Nature Diary #12

Square-stemmed St Johns Wort

Well, I really shouldn’t be calling this a nature diary anymore, as there has been very little Nature spotted this week but, as I can’t think of a better title, I’ll leave it for now.

I have been very busy all week – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I was decorating my cottage, Wednesday I had a gardening job and Friday was my volunteer day at the market garden, so all nature spotted was more or less accidental!

Mary and I did take a walk to the lake on Wednesday afternoon, with thunder rolling ominously in the background and a large black cloud lurking on the horizon! We both took brollies, as it was too hot and muggy for a jacket but, in the event, didn’t need them. We were quite startled to find a car at the lake, beyond the new padlocked gate, until we realised that it belonged to the owner who was doing a bit of bramble cutting to maintain the footpath on the far side of the lake. He seemed surprised to see us, even though he knows that Mary has been walking her dog boarders here for years, but he told us that he is going to close it off to the public and try to maintain it as a private nature reserve. We hope that he is not going to exclude us from walking around it! The only wildlife we spotted was a female roe deer in the far corner of a field, who watched us warily for a few minutes before gliding silently through the hedge and disappearing from view.

The decoration of the cottage is progressing, but far too slowly for my liking. I have had offers of help but am not used to working with other people when decorating, and also came to the realisation that I am a bit ‘precious’ about my decorating! 😀 So, I shall continue making slow but steady progress and, eventually, it will be finished and the house can go back on the market. I do find myself being distracted by the view, however, as it is fascinating watching the weather patterns and the clouds - I even saw a skein of about eight geese flying past one day.

The unkempt outside of my cottage

All tidy again!

The outside after a few hours of weeding!

On Wednesday I weeded the herbaceous border that I cleared last year and was pleased to see that all of the shrubs that I pruned rather drastically have a) survived and b) maintained their better shapes. It was all looking quite pretty, although some plants (notably the day lilies) still need some attention, but the roses are beautiful again this year. I also planted a new rose in another area of the garden, where it is designed to form a screen, with honeysuckle, on a large wire and post support. I recommended Rambling Rector, a rose that I first saw growing through a mature tree at a community in Essex, so I hope it is not going to be too rampant! It’s a lovely garden to work in and I always feel slightly disappointed when my four hours is up, although I do get pretty tired and need a sit down when I get home!

This morning, I finally got out in my garden, only to find that things had gone mad after all that rain! Even though I had netted the gooseberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants, something had managed to get in and raid one of the gooseberry bushes. The berries had all been carefully collected into a heap and then each fruit chewed open and the insides eaten, leaving the skin! I have no idea what would do this, but it’s really annoying as the fruit wasn’t properly ripe yet. It meant that I then had to set to and pick all of the remaining (unripe) fruit just so that I wouldn’t lose it all. Luckily, you can make gooseberry jam using unripe fruit. I then decided to pick everything else that was ready and ended up with quite a bumper crop!

Harvest!

I’m afraid that’s all my news this week, so I’ll write again next weekend. Have a good week everyone and enjoy the predicted heatwave!

View from my cottage - west

View from my cottage - east

Nature Diary #11

Summer grasses in flower

I haven’t got much to report on the Nature front this week, as I have not had time to go for any walks. I did a short walk to the lake this morning to see if I could find anything to write about but, as it was damp and drizzly, I was the only living thing around! I did hear some lovely birdsong though – the larks are still throwing themselves high into the sky, carolling as they go, and I heard a wren singing in the hedge. On the way back, I heard a songthrush, but he didn’t show himself and kept moving down the line of aspen trees in front of me. 

However, earlier in the week I saw two sightings of a moorhen under the bird feeder in the yard. It was quite small and sleek, so I think it must be one of ‘our’ babies that had remembered where a quick meal could be had! I can also report that Mr and Mrs Swallow have hatched some babies. Unfortunately, they have tucked their nest up into a dark apex in the covered passageway so, although I can hear multiple voices, I have no idea how many are there. Let’s hope that, when they fledge, Mum and Dad will bring them to sit on the wire outside my window so that I can count them.  

We seem to have had quite a lot of wildlife around the yard recently - possibly because Mary has had no dogs boarding since lockdown started. We always have a large contingent of jackdaws, that have now successfully reared yet another generation, mainly in the loft over my little annexe! There must be a flock of about fifty continually swooping around the yard and gathering en masse on the house roof. Mary has had to stop putting feed in the chickens' hoppers as the Jackdaws empty them in a trice and, when they're not eating us out of house and home, they are making mischief by pulling my leek plants out of the ground and trashing my pea seedlings! 

There is also a very cheeky squirrel about, who seems to be getting the bulk of my strawberries. Not content with that, he has worked out how to get into Mary's squirrel-proof bird feeder in her back garden and has started coming into her conservatory and raiding the bird seed bin! Apparently, he now waits impatiently for Mary to open up in the morning so that he can help himself to breakfast - he even brought a friend with him yesterday!  The blackbirds are stealing my loganberries and redcurrants and now I see that the Cabbage White butterflies are around my Purple Sprouting! It's a constant battle with Nature down here, I can tell you, and I think Nature is winning!

My friendly robin

Whilst doing my stint at the market garden this week, I was again joined by my friendly robin. This time I managed to get a quick photo of him/her. It is looking quite moth-eaten so is obviously still busy feeding babies and not having much time to care for itself! Liam also called me over to look at a caterpillar he had found on the underside of a wheelbarrow. I thought, because of its size, that it was some type of hawkmoth caterpillar, so I took a couple of photos for identification purposes. When I got home I looked it up on the internet and found out that it was the caterpillar of the Drinker Moth – a new one on me. It was very striking and about 3” (7cm) long! 

Drinker Moth caterpillar

For the last two weeks my major focus has been on re-decorating my cottage at Draycott, as my long-term tenant moved out in mid-May and the place looks very tired and shabby. Unfortunately, every room needs re-doing, so I shall be busy for a while longer, yet. I need to get it back on the market by early July and just hope that it sells this time. I may post some photos next week although, as usual, I failed to take any ‘before’ pictures! 

The Mullein coming into flower

Nature Diary #10

Flowering dogwood

I’m sorry for the lack of a blog last week – I blame it on the hot weather! I did go out for a couple of walks but it was so hot that all of ‘nature’ was being sensible and keeping a low profile! I went on one longer walk and the only bird I saw was a lone buzzard spiralling slowly above the sun-baked fields. I was trialling my new walking boots, which seem to be quite comfortable, but will need a bit more ‘breaking in’ before I feel confident of doing a long walk in them – I had worn through the soles of my old ones!

Last week, whilst weeding in the greenhouse at the organic market garden, I disturbed a vole’s nest. It was a little cup of grasses set in a slight hollow on an overgrown path that I was clearing, and I hadn’t realised what it was until I’d picked it up. Luckily, the babies all looked to be semi-independent as their eyes were open and they were covered in fur, but they were only about two inches long and scuttled away into a more overgrown bit, so I hope their mum found them again. I hate disturbing any nests like this, even if the occupants will grow up to be a nuisance (such as rats), as I worry that they will starve to death if the mum doesn’t come back. ☹

On a more positive note, I was planting out runner beans for one of my gardening clients, and lightly digging in a top dressing of farmyard manure, when I came across a glorious blue oil beetle. I was particularly excited as you only tend to find them in areas that have been organically cultivated and this client always used to use a lot of chemicals on his plot. Over the last four years that I’ve been gardening for him I’ve managed to wean him off most of them and it has obviously paid off. The only other place that I have seen them is on an organic farm in Cornwall (where I took the photo).

Blue Oil Beetle (about 2" long!)

My walk early the other morning was very interesting: I walked out to the lake at about 6.30 and, on the outward journey I didn’t see much of interest apart from a hare running at top speed away from me! Once at the lake I walked as quietly as I could, stopping frequently, and was rewarded by the sight of the female mallard and her offspring. There are four of them (I must have missed one last time I saw them) and they are now nearly the same size as mum but lacking the markings on her wings. Further along, I heard a bird song that I was completely unfamiliar with – I think I heard it once last year in the same place, at the far end of the lake where the reeds grow quite densely. I took a video, which is very boring to look at, but gives you the song and then, after a bit of a grapple with technology, I sent it to my daughter who has a bird song identifier app on her phone, and found out that it’s a reed warbler! https://youtu.be/yhAgnyRm98c

I then walked along the field edge on the far side of the lake and came across five hares playing, so took a video of that, too! It’s at full zoom so it shows up my unsteady hold of the camera! https://youtu.be/Cehv9k6vaJg

Deceased mole

Sadly, on my way back home I came across a dead mole, which wasn’t there on my way out. This is the second dead mole that I’ve seen in a week, which is a bit strange. Apparently, the young moles disperse overground at this time of year and, I’m guessing, perhaps with the hard, dry ground they have been unable to dig new runs and/or find food. I find them quite fascinating, even though they are the scourge of farmers and gardeners alike!

There are a few new goings on in the hedgerows with the dogwood in full bloom, this year’s crop of sloes beginning to show themselves and a mullein beginning to poke it’s spire towards the sky – I’ll try to remember to photograph this again when it reaches its full height.

Mullein

Potential sloe gin!

Yesterday, when I was again weeding the greenhouse at the market garden (it's a bit like the Forth Bridge, being a never-ending occupation!) I was joined all day by a very tame robin who would dart in to the space I had just weeded and pick up any tasty grubs that I'd uncovered. It must have still been feeding young as it made frequent flights out of the greenhouse carrying beaksful of wriggling grubs! Today I am making soup out of the remains of last week's veg box to make way for the new veg box that I 'earned' yesterday - I shall be so healthy with all this fresh, organic produce!

We have suffered another poultry fatality which is quite a blow, coming fast on the heels of Mrs Speckles’ demise. Bandit, my beautiful, young Copper Blue Maran cockerel was found dead yesterday morning! He had been ill a few weeks ago with an upper respiratory infection which had been treated successfully (we thought) with antibiotics. He was almost back to full health, taking an interest in his girls, eating well, but still lacking his crow and then he just died. He was barely a year old and I never even took a photo of him to share with you. We are now down to just 4 hens, only two of which lay eggs on a regular basis. Time to re-stock or give up?

Nature Diary #9

Dog roses

 I’m afraid I haven’t been for many walks this week, as it has been a busy week for gardening work.

The grass fields all around us have finally been cut for silage, leaving several acres looking like they have had a ‘Grade one’ haircut! I was worried about the skylarks, who I thought might have been nesting in the long grass, but I needn’t have worried – they’re far more savvy than that, as they were up and singing over the bean fields this morning, so I think that all is well. Last week I was wondering why I hadn’t seen any deer for a while, until one briefly lifted it’s head from the middle of the field and watched me walk past. I hadn’t realised that the grass was so long that an adult deer was completely invisible when lying down – now they have very few places to hide, but it will probably take a while before they re-emerge from the denser coppices, after all the noise and bustle of silage cutting.

Ox-eye daisies

The hawthorn blossom has very quickly gone over in the high temperatures that we have had in the last week and, this morning, the lake surface was covered in the dead brown flowers, drifting to and fro on the breeze-ruffled surface. There is not much to take their place in the hedgerows but I did spot some dog roses coming into bloom, and some rather pretty ox-eye daisies near the lake.

The birds are much quieter now as they go into nesting mode, just the odd alarm call from the blackbirds as I pass by and a few random birdsongs from the higher trees. Our resident house sparrows are busy feeding young and chirping noisily and the large flock of jackdaws are also raising young and being very argumentative and territorial – it’s not exactly peaceful here!

Chick warning sign

I spotted two of the moorhen chicks under the bird feeder, without adult supervision, earlier in the week. I think this must have been the equivalent of letting the children go to the corner shop on their own, for the first time! Since then I haven’t seen any of the family about and no ‘come here’ calls from the parents, so I think they may have taken the chicks, (who are almost as big as the adults now, but a bit fluffy still) and headed out into the wider world. I feel very privileged that they chose to nest so close by and hope they come back again next year.

Returning from their first solo exploration of the yard!

In another twist to the ongoing Swallow saga – I have found where they are nesting … I think! There is a covered pedestrian walkway that goes through from the yard to the main road, where we keep the wheelie bin, and it has a high, gabled ceiling. There is evidence of two nesting sites right up in the apex, but only one of them has been used, sporadically, over the last few years. The other day I went out to put some rubbish in the bin and thought I could detect fresh droppings on the floor, so looked up, and there was a swallow looking down on me! So, there we are, we do seem to be hosting a pair of swallows, after all!

On a sad note, we have had another fatality in our ever-dwindling chicken flock. Mrs Speckles the very lovely, but totally unproductive, Speckled Sussex hen died a couple of days ago. She had always been a bit of a loner as, when I got her, she was at least a year older than the youngsters I bought, and she looked down on them with total disdain. At first, she was our best egg layer, but after that first glorious season, she downed tools and became purely decorative! Just over a year ago, she became very poorly with a large swelling on one side of her face that closed her eye on that side and forced her mouth to be permanently open, rendering her unable to feed or drink. A trip to the vet, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics (and a hefty £40 vet bill!!) brought her back from the brink, but this time her age (she was at least six) and the heat finished her off. RIP Mrs Speckles - you will be missed, by me, if not the rest of the flock (now reduced to four hens and one cockerel).

Mrs Speckles, in her younger days - RIP

Nature Diary #8

Hare in a bean field

Last Sunday morning I decided to go for a stroll to the lake, taking with me a carrier bag and foldable secateurs to gather any elderflowers that I might see. My mind was really only on my foraging mission, but I did slip my camera into my pocket on the off chance that I saw something of interest to photograph for you all! I was very glad that I had because, as I emerged onto the track near the bean fields, I spotted a hare a little way in front of me. I stood still to watch it and soon became aware that there was another hare in the bean field. I stood there for maybe five minutes and soon realised that there were more hares further over in the field, eating breakfast, chasing each other and generally having a high old time! After I’d counted ten, the novelty of the situation wore off a bit, but I did try to photograph some. However, even when they are not frightened, they move at an incredible speed, so the photos were not terribly successful! 

Hare today ... gone tomorrow!

Blurry Hare

Hare #3

This brought back memories of when Jeni and I were WWOOFing together in Lancashire and went for a drive on our day off. We were driving through the Forest of Bowland, with a gravelly stream to one side of us, when we spotted an unusual bird – an oystercatcher! I backed the car up and we took photos. A bit further down the lane we saw another couple, and then more and, eventually, a flock of them – it was very funny, at the time, as our wonder turned to indifference!

You will be pleased to know that my mission was successful, and one batch of Elderflower Cordial has been made, with the next batch waiting to be bottled today. I have also made Gooseberry and Elderflower jam, which was very popular last year on my stall. Perhaps, one day, I’ll be able to sell it on the markets again!

I went for a longer walk on Tuesday, but although it was fairly early (about 8.30) and there was a gorgeous clarity to the light, I didn’t see much wildlife, at all. However I did come across a wonderful red, semi-double Hawthorn. It was growing in a field hedge, but looked too exotic to be a native plant, so perhaps it was an escapee. We have white, pink and red hawthorn near here, which is lovely.

White hawthorn

Pink Hawthorn

Red Hawthorn

My walks generally take me out to the fishing lake and back and, quite often, I see nothing of note. I feel as if the lake area is quite secretive in that I rarely see any wildlife, but I hear moorhens calling, little rustlings in the bushes, odd splashes and ripples in the water but sometimes it offers up a little visual gem, like the huge carp I saw there the other week. Today it presented me with a mallard duck and three half-grown ducklings!

Mallard duck and ducklings

Nearer to home, I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to take a photo of our moorhen family. There are three chicks, but they are no longer little black balls of fluff, and have developed the characteristic long legs and large feet of the adult birds. Mum quite often takes them across the yard to feed under the wild bird feeder but, if she is startled, she flies back to the shelter of the shrubbery, leaving her poor youngsters to fend for themselves! We have put up a large sign near the entrance to the yard to warn any delivery drivers to beware.

I haven’t given you an update on Mr Swallow recently, mainly because I can’t work out what is going on! He has definitely found a mate but I think she is what is known as a ‘flighty piece’! It’s been a bit like ‘Location, Location, Location’ in that, one day, he came and proudly showed her his ‘home’ in the barn:

“This is where I was hatched and fledged, but Mum and Dad didn’t make it back, so we could set up home here. What do you think?”

“It’s a bit dark and dismal, isn’t it? Couldn’t we move somewhere a bit lighter?”

“Well, if you follow me through the interconnecting archway, there’s Uncle Sid and Aunt Miriam’s nest in the wood store – it’s a bit lighter in here and, in the summer, the humans don’t come in here much, so it’s a bit more secluded. I lost sight of Uncle Sid and Aunt Miriam over the Sahara, so I don’t think they’ll need it this year.”

“ Hmmm – it’s better, but it feels a bit claustrophobic and we might get trapped in here. Is there anywhere else a bit more open?”

“Oh, OK. Come with me outside to this little-used porch area on the other side of the yard. This belonged to Uncle Ken and Aunt Violet, but we lost them as we crossed from North Africa into Spain, so they won’t be needing it this year, either.”

“Oh yes, this is much better – lovely open aspect, and a view all down the yard, so we’ve got a good view of potential predators approaching … but it’s a bit draughty. Is there anything else?”

At which point, totally exasperated and dejected our hero gave up and flew off! They are still around the area somewhere as, every few days, he pays a nostalgic visit to his home nest and even brought his partner to sit on the electricity wire outside my door and have a little chat with me. No other swallows have made it back this year and the yard feels very empty without their chittering presence. I have spotted a few swallows on my walks, swooping low over the grass fields catching insects, but nowhere near the numbers that are usually hunting here, so I hope their numbers recover a bit this year and they manage to raise two or three broods successfully.

  

Red Admiral butterfly

White comfrey

Nature Diary #7

Dappled sunlight

This week has been a week of two halves as far as the weather goes – at the beginning of the week I was wearing a long-sleeved top and a thick sweater and putting the central heating on in the evenings and since Wednesday I have been in vest tops and wished I’d found my cut-offs!

I have only been for two walks this week as I have had a couple of paid gardening jobs and, yesterday, I did my first volunteering stint at my friends’ organic market garden. I suddenly realised, at my usual ‘idea-having-wake-up-moment’ (usually around 5.30-6.00am!), that the young couple, who run the organic veg stall at Castle Cary market, might be struggling a bit, as I knew they were doing fruit and veg boxes for people and delivering them all around the local area, which wouldn’t leave them a lot of time to tend to their garden. I got in touch and volunteered my weeding skills in return for a small box of veg. So yesterday I drove the few miles to their plot and worked for most of the day, weeding and clearing beds for replanting, firstly in the polytunnel (until it got too hot) and then in the outside plot. It felt very much like my WWOOFing days, and I thoroughly enjoyed it but, heavens, was I tired last night! Six hours of weeding in hot conditions nearly broke me! However, I have a lovely box of fruit & veg and a bottle of local apple juice to show for my endeavours and have volunteered to go again next Friday! I just needed to get a bit more structure in my week, for my own mental health as I was beginning to drift through the days.

Elder flower

My first walk of the week was going to be just to the lake and back, but as I drew nearer I could see that there was a vehicle and trailer manoeuvring up to the large bonfire heap that has been steadily growing for the last few weeks, so I went around the field and over the stile instead. It was just as well really as, when I looked back, they had set fire to the heap and the smoke would have been most unpleasant to walk through. The downside of taking this route was that I had to cross the solar farm field and had to virtually wade through the grass as they still haven’t cut it for silage and it was almost knee high in places. Having reached the far side by the old crossing keeper’s cottage, I continued along the lane to the far end, turned up the A371 for a few hundred yards and back along Bagborough Lane. There was very little wildlife around and no notable flowers, so the camera stayed in my pocket, however I did notice that the elder flowers are coming out, so I must get the ingredients together for our family favourite, Elderflower Cordial, and hope that, at some point in the near future, I will be able to give some bottles to my children! 

Wild rose

This morning I set off at about 8.30 with not much hope of finding anything of interest, that I have not mentioned before, but Nature had a few little delights and surprises for me! It was already sunny and warm, so I was quite glad that I’d decided to go out early. I started off by walking on the pavement along the A37 but soon struck off towards Pylle village proper, past the Village Hall. I was idly scanning the hedgerows when I saw a lovely wild rose, just coming into flower and had to take a photo. A bit further along the lane I could hear soft snorting noises coming from the other side of the hedge and, when I reached the gateway, I could see a herd of cows, most of whom were lying down contentedly sun-bathing.

Contented cows!

Pylle church was looking particularly pretty in the sunshine against the bright blue background of the sky, and there was so much birdsong that I leaned on the wall for a while just listening to all the sounds surrounding me – it felt very peaceful and soul-restoring. I managed to identify, either by sight or song, robin, black cap, chiff chaff, chaffinch, goldfinch, blue tit, blackbird.

Pylle Church

From there, I turned right towards Pilton and very soon crossed the bridge over the old Somerset & Dorset line and dipped down into a shady wooded area, where the smell of wild garlic was quite overpowering! I have never seen as much wild garlic as I have this year and it seems to be lasting for ages! The actual wooded areas on either side of the lane were remarkably devoid of birdsong, but I kept getting tantalising glimpses of small, brown birds flitting about in the hedges and trees. As I came up the slope, and back into sunshine, a beautiful solo song took my breath away – I waited for a while, scanning the hedges, and suddenly a beautiful song thrush flew into a dead tree nearby and gave a virtuoso performance, just for me!

More wild garlic!

Shortly after that I had to climb over a stile and walk back across the fields. Even though I had a map with me I still failed to follow the footpath, without making a detour, but eventually got to the right field where there were ewes and lambs enjoying the sunshine, but they didn’t take kindly to me invading their field and walked smartly away, as I approached.

Ewes and lambs

My final surprise of the morning came as I climbed over yet another gate (why did I think wearing a skirt was a good idea?) onto the final track before meeting up with Hedge Lane, and noticed a silken hammock on a small blackthorn bush. It was a caterpillar nest (of the Lackey Moth, I later found out) and all the caterpillars live communally in the nest for safety, coming out to feed during the day and returning to the nest at night, until they get big enough to go it alone.

  

Lackey caterpillar nest

More meanderings next week. Stay safe and sane, everyone x

wild bugle

Dandelion clock

Nature Diary #6

Peg Loom Rug

 The weather has finally changed and ended April in a more traditional way – sharp showers, with some sustained periods of heavy rain, which has rather curtailed my walking this week. I’m sure no self-respecting wildlife would have chosen to be out and about during the rain, so I stayed indoors, too. This enabled me to finish a peg loom rug that I started a few weeks ago, and I am quite pleased with the results. It utilised some of the black/brown Zwartbles fleece that I have, in both raw and spun states, plus some other rather coarse yarn that I have had for over 30 years (I can’t actually remember exactly where or when I got it, but it has moved house with me many, many times!) and have never found a use for!

Our Whitelake Stream briefly turned back into a stream, with a definite flow, but the ground was so dry that it has now reduced to a sluggish trickle again, despite the fact that we have had a lot of rainfall in the last few days. Whilst out in the yard the other day I spotted a moorhen and a chick in the shrubbery – we had one here last year, too, so I got quite excited. I think they nest on the far side of the shrubbery next to the stream, in a patch of sedge. Imagine my surprise when, a few days later, I spotted another moorhen with three chicks! I have not been able to decide whether this is a pair of moorhens with four chicks or two females with separate broods. According to bird sites both the male and female raise the chicks, but it is noticeable that each bird has its own chicks. I can tell them apart as the one with only one, slightly larger chick, is lame. The chicks are so tiny that I worry about their safety, especially as the mums seem to have a very lax attitude to parenting, and we have a large population of nesting jackdaws at the moment. However, I don’t think I have too much to worry about as I saw one mum seeing off a jackdaw that got too close and, a couple of mornings ago, when I first looked out, she was trouncing a squirrel – she bowled it over, at one point and then chased it away! They are said to be quite aggressive birds!

Moorhen and chicks

There has been such a growth spurt in the vegetation since the rain, that the only flowers visible along the hedgerows now are the campion. The fields that were sown just a couple of weeks ago have now got a couple of inches of green all over, and I was wrong about it being maize, it looks like a legume of some sort, so I am guessing at field beans for animal fodder. The grass fields are like one big, green desert as they are not old, species-rich pastures but quick-growing rye grass for silage, with no other plants allowed to emerge. I could have been passing within a few inches of a hare today and not noticed it as the grass is so long – I expect they’ll do a silage cut soon.

So many of the trees have been in flower recently, too. I’ve never really taken much notice of tree flowers before but now that I am looking at things more closely, I have been surprised at the abundance and complexity of their blossoms. Obviously, some are quite noticeable, such as the horse chestnut ‘candles’, but a lot of them are green and blend into the foliage. No wonder people start suffering from hayfever in April/May with all that pollen floating around!

Goat willow flowers

Red Maple in flower

Unknown tree in flower!

Walnut Tree in flower

On a more domestic note, my vegetable garden is becoming worthy of the name, with both the potatoes and onions emerging from the soil on their patch, and the salad leaves and lettuces starting to put on some growth now. There are neat rows of leeks, although I have had to net them as something keeps pulling them out of the ground, and my overwintered onions are beginning to swell. I’ve still got some of my stored onions but it will be nice to have some more earlier in the season – a bit of an experiment, as I’ve not grown them before. My sole courgette plant is in a big tub next to a tub of peas and I hope to plant out some more climbing beans this weekend. My first ones got shredded by the high winds the other week, but look like they are putting out secondary growth, so I’ll probably have a glut this year! I also have outdoor tomato plants and a couple of outdoor cucumbers still to go in somewhere. My carrots had poor germination, so I shall have to plant some more and, because it was very old seed, I have only managed to germinate two parsnips! The fruit bed is also looking good with the three gooseberry bushes having set fruit, along with the blackcurrant bush and the two redcurrants. I’ve had several pickings of rhubarb and the loganberry is in bloom and setting fruit. I also have a thornless blackberry against the back wall and autumn-fruiting raspberry canes, not forgetting the strawberry plants in homemade grow bags on a shelf! I’m amazed at how productive this little garden has become when you think that everything is planted in raised beds constructed of railway sleepers, on a concrete yard, so there is only about 9-10” of soil depth!

Potato & Onion bed

The Veg bed

The Fruit bed

With so much time on my hands, I have been trying to process the fleeces that I have had stored in various bags in the barn for the last few years. So far I have washed, dried and packed away in plastic vacuum bags, a Jacobs fleece (brown and white), a Ryland fleece (greyish-white and very soft) and am now in the process of washing a dark brown fleece, that I have no recollection of acquiring! A couple of the fleeces have been ruined by moth attack and one had obviously been situated under a leak in the roof and rotted, but it was high time I sorted them. I’ve still got quite a few to look at and process and then I suppose I’d better start spinning them!

I’m sorry that there hasn’t been much in the way of ‘nature’ about today’s blog, but I hope it has kept you entertained nonetheless.

P.S. I’m not going to speak too soon, but I think Mr Swallow may have finally found a mate!