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I SPEND THE AFTERNOON adding watercolour artwork of herbs to my new on-line Willow Island Gallery on www.willowisland.co.uk. One is this Mugwort, a wild flower once used as a moth repellant and as a flavouring for home-brewed ale. Branches were hung up during the Dragon Festival in China to ward away evil spirits.Its stems still stand by the towpath but most of the leaves have been shrivelled by frost. A Garden Spider has spun its web on one plant.
There are still plenty of Blackberries too, not all of them ripe. The leaves have turned yellow with scarlet spots.
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As I mentioned the other day, it is yellow Toadflax that is still conspicuously in flower.
A Coal Tit visits the garden, this is a bird we see far more of during the winter.