Rattling On...

Summer!

Yesterday the sun shone. It was a beautiful day and hot, in the afternoon it hit 28^oC. Of course most people at school were moaning and groaning because of this. And it is a shock to go from 8^o to 28^o virtually overnight, I'll grant them that. But the feel of the sun on the back of my neck as it streamed through the window was just lovely.

The woman next door (you remember...the Minimalist) has been painting her garden furniture in celebration. The most unusual shade of pale green. Last night she sat out sipping her ice cold white wine while I made my own favourite summer tipple...

...Rose's lime juice cordial, love it, and get through gallons when it's warm.

The garden is very blue at the moment, following on from the yellow period in spring. Bluebells and forget-me-nots are everywhere, are the latter classed as weeds? I think they are by some people but I adore the way they fill up all the space in the borders. I like the traditional country garden look, a sort of organised chaos. Having said that I like things like lawns and hedges to be cut to military standards. Split gardening personality.

No doubt all talk at work today will be how little sleep there has been due to The Heat. Not a problem for me, I have been tucked under the 15 tog duvet as I always am. I'm like a corpse at night and it would have to be a lot hotter than this to keep me awake.

On a different subject altogether, a long time ago I registered to receive a copy of the programme for the classes at the County Show. It came and I eagerly riffled through for the craft class... the knitting part is for... drum roll... a tea cosy. Blah. How inspiring, I don't think so.

My knee jerk reaction was Jubilee, but no doubt that will be done to death. So if I want to enter I shall have to get my thinking cap on. It's all cutting edge stuff round here...

Blossom...at last!

 

At last there is apple blossom in the garden, how many weeks behind the rest of the country? Never mind, better late and all that.

We have four trees, the Bramley in the front garden is always even further behind, but will get there eventually. The damson blossom was the best so far, at least something is enjoying the weather. (3^oC on arrival at work yesterday and massive hailstones almost all day)

Thanks for the interest shown in making Jubilee cakes. I'll put together a post about where and when to dispaly said confections. Please don't think you have to be a master baker to join in, and the decorations don't have to be icing. It's more for fun and giving vent to imagination. (You've seen my icing, right?)

Oh, and Crow is still in the front garden, in the laurel tree. He has breakfast and afternoon tea now. Yesterday he came down to feed almost as soon as the food touched the floor, so he's braver and I hope healthier. It takes around six weeks for feathers to regrow so he has a long time to sit in my tree.

I mentioned at work that Crow's feathers looked like they'd been singed, and M pondered whether it was the result of sitting on a chimney. Have to admit I hadn't thought of that.

Crimewatch...

Never trust a pretty face, or at least a pretty beetle. These lily beetles have nefarious plans for my fritillaries.

I reported them (see link on sidebar on the RHS page) and I think you should as well if you find them lurking...not too sure what I'm supposed to do now. Just sit and wait while they devour my plants and lay eggs so that the same happens next year, I suspect. But at least I'm safe in the knowledge that the gardening powers-that-be know the blighters are in my area.

Crime won't crack itself...

 

A rolling stone...

You know it's time to get a move on in the garden when the pots you left to be put away later have now got moss growing up them.

To be honest I love how it looks and am tempted to leave the whole lot right where it is. You'd pay a premium for patina like that in some shops...

The pots came from the bottom of the pond when we had it re-lined last year, Joe the pond-man said it wasn't necessary to have hidey holes in there and that broken pots could actually cause damage. I see his point and hope the frogs and newts are content to wallow in mud.

Anyway should you need to 'age' new plantpots, find a convenient pond and leave to marinate before moving to a shady spot in the garden. Where Nature will embellish...

Waterworld...

I am thinking of opening the garden as a nature reserve... this pair are today's new attraction.

I looked out of the kitchen window to see them making themselves at home. No doubt feasting on the frogspawn as well... not much you can do about that kind of thing really. Nature and all.

I went out to photograph them and was followed all the while by the female blackbird nagging for food. I then had to go and get the tub of mealworms and put them in the feeding spot in the front garden. She was there before me.

Back to say... hold the front page. I've been out with the garden rake to scare them off. Why? Because I was just wondering what the female had in her mouth after surfacing from her dabble when I realised it was onre of my frogs. Well, the effrontery. My frogs are my frogs.

The flew off quacking and not very happy to be evicted. I think I now know how the pond pump has been dislodged in the past...

Birdwatching...

I think this may be a tree pipit. I was sort of thinking skylark... but they don't sit in trees. But the tail looks more like a skylark... it's not a sparrow in any case!!

Aaaaargh, I hate it when I can't pin the id down. I suppose it doesn't matter really, it was a lovely bird with a nice song, above me in the tree as I peered (once again) at the frogspawn at lunchtime yesterday.

The weather has been marvellous. Yesterday morning the car was frozen over when I set off for work and it was 2C, when I left to go home in the afternoon we hit 22C in full sun, heaven. And better than a usual summer here. I have been chunking away like mad at the garden and have just about got it under control, for now at least.

No frogs were harmed in the making of this...

...although the pictures that follow might make you believe otherwise. The pond is, quite literally, heaving with frogs at the moment. Green ones, yellow, brown and even red. They are all there for one thing. Spawning...

You can tell the females who have already released their eggs as they have extra floppy skin round the midriff. The croaking and splashing can be heard all the time, the two massive tench swim serenely around, avoiding the particular part of the pond where the action is centred. I wonder if they eat the spawn?

I spent quite a while (and the rest) yesterday watching and taking pictures (of which there are many). I love the frogs and am so glad they are back with a vengeance after losing so many to the cold last year. We didn't lose anything in there this winter.

Blink and you'll miss it...

The whole world seems to be outside my kitchen door at the moment. The blackbirds are nesting, the bird feeders are full and the field mice are back on the scene. I use the plural though I've only ever seen one at a time. I'm quite sure he doesn't live alone...

I usually see his bum and tail disappearing into the gloom beneath the hedge, where he forages for the odd seed the sparrows have missed. They don't like one seed in particular, and you can see it now growing in the pictures.I don't know why there are bits of coal in the garden, you can see it there shining away. I spend unbelievable amounts of time every year sifting crap out of the soil, but still it surfaces. Three years ago I found most of the fireplacetiles  from the dining room in that very spot, smashed to pieces years ago and thrown into the garden.

The cats also use the French doors as a sort of cat TV, all those birds and mice are irresistible. I can usually tell what type of creature they are observing by their eye level! I caught Frank on the draining board dabbling at a plate the other day, which at first I thought was very unusual. It was an Emma Bridgewater plate with the image of a bird on it! Must be pretty realistic designs...

A loveliness...

...of ladybirds. I didn't know that was the collective noun, it's certainly a pleasant one.

And here is a loveliness on the topiarised yew that's in a pot by my front door. The one that every cat in creation likes to pee up.

As you can see I was in the garden prowling round, between rain showers, at the weekend. So be prepared for more garden wildlife pictures later on. I was also experimenting with some basic filters I bought for the camera, one of which proved to be annoyingly unsuccessful and spoiled some shots I took.

But then I suppose there's a lot of that in photography, luck rather than management most of the time. Or is that only me? I look back at the beginning of the blog and see the dreadful photos I took and realise how much better I can handle a camera these days, just by constant use rather than anything else.

Part of me would love to go on a course or workshop on how to take wonderful pictures. Another part knows that I just wouldn't be able to take all the talk of f-stops and light meters, apertures and angles. I just like to fiddle around.

Garden shennanigins...

This perky little bird is the bluest bluetit in the garden. He stands out, he's so bright. I mean, I know they're all blue, just not as blue as this one!

All the little birds are getting braver and don't fly off as much when I go out to either fill up the feeders or take photos. The blackbirds come right up and the great tits chatter at me from the tops of the bushes.

But by far the friendliest is the robin in the back garden. At least he's friendly to me, but can be aggressive towards other people. He usually just follows me around and poses for pictures no more than a foot away.

But now I fear he has a new interest...

lurve is in the air. Actually, I think it has been for a while as I'm pretty sure they have a nest in the evergreen bushes by my kitchen windows. I can definitely hear chicks and my money is on the robins.

I've always liked birds and I still have the Observer book I used to identify them with as a child. I like the unassuming garden birds best of all, it's such a treat to have them around. They had all better keep their wits about them, though.

Yesterday as I was peering out of the bathroom window, the best vantage point for checking feeder stocks, the sparrowhawk was swooping over the garden and checking it all out.

Something funny has happened in the pond as well, I think there may have been an unwelcome visitor there. I came home from work to find the pump half out of the water, sucking away at thin air. As it's usually submerged under several feet of water I'm thinking that either a cat or a heron has been in after the fish or the frogs. I took the opportunity to give it a quick clean and get it back in the depths.

There were twelve frogs visible at lunchtime yesterday. In twos. If you get my drift...

Sunday again...

This tiny ladybird was taking in a bit of sun on my (filthy) front door on Thursday. Right now at 9am on Sunday the 4th of March it is snowing outside. As forecast.

The mess and dust on the front door is the result of jackdaw activity. They are very kindly cleaning out the gutters, ripping out moss and throwing it all over the front of the house and path. It's lovely moss, good for nests I imagine, and I go round collecting it to cover the tops of my planters.

Chunking...

I mentioned yesterday that I was feeling in need of a hit of colour and I think this latest project proves it!

I only made a small throw as I thought the pattern looked difficult and I'm not the world's best crocheter. I did have to read the instructions a few times, and look really hard at the pictures, but it was actually straightforward in the end.

The details are on my Ravelry page (see sidebar) as always and as I had loads of yarn left over look out for something else in the same colourway soon. (The colourway owes a lot to Andamento's Turtle Blanket, which I admire immensely.)

I can see myself making a much bigger version of this some time soon as I enjoyed the process as well as liking the end result.

I got out into the garden for an hour after work last night. I've set myself the target of doing manageable sections every evening the weather is suitable. This is known as 'chunking' in education.

I have decided that if I chunk the garden in the week then I won't feel I have to spend all weekend going at it hammer and tongs. Hopefully in that way it will be a pleasure and not a chore. I won't be doing it tonight, whatever the weather, as we're off out for our Departmental Christmas meal. Another one postponed twice due to weather. I'm tempted to take the box of crackers we had left over.

Also last night a pre-set alarm went off on my phone, it said 'Cakes' and had been set a long time ago. It took me a while to remember I'd promised No2 to bake for a Sport Relief fundraiser today (she ran her mile yesterday). So I had to set to and make a shed load of cakes.

I know there's another cake alarm set for Sunday, a school birthday on Monday, and the boy concerned reminds me at least twice a day...

What lies beneath...

Early morning... bubbles on the surface of the pond, the weed disturbed and mysterious dark blobs bobbing up and down.

It can mean only one thing.

I can now bore you with the goings-on in the pond again!

Of course, they all disappeared the moment I got the camera out, mostly wriggling into the plants at the sides, but a couple stayed just under the surface.

You can see the pond liner in the second picture. You shouldn't be able to, but the water level still needs to go up a few inches. No doubt the weather will oblige shortly.

Disaster...

Does anyone remember the pond problems of last year? You know, the ones where all the water kept emptying out after that big freeze and we had the whole thing re-lined?

Well, last Saturday I took this picture of the blackbird having a drink via the little hole underneath the pump outlet that was still open despite the ice.

On Sunday morning I looked out of the bathroom window (I always survey the garden first thing every morning) in the half light and noticed, with extreme dismay, that the pond was half empty and the thick layer of ice had caved in.

I threw on wellies and went straight out. Yes, it really was half empty. I couldn't see a rip or anything obvious, so I turned off the pump to let it settle and left a hysterical message for the pond man. He called back and said he'd come round later in the day. Which he did.

He first thought the high winds had blown something into the pond and punctured it, but I had photographic evidence that it was okay the day before.

So the lovely man dismantled all the pump fixings and there was the culprit. The frost (-11C) had forced open one of the joints and basically the pond was being pumped empty.

It was partly a relief, that everything is intact, and partly infuriating. I'm so glad I turned off the pump when I did.

Joe informs me that the fish should be fine as long as I don't fill up with new water until the weather is significantly better. They're sluggish at the bottom now and even slightly warmer water could disturb them.

I've left the pump off, but this means I have to keep a hole open in the ice. Partly for the birds but mainly so the noxious gases don't build up in the pond and kill everything in it...

That is why there's a large orange basketball, with a string sling and anchor, resting on the top of the ice. I put it there every night and in the morning prise it off. Underneath is a round hole which I free up further with the window opening pole. I leave this open all day, clearing the thin layer of ice that forms regularly, and put the ball back at night.

If it saves my fish it will have been worth it, and the birds still get access to a drink...

Blackbird diaries...

Or... Narcissus takes the plunge.

He starts off by staring for ages into the water from the stones at the side of the pond. Then he sits in up to his tummy, sort of floating. The tail gets a genteel rinse... then he goes for it hell for leather. At which point you'd be forgiven for thinking he was drowning, which I did the first time, but he just loves the water this one. Then its a quick scratch and fluff and out onto the stones to dry off a little.

This is a juvenile male, one of last year's babies, which you can tell because he'sn ot quite fully black yet and his beak hasn't turned yellow. He's a bit of a ladies' man, though, and gets into quite a few spats with some other males in the garden. There were seven blackbirds in the back the other day. Three go around together and I think they may be the three from last year's nest, a couple are what I presume to be their parents (none of them fight) and a few invaders intent on turf wars.

There's quite a lot of this in the undergrowth...

... where the coy ladies play hard to get. But frankly if it came to callow youth or this boy...

... there'd be no competition.