Yesterday we were entertained by a small flock of swallows swooping around in the warm sunshine. No sign this morning - but the temperature has dropped significantly with a north wind and forecasts or rain. So maybe they're off a bit further south again!.
They are creatures of habit - a couple of years since we've been here I've logged the first swallows on 17th April. But the parents fly back to Africa before the new babies - so it's a mystery how they manage it.
Sunday, 16 April 2017
Saturday, 15 April 2017
Hedge Fun
Our garden is surrounded on 3 sides by a big field (Billy's Field) used for grazing cattle during the summer. There's a fairly unruly - but old - hedge all around. The hedge is mainly hawthorn with holly, elder, blackberries, a few raspberries, wild plums, a shrub with little mauve flowers, and various creepers. Billy cuts the field side once a year and we try to keep our side under control from time to time.
At the front, between the garage and store-room and the road, there is a row of conifers and in front of that another very old hedge. It's mainly hawthorn and blackberries. One end of this hedge has been getting rather thin - the hawthorn gradually dying leaving just brambles and some other scraggy climber. Over the years we've tried to patch up the gaps with more hawthorn seedlings (which sprout everywhere in our garden) but none have survived.
The problem is that the ground is really dry and fully of rubble, old bottles, bits of glass, cans, tiles.....We also found a cast-iron feeding trough, a length of metal hawser and a glass demi-john. So the poor hedge stood no chance. It was clearly a very old hedge, nicely layered a long time ago with trunks 10 ins and more across, but mostly so rotten I could pull great chunks off with my hands.
So this week we've been cutting back and digging up the old hedge ready to plant a brand new one.
Each autumn our local council (North West Leicestershire District Council) together with the National Forest offer free trees to residents and last year this included 30m of hedging - hawthorn, hazel and some rowan trees. So we took up this offer. Didn't manage to get them in last years so put them in pots to overwinter. We also have some holly saplings.
We'll get out all the old dead wood and dry soil and rubble and put in a great load from our compost heap. Hopefully the new hedgelings will take root and grow quickly, because at the moment the bare space looks hideous.
(We live in the National Forest.)
At the front, between the garage and store-room and the road, there is a row of conifers and in front of that another very old hedge. It's mainly hawthorn and blackberries. One end of this hedge has been getting rather thin - the hawthorn gradually dying leaving just brambles and some other scraggy climber. Over the years we've tried to patch up the gaps with more hawthorn seedlings (which sprout everywhere in our garden) but none have survived.
The problem is that the ground is really dry and fully of rubble, old bottles, bits of glass, cans, tiles.....We also found a cast-iron feeding trough, a length of metal hawser and a glass demi-john. So the poor hedge stood no chance. It was clearly a very old hedge, nicely layered a long time ago with trunks 10 ins and more across, but mostly so rotten I could pull great chunks off with my hands.
So this week we've been cutting back and digging up the old hedge ready to plant a brand new one.
Each autumn our local council (North West Leicestershire District Council) together with the National Forest offer free trees to residents and last year this included 30m of hedging - hawthorn, hazel and some rowan trees. So we took up this offer. Didn't manage to get them in last years so put them in pots to overwinter. We also have some holly saplings.
We'll get out all the old dead wood and dry soil and rubble and put in a great load from our compost heap. Hopefully the new hedgelings will take root and grow quickly, because at the moment the bare space looks hideous.
(We live in the National Forest.)
Monday, 27 March 2017
Birds
So many birds and so much activity!
A lot of birds have come back from their winter hideaways to start their families in our more gentle climate. We've had a thrush singing almost non-stop for 4 weeks. He's been sitting on the top of the walnut tree or the old ash tree in the field and entertaining us with his powerful, repetitive tune. This week he's come a bit closer and sitting on the hawthorn tree behind the studio - maybe a nest?
We've had pheasants - a pair, and now a couple of youngsters, after the peanuts and seeds I occasionally put out when the weather is cold, several great tits, robins of course - following me as I dig the veg plots, a pair of crows, lots of pigeons, and I spotted a goldfinch on the Korean Fir.
Today I say a green woodpecker on the walnut tree. We don't often see them, though we hear them a lot in the wood and flying over the fields. There are a lot of holes in the trunks of the old plum trees up in the orchard, probably made by great spotted woodpeckers. Haven't seen so much of them since we stopped putting out peanuts in feeders. We used to get them regularly and they also hunt for bugs in the bark of the now-dead dawn redwood. But there's not much bark left on that now - the remaining strips were blown off in storm "Doris" last month.
When the weather is fine there's usually a buzzard or two circling overhead, with a couple of crows mocking them! The buzzards can fly faster and higher than the crows but seem to tolerate them. maybe it's just a game for both species.
A lot of birds have come back from their winter hideaways to start their families in our more gentle climate. We've had a thrush singing almost non-stop for 4 weeks. He's been sitting on the top of the walnut tree or the old ash tree in the field and entertaining us with his powerful, repetitive tune. This week he's come a bit closer and sitting on the hawthorn tree behind the studio - maybe a nest?
We've had pheasants - a pair, and now a couple of youngsters, after the peanuts and seeds I occasionally put out when the weather is cold, several great tits, robins of course - following me as I dig the veg plots, a pair of crows, lots of pigeons, and I spotted a goldfinch on the Korean Fir.
Today I say a green woodpecker on the walnut tree. We don't often see them, though we hear them a lot in the wood and flying over the fields. There are a lot of holes in the trunks of the old plum trees up in the orchard, probably made by great spotted woodpeckers. Haven't seen so much of them since we stopped putting out peanuts in feeders. We used to get them regularly and they also hunt for bugs in the bark of the now-dead dawn redwood. But there's not much bark left on that now - the remaining strips were blown off in storm "Doris" last month.
When the weather is fine there's usually a buzzard or two circling overhead, with a couple of crows mocking them! The buzzards can fly faster and higher than the crows but seem to tolerate them. maybe it's just a game for both species.
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