Behold! The portal is opening... and what's inside? Is it a trans-dimensional gateway to another star system? No, it's a new UK government website about non-native species. Probably a lot more useful than a cosmic wormhole. Well, stabler, certainly.

Amazingly, despite having the not-at-all saucy and snappy name of the GB non-native species secretariat they made a website with a memorable URL: nonnativespecies.org, even if it immediately comes up with dismal government URLs once you are in it. Still, you can't have everything. But web addresses don't really matter except to tedious nerds (ahem). The real question is, is it any good? The Ranger took nonnativespeices.org for a test drive. Here's the results.

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Is it OK to play in the woods? Well, is it? It seems that the answer is often assumed by both children and parents to be 'no'. In Winchester, the Forestry Commission decided to do something about that with their innovative, Big Lottery-funded It's OK To Play campaign.

The Ranger was invited to take a look at one of the new sites, at West Walk, near Wickham, Hampshire. On one of the wettest days of the year so far, he went along to find out why this project was 'more than just another play area'.

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It's been a long time but at last the Ranger can report that he's actually done an honest day's work. Or rather, night's work. The worst snow on the Isle of Wight for thirty years has been responsible for me putting on my ranger boots again and getting out there.

In my previous post about snow on the Island I reported:

...my days of dashing around in emergencies are probably past... mind you, if this carries on for a few more days the rangers will need some sleep and even I might have to dust off my hi-vis jacket.

Anyone who's been following me on Twitter will now know that exactly that did happen, and I spent all last night on emergency driving duties around the Island. Read on to see how I got on.

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The Isle of Wight, like the rest of England, is shrouded with snow and ice. It's fun - for the kids off school for days (Junior ranger Bill, when asked for a comment, remarked 'lol'). But it's not quite so much fun for some of the adults.

The highways have been slippery, and services such as waste collection, planning, libraries, buses and much more are either suspended or limited, as staff just can't get in to work - or if they can, they can't get around. The Ranger's not been in the office for two days - although I've been getting round the sites near where I live, and doing a lot of work on the computer and by phone. My colleagues with land-rovers are in high demand, but my days of dashing around in emergencies are probably past... mind you, if this carries on for a few more days the rangers will need some sleep and even I might have to dust off my hi-vis jacket.

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By Ruth D'Alessandro, The Wildlife Gardener

Oxted town’s in Surrey

By nearby Tandridge Village.

The M25 at three lanes wide

Runs across the northern side

A pleasanter spot you never spied

When begins my ditty

Almost seven weeks ago

To see The Wildlife Gardeners suffer so

From vermin, twas a pity.

Mice!

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