Springing Around in the Garden!

It's been Springtime in our garden this week.  Tom has been very happy to be allowed outside.  He lies happily in the grass, watching birds and insects, sunning his tummy or back and enjoying the breeze. 

Tom is ready for his close-up...

 

...see?

Tom also spends a lot of time running around, which is good for his fitness routine.  He has been on a Diet, as he was a bit overweight. I'm sure all the dashing about and adventuring outside is doing his little chubby figure some good - he'll soon be fitter than me!

 

Dave has also been busy.  He's renovating the lawn near the new deck.  It was pretty mashed up by the builders' equipment.  We had some stepping stones across to the steps, but the digger rolled over them and broke one, so he's dug them out and filled in the holes.  They are no longer in the best place, as the whole dynamic of the garden is affected by the new building and decked area.  We'll replace them with new ones soon, running on a slightly different line.  

He's also making a soakaway next to the deck, as all the rain we had in the winter turned the lawn area into a huge swampy puddle.  The hole is quite deep and has a thick layer of sharp sand, with another of nice green stone chippings. 

 

He has smoothed and levelled the ground (digging out several loads of stones, rubble and bricks embedded there by constant running of machinery over the grass!).  Four boxes of grass seed, some feed and a layer of compost later, we are hoping for a few new green shoots in the next week or so.

 

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The garden itself is enjoying the warmer weather and many of our spring flowers are now opening out and giving us a display of colour, after all the greys of winter.

Celandine...  

Euphorbia... (pretty and so cheerful in their corner by the acacia tree)

Muscari (grape hyacyinth)  

Narcissus... 

 

The pear tree is now beginning to waken too and the blossom is almost out.

Pear blossom ready to open...

 

And the tulips have big green buds, with evidence of fast-ripening flowers inside.

Tulips - these will soon be red!

 

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The birds are enjoying the springtime too.  There's been much activity and flurry going on, with pairings-up and dashing around with beaks filled with fluff, twiggy bits and straws for nest-building.  The robins are nesting in the hedge, the greenfinches somewhere nearby (they collect stuff from our garden, then vanish over the top of the big hedge), the sparrows are out in a gang, twittering and squeaking in the shrubs. 

Also, this nest box has proved popular.  There have been several Viewings, but it is no longer To Let - it has been taken for the season...

 The nest box is high up in the false-acacia tree, far enough away from cats to make it a desirable location.

I sat and watched with my (new!!) camera, on Friday lunchtime...

Blue Tit...

...checking it's safe...

...going inside...

...with nesting material! 

 

So, soon we will have little twitterings and flutterings from the blue-tit box (and we'll need to police the cat!). 

Ground Control to Major Tom…

Tom was Very Brave today. 
Dave has been working in the garden, tidying up the ravages of 10 months’ building work and a wet and windy winter.  He left the back door open and called when he saw Tom in the kitchen.

Tom looked out to see where Dave was calling from….

Then he went right up to the doorway…

…and stepped out into the Great Unknown… It was a bit scary…

…but he was Very Brave Indeed. 

He spent several minutes outside, exploring a bit, before retreating to the safety of the Room.  Then I opened the big door onto the decked area.  Dave came round to see and Tom went to explore a bit more…
He was Even More Brave and went out onto the deck…

…then Right Outside into The Big World of the garden. 

Currently he is sitting at the very edge of the deck, just outside the big door, sniffing the fresh air and watching the breeze blowing the trees and the tarpaulin on the trampoline. It’s as if he’s been going in and out all his life.

A Very Brave Cat Indeed!

Little White Birdie

Regular readers of my blog will know that we love watching the birds that visit our garden.  We put out food for them, especially in the cold weather and the nesting season.

Early this morning, Mr LizzieMade put out some mealworms (dried… I can’t quite cope with wiggly live ones!).  A group of birds came down to feed, bringing their fledged chicks with them.  Dave noticed a nice little grey-white collared dove baby – he’d never seen a baby collared dove before, so he stopped at the kitchen window for a closer look.

Only, it wasn’t a baby collared dove at all….


A little grey-white baby Starling!

An albino…maybe, we’re not sure – it doesn’t look quite white and I think it may still have dark eyes – so it’s just a pigment abnormality, rather than albinism.  Still, it’s very rare and a bit exciting. 


Not a great photo, but here’s one of the adult birds, feeding white-baby with mealworms and seeds.

We’re not sure what his chances are, of surviving very long.  He’s obviously at a disadvantage, as he doesn’t have the camouflage that his friends and family have.  On the other hand, he seems to be fit and healthy and starlings look after each other.  Maybe he stands a good chance of a long life – and perhaps we’ll see him in the garden regularly. 

They flew away just after I took these photos, so I was grateful to Dave, for waking me early, so I could see them.  I had to share with you all – such a rare event is really too good not to share!

It was Summer - All Weekend

Well, after the "Two Year Winter" and the long, long, oh so long stretch of freezing, icy, chill weather... it's been so nice to have some sunshine!  Of course, what's happening just now, is that we get a day of sun, then several of rain and wind - so sunshine is seriously a bonus these days.

But yesterday and today it has been Summer. For certain.

Look:

There are flowers in the borders - even bluebells.

 

Aquilegias,

 

Clematis Montana climbing up the Willow tree,

 

Apple Blossoms!

 

The Willow tree is in leaf (at last!).

 

Mr. Blackbird is busy collecting food for ever-hungry chicks.

 

I even found an Orange Tip Butterfly on the flowers.

 

 

 

Miffy & Petra have been enjoying the fresh air.

 

 

 

However, the reason I know it is Really Summer, is this:

 

Dave & James have put the trampoline together!

 

Summer is here - at least, until tomorrow...

 

 

 

Starling Suppertime!

Spring is definitely here now - despite the fact that it's really rather cold today!  We have had sunshine. The blossoms are out, the spring flowers are blooming. 

Our garden is full of birds.  We even have a family of blackbirds, who have all fledged and spend their days following their harrassed parents, begging them for food.  The blue-tits are nesting in the nest-box on our acacia tree - I think their babies will soon be out of the nest too.

And these guys:

 

Starlings having supper

 

Dave put out some mealworms last night, on the bird table and on the step.  We immediately had a large group of starlings descend on the garden, filling their beaks as fast as possible. 

 

I do like starlings - they are so funny and squabbly and friendly.  Their legs are attached in a funny way, which makes them stalk along in a most comical fashion.  They have gorgeous shimmery feathers.  They are so clever and each one invents its own song. They're clever mimics and some of their songs are a really complicated series of phrases, including whistles & squeaks, chirps, warbles, clicks and even imitations of machinery, cars, motorbikes, telephones, people and other creatures. 

 

It's very rewarding, to feed the birds - especially when we get treated to a Starling Supper Party!

 

Storytelling Sunday, December 2012 - The Non-Weekend and the Birds

This post is part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday for 2012.  Read her story for this month, at her blog "From High in the Sky" and follow the links to dozens of other great stories!

 This is the last "Storytelling Sunday" of 2012, so I really wanted to join in. But what story to tell? I have been so busy recently and couldn't think what to share... 

Well, there's been a lot of laundry round here lately.  I've been very busy with household tasks, both for us and for my mum.  But doing those dull old jobs does give you time to organise your thoughts, even if you don't have time to write them down!

 

Anyway, not much blogging here recently, but I thought I'd share a quick story about our Non-Weekend - and also show you who visited our garden.

 

So, the weekend.  We had planned to do this:

 

 

 

But Mr LizzieMade woke up on Saturday with a headache and sore shoulder, so going into the loft was not a likely event...

 

We went to the local farmer's market and bought nice cheese, fresh eggs and veggies, a doughnut (for the ever-starving-teenager Boy's lunch), plus more art equipment for his increasingly-expensive school art studies - a set of decent acrylic paints this time. 

 

Then soup for lunch... by which time, Mr LizzieMade's face was swelling up a bit and looking rather red.  He said it hurt behind his ear.  It did all look a bit sore...  He used an ice pack and some muscle rub on the shoulder, then went to bed for a nap. 

 

He declined my offer to photograph him for my blog, so there is no photo for you!

 

So, no Christmas decorations on Saturday, eh? 

 

Sunday morning - bright and cold.  And Mr LizzieMade had a red swelling all up the left side of his face, which hurt him.  The sore shoulder seemed to have recovered, but the face problem was worse.  We called the doctor's and were put through to the out-of-hours service, who asked us to go down to the weekend clinic at the local hospital (not A&E, but a doctor's service).   Sooooo... off we went, leaving the Boy to do the dreaded homework.   

 

They gave Mr LizzieMade a prescription for anti-biotics.  After a visit to the pharmacy (in Sainsbury's - very handy on a Sunday), we came home and decided there'd be no visits to the loft on Sunday either...

 

* * *

 

So, instead of Christmas Trees, I made these:

 

Two nice A5 sized notebooks, one with a kraft cardstock cover, the other one covered with pearly ivory cardstock.  Both filled with a rainbow of pastel papers - in ten colours!

Some kraft card notebooks, like Moleskine books, with cream paper and sewn with red linen thread. 

And a batch of Rainbow Notebooks, with eight colours of bright paper inside and kraft card covers.  All fit nicely into an envelope, so they can be posted, or given as a present!

 

A bit of cheerful fun on a wintery weekend afternoon.

 

* * *

 And next weekend, perhaps we'll do this:

..and this too!  

 

 

* * *

And the Garden Visitors?

 

Not very clear photos, but a small flock of Waxwings settled in our apple tree, to eat some of the remaining fruit.  Davey counted at least seven, though I think there were more at one point. 

They obviously love the apples. 

Sadly I couldn't get a better photo than this, as going outside would have scared them away...

 

* * *

So, that was the story of our Non-Weekend.  As you can see, we managed to do quite a lot in two days, even if not all as planned!

 

And just to let you know that Mr LizzieMade seems to be recovering nicely.  He worked from home yesterday and went out at 6am (!!) this morning, to travel to Tunbridge Wells to a client's offices.  When I messaged him (a bit later than 6am!) he said he's feeling much better. 

 

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