat it has barely even gotten light. It’s a good job we have the Christmas decorations up to brighten things up a little. The solar panels haven’t been producing much. The daily yield graph for the past 20 days from my solar...

The post A Solar Year appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

Woodcock in the Garden

Alan Cole — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 10:14:50 +0000

Look who I found hiding in the undergrowth in the garden this morning. A Woodcock. I assume there’s something not quite right with him but he seemed fairly happy and scuttled off once I’d taken a photo. I’ll shall check on him again later of he’s still there.

The post Woodcock in the Garden appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

Bee Pool Party

Alan Cole — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 09:03:12 +0000

The bees seem to be loving the new garden pond. There were literally hundreds of them all lined up along the edges at the weekend. We had a hedgehog visitor at the weekend too, and there was a cool photo of a stoat on top of a fence post in the dunes here posted on...

The post Bee Pool Party appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.

Feeding the Birds

Alan Cole — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 08:35:17 +0000

We haven’t fed the birds here for a while. But, seeing as the garden was becoming more wildlife friendly with the introduction of a pond, I thought it would be nice to do so. The addition of a pond actually meant moving the water feature and reinstating the pump. The birds have loved this during...

The post Feeding the Birds appeared first on A Simple Life of Luxury.