It just gets better.... it would appear that whilst I was out yesterday (wanted to make sure!) that the Great Tits mentioned in my previous posting have all fledged - I caught sight of some very young birds today but obviously they might not have been the same ones - almost impossible to take photos as the tree canopy is SO dense at the moment but will keep trying!The other really great news was going into the stable this morning and discovering 8 little halves of swallow egg shells lying below the nest so am guessing that we have a minimum of 4 little babies deep in the nest - Mum is almost glued to the nest at the moment whilst Dad is visiting with the food but will keep you posted on progress. Someone might be able to tell me, but I thought that the egg shells were eaten by the adults??? I've never seen this with the swallows before? Any thoughts?
Moving on from birds... after the various sightings of Swallow Tail Butterfly caterpillars on the Fennel last year, 
I have managed my first picture of a butterfly - really not easy to photo as they never keep still - these were the best two.... they seem to love the Fennel and also Dill - just incase anyone is interested in attracting them to their gardens. The amazing thing about Swallow Tails is the actual height at which they can fly and the sheer speed!
To finish off with a few of my favorite photos of plants this last week - a new Poppy to my collection - Patty's Plum and my Aquilegia "Nora Barlow" (see above) which I bought at the Bristol University Plant Fair almost 9 years ago and it's survived it's voyage across the Channel to our garden here, then finally this beautiful Cistus which just thrives in warm sunshine...
It's been a stunning day here - around 26 degrees and v. warm - more warm weather forecast tomorrow so might get out in the garden to do some more then... Bon weekend tous le monde...
8 comments:
Lovely post......
Not sure re: eggshells.....I have never seen that, I must confess.
The swallowtail is beautiful....I don't think we get them in my area....I think the norfolk broads is their main habitat but I am not 100 percent sure of that. Photographs are lovely....
Beautiful blooms......
Hot here today....very hot.....
I love your poppies and the columbine is delightful! It sounds like you had a good day observing nature! gail
I saw Patty's Plum at Chelsea and was very impressed. Love the butterfly too.
I had great tits in one of my nest boxes but it got dislodged while they were building so they left. Perhaps they are incredibly clumsy birds or do a lot of jumping about inside!
Hi Cheryl - sorry for the time lag in replying - another busy week with gardening and great weather here too... very strange regarding the shells - got all excited and took a peak in the nest as it's quite low down and am wondering if this is a different female as there were two more eggs in the nest which she's been sitting on - no sign of babies and then yesterday noticed movement of the feathers when she flew off... so watch this space - am wondering if the original eggs were got rid of like the situation that happened in Spring Watch? HOpe all's going well with you and thanks for your lovely comments...
Thanks for visiting Gail - Poppies and Columbines some of my favorites too - lots of nature around here - different things every day... Woodpeckers still visiting!
Hi Easygardener - Patty's Plum is beautiful - I also bought Perry's White but hasn't flowered as yet - thought they'd look good alongside each other! Many thanks for your comments too.
Have a good weekend and hope I'll get more of a chance to check out your blogs again v. soon Miranda
Lovely post, Miranda :)
I adore swallowtail butterflies, for I only ever see them in the south of England and when I'm in Europe...too cold for them where I live.
I have just posted about poppies too. I can recommend the flowers of Perry's white...absolutely stunning. you will be so thrilled when you see them.
Love your cistus..such a pretty intense pink.
Here's the link to my latest video at Barleycorn in June. Enjoy your poppies :)
http://ourlittlecornerofparadise.blogspot.com/2009/06/barleycorn-meditation-in-june.html
Hi again Miranda… just where does the time go :-)
Wonderful shots… especially of the swallow tail… oh but I do love Nora! Sorry I’ve not been by in a while especially when you’ve had so much spring watching going on! Your garden must be in a wonderful location for all your wildlife visitors- of course your plantings will be helping too :-D
Have a wonderful weekend… we’ve light rain this morning so I am thrilled as the garden is really needing it :-D
Hi Wildlife Gardener - I'm so sorry for taking so long to reply to your lovely comments - this time of year is rather busy as I'm sure you find yourself! Maybe with the exceptional warm weather things will slow down a bit over the next week or so! I think I'll be waiting till next year for Perry's White... sounds like it'll be worth waiting for! Will get over and read your blog very soon - I do miss having the time to keep up with other blogs but certain times in the year are harder than others... keep enjoying your garden ... Miranda
Hi Shirl - so sorry too that it's been SO long since I was in touch - where does the time go - exactly? Thank you for popping over to my blog and glad you liked the Swallow Tail pics - there seem to be loads of caterpillars on the Fennel and Dill so maybe we'll see more of them in 2010! I'm going to try and do a posting tomorrow with photos I took today in between Tennis (great Hewitt match and great to see Murray go through too) and getting a large pile of ironing done - was just too hot to garden today - 25 degrees and they're showing 31 degrees for next week - help! The plantings in the garden seem to make a real difference to our wildlife visitors and the garden is teaming with fledglings which is just wonderful... more on that in my posting tomorrow... enjoy the rest of your weekend Miranda
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