What amazing weather wev'e been blessed with of late, so warm!
In the garden, slow worms have appeared in our compost bin and today I found three curled up together. One of these was noticably larger than the others. Here, at the end of the garden cleavers, cow parsley, nettles and that notorious weed ground elder are all shooting up, whilst in the border foxgloves, garlic mustard, poppies and ox-eye daisy are fresh with green foliage. Daisies sprinkle the lawn, and in the damp meadow around the pond, native fritillarias have aquired flower buds. What an exciting time of year!
Action in the pond continues unabated with four pond scaters seen today. Pond snails are everywhere including some tiny ones no more than a millimetre or so in length; obviously babies hatched from last year's eggs. In the margins, purple loosestrife is beginning to sprout new shoots and the marsh marigold has flower buds.
Elsewhere, bumble bees of all sizes are buzzing around including a lovely type called anthophora plumipes. They have very long tongues and are amazing hoverers.
In the garden, slow worms have appeared in our compost bin and today I found three curled up together. One of these was noticably larger than the others. Here, at the end of the garden cleavers, cow parsley, nettles and that notorious weed ground elder are all shooting up, whilst in the border foxgloves, garlic mustard, poppies and ox-eye daisy are fresh with green foliage. Daisies sprinkle the lawn, and in the damp meadow around the pond, native fritillarias have aquired flower buds. What an exciting time of year!
Action in the pond continues unabated with four pond scaters seen today. Pond snails are everywhere including some tiny ones no more than a millimetre or so in length; obviously babies hatched from last year's eggs. In the margins, purple loosestrife is beginning to sprout new shoots and the marsh marigold has flower buds.
Elsewhere, bumble bees of all sizes are buzzing around including a lovely type called anthophora plumipes. They have very long tongues and are amazing hoverers.
Late in the evening, Suesie and I were standing in the garden gazing skywards as group after group of jackdaws swept above us, off to their evening roost. It was such a lovely sight to see that many of these were flying together as obvious pairs. Apparently, jackdaws mate for life.