It’s hard to believe that it was our fifth week of lockdown last week – the dry sunny weather continued and the nippy wind even dropped a couple of days so it was truly warm too! Continue reading The week the swallows returned
Tag Archives: swallows
Butterflies, Bees and Birds
It might not have the same ring to it but this is the order that I spotted the first of each of my eagerly-awaited arrivals this Spring. Beyond daffodils and lambs, these are the sightings that really make my heart sing and a sure sign that Spring really is here and the weather might finally start to buck up. Continue reading Butterflies, Bees and Birds
Birds in the Garden
The garden seems to have been under snow for most of the past few weeks and Spring still feels a long way away. With more of the white stuff due over the coming days and itchy fingers I decided to do something more constructive and start keeping a note of some of the feathered visitors we have to the garden and I’ve created a new gallery page to log them. Continue reading Birds in the Garden
Spring arrives & it’s all gone bonkers!
In the week that saw us celebrate our 3rd anniversary of moving to our country cottage we saw a lot of changes in the garden.
We have a pair of nesting blue tits in our bird box (yay), the starlings have already fledged and there are now sparrows in their old nest. The swallows are back swooping and darting all around and the geese have returned to the fields roundabout, some with young. After a seemingly never-ending Winter, Spring is most definitely here.
The garden has gone bonkers, everything’s growing and blooming and budding and it’s heartwarming to see! The cherry blossom is out and the beech hedge is finally turning, that fresh green really makes a difference in our garden.
The (short) spell of warmer, sunny weather was filled to the brim with ‘getting shit done’ in the garden – everything from getting the potting shed set-up to clearing, weeding and edging, sowing seeds and bulbs (better late than never) and I even made up some hanging baskets inspired by the book Crops in Pots, that I reviewed a while back.
We had a lovely trip to The Secret Herb Garden (LOVE this place) to source new herbs as the chickens have self-seasoned and destroyed what we had. We got lemon verbena, lovage and borage (inspired by Petal, Leaf, Seed), several new rosemarys, chamomile, sage, lemon balm, oregano, fennel, jasmine and rhubarb, amongst others.
Our new front lawn is looking great and we’ve just bought a new mower and hedge cutter so we’re getting tooled up to tackle the front garden.
So much to do now but sadly the torrential rain is back so no idea when we’ll be able to crack on – we live in hope though, always hope!
Chicken Coop is finally painted – whoop whoop!
5 weeks after building our chicken coop the weather was finally warm and dry enough for us to paint it with preservative. As you can see, Cosmo wasn’t going to let a bit of painting get in the way of a cuddle. Not quite sure when we’ll get chance to get the hens though as we’re busy the next couple of weekends.
Continue reading Chicken Coop is finally painted – whoop whoop!
