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Gardening

just cool and wet wet wet here so barely made any progress. In fact decided that this year will be a repair, remake, mend and build year instead. Might get a grow bag of toms maybe, otherwise when it comes to veg, I'm taking a break. However cleared a LOT of invasive reed/rush from the pond just 3 days before the toads reappeared (phew). Loads of newts now and a tomn of t spawn. I counted 17 newts last night. A fine balance needed to clear reeds and overgrown waterlilies, whilst leaving them food, undisturbed larvae to eat and spawning grounds.
Looks like i might have got it right tho!

DSC_1552 by John Dutfield, on Flickr
 
More brimstones today, at least one "couple", so probably looking to lay soon. Such a wonderful pale yellow, and a beautiful shape to them if you can get close when they land.
Still waiting for a white though......................
A male wren has been shouting from the hedge - a pair nested very low down in a Clematis last year, so here's hoping.
I still see both of the robin pair around so maybe they still haven't produced a clutch, so not incubating. The give-away will be when the male starts singing a lot again - he will be alone again during most of the day when the hen is on the nest.
When I moved here, there were clouds, upon clouds of greenies that fed in the "lawn" and nested in the conifers, but they disappeared long ago. But they seem to be back in modest numbers - pathetic song from the hedge and one, or two or more shot out from a shrub yesterday. Welcome back.
There are almost as many goldies now, as there were greenies 20 years ago, but they nest late - the first tumbling chattering, squabbling "pair" that I have noticed so far was yesterday. Their tinkling song seems to be everywhere here though.
The bullies are still around - one white rump shot away along a neighbour's drive as I passed by this morning.
A rather obvious missing "person" are the house sparrows. I have a "sparrow hotel" (look that one up), on the end of the bungalow and that usually has 2 pairs in it, but no reall evidence of any adults at the moment.
Goldcrests still calling - tse-tse-sut-sut.
 
Masses of blackbird alarm calls this afternoon - ****ing cats!!! Wrong - a sparrowhawk made off low, carrying a very obviously recently fledged backbird. Nature is always red in tooth and claw but it does grate (badly).....................
Oddly, the first blackie that I had noticed carrying food was only 5 days ago, and the chicks are around 14 days in the nest.
It looks like the "tame" robins were working a flanker and both came to be fed when they heard me as I never noticed a time when only one was about, but they are now both carrying food (back to chicks). (Food is soaked complete greyhound food mashed with fishmeal, so very high protein).
The blackcap(s) and goldcrests are still calling, calling, calling.
And there are a few house spadgers in the hedge now.
The first pair of chaffinches that I have noticed so far, were bickering and tumbling together in the air as preliminaries today - they too nest rather late. The only one that I have found here was in ivy on an apple tree - a beautiful construction that was like most others - adorned with almost contless flakes of lichen/liverwort on the outside.
The Bramleys and the trully vast double-flowered cherry have been in bloom for around a week and are fantastic. The cherry blossom, on otherwise bare branches, viewed from underneath the tree, aginst the rarest of all things - a blue sky - are breath-taking. If the blossom falls naturally, no help from gales, it pretty much fills one builder's bag (the tonne and a bit ones, used for aggregates). Bramley blossom takes some beating too.
Even without being outdoors for long, I would normally expect one or more of the local ravens to go past, gwok-gwok-gwok contact calls as they go, but haven't noticed one for ages. I need to spend more time outdoors.

Oh, and the Arisaema sikokianum are just about to fully open, along with the weird hybrid (vigorous) longibracteata bluebell.
Allium paradoxum normale has just gone over - one of the most beautiful of the onions - the smallish drooping white flowers appear to be made from sculpted snow, semi-translucent.
Saxifrage sylvestris is very common in very localised spots around here and it seeds around in my garden/pots. It is just starting to put up its spikes of the purest, most perfectly proportioned and marked, white flowers.
 
Spring has sprung! (Finally!)
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