Garden Friends.

With the promise of some sunshine today I decided to carry out some much needed work in the garden.

The massed bells of Lecucojum vernum (aka 'Spring Snowflake) were dancing in the light breeze.

While I had a break from digging up a patch of lawn the opportunistic Mr Blackbird decided it was a good time to root around for a meal.

He made quick work of locating a number of worms while occasionally stopping to check what I was doing! 

I'm pleased I made the effort earlier in the year to remove many of the large leaves on the Hellebore's which are now putting on a glorious show.

Elsewhere around the garden there is plenty of colour from the miniature Prunus, Hyacinths, Narcissus and Scilla siberica. 

As always the friendly Robin made an appearance. FAB.

Fence, Flutters and Flowers.

A recent wander below the slopes at Denbies Hillside provided another opportunity to grab some shots for this week's edition of  'Good Fences' of the original iron Estate fence with its ornate fittings.

Wild flowers abound alongside the track including Oxeye Daisy, Bird's-foot-trefoil (with attendant female Five-spot Burnet), Honeysuckle, Buttercup and Crane's-bill.

A male Common Blue on Bird's-foot-trefoil, one of the caterpillar's food plants.

A well camouflaged Green Hairstreak deep within the grassy sword.

While back at home the trellis fencing supports two roses; 'Mme Alfred Carrière' and 'Compassion' with 'Mum in a Million' in a pot nearby; all currently producing an abundance of fragrant blooms.

Elsewhere in the garden the recent rain and sunshine has helped the central border to flourish with a varied collection of hardy Geraniums, the first flower on Clematis 'Scartho Gem' planted last year, the dainty red spray of a Heuchera, the ever spreading Aquilegia 'William Guiness' plus the drooping fragrant bunches of Lilac flowers.

Linking to:
Good Fences
Today's Flowers
Floral Friday Photos

April Colours.

I've had another busy and varied week; continuing with the internal redecorating projects mixed with a couple of early dawn morning walks to check what migrants may have returned locally; so a few images stored for future posts. I have also been enjoying the changing colours in my small garden helped by the increased daily sunshine and warmer temperatures until a chilly ENE wind picked up over the weekend.

The Narcissus have put on a good show but are now beginning to drop their colourful blooms.

I am not a particular fan of the very tall large trumpet varieties so my small garden plays host to a few of the smaller 'Triandrus' and 'Cyclamineus' forms including Reggae, Thalia and Jetfire. Over the weekend I was delighted to see that the wild N. bulbocodium had opened its tiny trumpet (sorry no pics yet).

The feeders continue to attract the colorful Goldfinch.

Plenty of blue showing everywhere with clumps of Muscari popping up all over the place. In the last few days I have also noticed at several woodland sites that our native Bluebells are starting to come into flower.

The only other blue in the garden recently was a visit from a female Holly Blue.

I carried out the first of my weekly butterfly recording transect walks on Ashtead Common on Sunday but only logged one Peacock and one Speckled Wood. Although there was plenty of sunshine the gusty ENE wind obviously kept the temperature lower than the flutters prefer.

Since taking these images early last week the Erythronium 'Pagoda' in a side border has produced its distinctive flowers and now I'll have to wait another year for them to show again.

Inspection of two of the four nest boxes revealed that nests have been built but I think the prospective tenants, Blue Tits (usual box on the rear of the shed) and probably a Dunnock (in an open box), have been frightened away by regular visit from a local cat!

A single male Dunnock is still around, regularly singing, but I haven't seen evidence of any prospective partnerships whereas on my regular local patch walks I have seen numerous pairs of Dunnock displaying courtship behaviour. 

 

Some of the other colours around the garden include the fragrant Skimmia 'Rubella', Chaenomeles (flowering quince), an alpine Campanula, the Cowslips (Primula veris) while the Robin (below) continues to add a dash of red to the colour palette on a daily basis.

At best the temperature might reach 16 deg C tomorrow but still with a chilly easterly breeze and then a change in wind direction so more unsettled weather is forecast into next weekend with the chance of rain.FAB.

Linking to Nature Notes

Garden and Patch Update.

With the garden starting to wake up with the warmer temperatures I felt it was time to get my hands dirty so I visited to a local Garden Centre at the beginning of the week to purchase some more compost. Typically I couldn't resist perusing the fresh stock of plants on offer and also came away with a mixture of herbaceous and wild flowers including Helenium, Phlox, Veronica, Knautia plus Black Knapweed and Ragged Robin. Later in the week I also succumbed to buying more Lilly bulbs.

  

A voice said "Where are you going to plant all those?". Never fear I'll find room was my response and a few hours later, under the watchful eye of Mr Blackbird, relevant spaces were found, everything planted and most of the bare soil satisfyingly mulched with organic compost.

While I wait for the small specie Tulips and Narcissus to bloom I can currently enjoy these little treasures (below) ... tiny clumps of Scilla siberica spreading freely beneath the Birch at the bottom of the garden.

I have undertaken a couple of patch walks this week at Epsom Common. Still relatively quiet  although a couple of pairs of noisy Canada Geese have taken up residence plus the Teal and Tufted Ducks are still around but preferring to hide in the marginal vegetation. Great Spotted Woodpeckers have been drumming constantly in response to other males as they stake out their respective territories.

In addition to the permanent well weathered Dragonfly; a sculpture erected many year ago on the fringes of the Great Pond; it was good to see the Salix buds bursting open. Five Greylag Geese also made a brief appearance and my first sighting for this year of Chiffchaff (2) singing from their lofty perches. Hopefully it won't be long before I'm listening to the songs of other returning migrants such as Blackcap, Whitethroat and Garden Warbler.  FAB. 

Early March Garden Colours.

We have had a few sunny days which has provided an opportunity for me to do some tidy up jobs in the garden after a wet, windy winter and to locate a few of the 'stars' that are on show at the present time. 

The Hellebore's are putting on a decent show but aren't the easiest to photograph when most of their faces are pointing towards the soil!

One of the few remaining Snowdrops still in flower is this Galanthus nivalis 'Flore Pleno', a very familiar double variety.

Just a couple of Crocus still hanging on but other bulbs such as the numerous clumps of Leucojum vernum (Spring Snowflake) have continued to increase in volume year on year.

For many of my followers who are still having to contend with a long cold and snowy winter I hope it won't be too long before you soon see signs of Spring in your own gardens.  FAB.

My Other Garden.

Welcome to my other garden. Like any garden it has evolved beyond all recognition over the past 60 years with many plants outgrowing their initial allotted spaces and now requiring constant pruning. For many years after our family moved here in the mid 1950's most of the rear garden was set out for vegetables which my Father tended with a passion. Now that he is wheelchair bound he makes suggestions and issues the instructions which my Mother does her best to comply with amongst all her other duties as a full time carer. 

So every week when I visit my parents if we are not heading off somewhere in the car then there are always a few jobs on Mum's gardening list.

For the past three years I have been looking after the veg plot from soil preparation, sowing, weeding through to harvesting. It is not a vast area but it usually produces a reasonable crop of potatoes, runner and broad beans plus cabbages and tomatoes for my parents to enjoy. For some unaccountable reason the broad beans haven't performed very well this season but we managed to pick a few pods today. In between jobs I just had to sample a few Raspberries, nearly the end of an excellent crop, from the canes next to the kitchen window! This year I gave them a few Strawberry plants from my own garden stock and they have cropped nicely and are now producing youngsters ready for next year.

The soil is very sandy so any rainfall just soaks away very quickly but shrubs such as the Hydrangea's are putting on a fabulous display in both the front and rear garden. Elsewhere there is plenty of bright colour from the Allium sphaerocephalon reaching out for the sun from underneath many of the shrubs, Eschsholzia (Californian Poppy) and the Marigolds.

So back home in my own, smaller and more shaded garden, on heavy London clay, the colours (below), with some exceptions, are a little more muted. FAB.

Linking to Outdoor Wednesday.

Garden Friends.

I feel slightly ashamed to admit that so far this year I haven't spent much time attempting to photograph any birds visiting the garden. One major reason is that until very recently apart from the regular Robin and nesting Blue Tits there has been a distinct lack of activity around the feeders.
However, the recent change in the weather and with species now needing to top up their reserves during the breeding season the situation has dramatically changed.

Collared Dove on sentry duty.

So during a lull in the rain showers today I spent a little time with my garden friends. 

I failed to cut back this long established Clematis montana last year but I recently thinned out all the dead wood so now we can appreciate its delicate blooms while they last. Very close by are a number of feeders but at the moment everyone's favorite appears to be the one containing the suet pellets!

 

After many months with no sightings at all (my fears were that their local nest site had been removed) the House Sparrows have returned. 

During the past few weeks just a single female was seen but today there were several very noisy males and females with their youngsters gorging themselves on the available larder.

Anita told me she had seen several spotty Robins flitting about the Hawthorn but while I was outside only one of the regular adults paid me a welcome visit.

 

Another species now appearing on a daily basis is the greedy Starling. Up to five individuals, all in their glossy coats, dropped in during my time outside. I guess I'll be refilling this feeder now on a daily basis!

Other species seen today but not yet photographed were Goldfinches, Greenfinch, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Ring-necked Parakeet. 

The main small border is starting to brighten up with different Geraniums opening on a daily basis. Iris 'Jane Phillips' is still holding up well and the Astrantia is just showing above the verdant foliage together with the many heads of self seeded Aquilegia 'William Guinness'.

After one of the afternoon showers a very worn out Specked Wood decided to alight on one of the falls of Iris Jane Phillips.

Yesterday a Holly Blue passed through the garden.

A Blackbird walked directly beneath my chair and took the opportunity to pick up any seed that had fallen to the ground amongst the ornamental grasses.

I also spent some time sitting on the raised patio at the end of our small garden surrounded by some of the potted treasures I have nurtured over the years while watching the comings and goings at the nest box in the Birch that provides much needed dappled shade during most of the day. (Watch out for a future post on the nesting Blue Tits).

One of the adult Blue Tits taking a brief break from gleaning small insects from the Hawthorn in the centre of the garden.  FAB.

Garden Colours from February to April.

While I sort out images from a few recent walks I thought I would share the changes in the garden from a cold, wet February through to a slightly sunnier April.

In JANUARY the Helleborus orientalis were the stars, supported by Crocus, Scilla, Muscari and Leucojum.

During FEBRUARY the clumps of Leucojum and Muscari were still showing well as the first of specie Tulips started to open with the cheerful sight of yellow Narcissus everywhere and a Bergenia in full flower.

Now into late APRIL the Clematis have just decided to be the stars supported by Aquilegia 'William Guinness' popping up everywhere; an early flowering Geranium providing some much needed nectar plus the Echinops, getting taller each day, and probably the last of the small specie Tulips.  FAB.