Well what a month it has been! More rain than we could possibly need. And COLD.
The plants are struggling at the moment but I hear that summer is starting on Tuesday when the sun will come out and the rain will move away.
The poor tree peony was glorious for maybe 3 days and now all the petals are on the ground. Opposite in the field we have two horse chestnut trees which have also suffered with the wind and rain. Normally we would be able to hear the bees buzzing in the trees from our front door but not this year, I will go and listen when this latest downpour has finished. It looked like a snowstorm in the wind.
The blue tits in the nesting box have given us endless pleasure for the last two weeks. There are nine young, keeping their parents very busy. It is not very roomy in there any more and I believe they will leave the nest this week.
The Lily of the Valley have been very good this year filling the house with their glorious scent.
Mike has recently mowed a path around the edge of the field so that we can walk around it surveying flowers and butterflies. Not very easy to see the rabbit warren now but we do see them occasionally. We have always had a cat and have never been bothered with rabbits in the garden; we now rely on neighbours cats who come to visit.
We have seen very few butterflies so far this May. A few orange tips, the odd peacock and a holly blue. Birds have been quite busy; apart from the blue tits we have blackbirds, thrushes, gold finches, sparrows, dunnocks and I believe I spied a male blackcap. We are occasionally visited by a group of long tail tits. Plenty of robins who join us when we have tea in the garden or when we pick up a spade.
Flowers in the field include scarlet pimpernel, speedwell, nettle and white nettle, goosegrass, buttercups, dandelion, vetch, lady's smock, mallow and garlic mustard.
Both ponds in the garden attract a variety of birds including rooks and pigeons and pond life, mainly pond skaters and water boatman currently. I will have a pond dip later when it warms up a little.
Comments