Summer rains arrive in Brittany at last...

The ground here over the last couple of weeks has become increasingly drier and drier, making it very difficult to do the much needed weeding and at last this afternoon the rain did arrive... so before having supper after the rain had eased off for about 15 minutes I popped out to take some shots!














Seeing as this is supposed to be a gardening blog, the plants and gardening elements have been somewhat overshadowed by the wildlife... so do hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them...

Sedums are great for late summer colour and the bees and butterflies love them too...

Heleniums are other favorites of mine and seem to go on flowering - they really benefit from some dead-heading as the season continues.

One plant that always enjoys the rain are the roses and I cannot imagine our garden without them...

Cotinus offers wonderful deep colour - this one Cotinus "Grace" is wonderful and the the leaves give off some amazing hues of autumnal colour as the light catches the leaves.

Then last of all the lovely Lupin! Despite the lack of flowers at this time seeing the raindrops held by the leaves reminds me of just another reason that Lupins are well worth having in a garden.

Great News....

The two little cuties below are off to pastures new and flew the nest this morning - a truly wonderful sight seeing them flying with around 20 others - circling high in the sky and it looks as if the swallows here are generally gathering for their long trip back to Africa for the winter months...

Baby Swallows find temporary accommodation!

Just how cute are these two - behind them and out of sight are their 3 siblings... :-) For the whole story please see the previous posting...

Exciting times in our Brittany garden...

Whoever said that gardening could ever be boring - no day is ever the same whatever is going on - each day brings new visitors here recently... I've been so preoccupied with all the goings on and various friends visiting not forgetting working too that my blog has been on hold... I could contain myself no longer and just had to do a posting to update you on the latest...

My first excitement was to discover that another family of swallows were on their way in our stable and in yet another nest - an old one that had been there since we arrived.... five little babies hatched and have been gradually getting bigger and bigger until a couple of days ago noticed with horror that the nest had started to come away from the beam - luckily the ceiling isn't too high so there had to be a plan of action... I'd had to replace my lawnmower recently and had kept the large box which has been such a godsend... I placed this under the nest on top of my wheelbarrow so that if the dreaded fall of the nest happened I fathomed it wouldn't have too far to fall - about 2m perhaps? Anyway... came back in the evening to check on things and the whole nest had come away and only three of the babies had landed in the box - I found one cowering under my mower and the other had managed to fall in between the box and the wheelbarrow so with a gloved hand so as not to put human scent on the babies placed the two escapees with the others! With our two cats around I couldn't leave the box so low down and it's been placed up as high as I could manage with one of the ends cut out so the parents could access them okay. My biggest fear was that the parents would abandon them as they were no longer in the nest but it was a huge relief to see them going in and out and they're still feeding them - not sure how long they have till they fledge another week at a guess but will keep you posted... so huge relief all round on that one!

Then if that drama wasn't enough I discovered we had a nest of 3 baby hedgehogs in the garden too - they have been such a delight to watch out on the evening rambles with Mum and in all the recent warm weather have been snoozing out of the nest as my guess it was just too warm in there - they have now since left the nest and dispersed but can be seen at odd moments wandering the woodland which is just wonderful. I did manage these pictures in the nest but they're not that clear -

This one shows an ear and the side of one of their heads

Then this one is showing the tummy and paw of one and the body of another - the babies at this stage no bigger than the size of a large human fist!

The photos at the top of this post are the female off on one of her evening hunting expeditions!

Once I've photos of the swallows I'll post them separately...

A brief visit to Cornwall...

I always seem to start my posts with the fact that it's been a busy time.... and yes it continues that way!! There is so much to do in the garden here in Brittany as we've had such a mix of very wet and then very warm weather which is ideal for sprouting hedges, weeds and grass - also good for the plants but somehow they never seem to grow as fast as the other three!

Just to keep you updated on the wildlife front here - I can now confirm that 2 families of swallows have fledged which was wonderful and we have another brood on the way I think... and our resident hedgehog in the woodland appears most evenings - I can usually hear him before I see him with all the snorting and snuffling they do!

I'd hoped to take some shots of our own garden today but as it's raining thought I'd share some of the photos that I've taken during a fleeting visit to Cornwall to see family including my 2 nephews who I've not seen in a couple of years as they're out in Bangkok!

One of the days I was there we went for a visit to Heligan - a garden I'd visited during my trip in March and it was great to see all the different things so much further on and blooming in July - quite a different sight to all the Camelias and Rhododendrons. I have to be honest and say that some of my favorites were the cottage garden plants - many of which we have here in our Brittany garden. They seem to attract an amazing quantity of butterflies, bees and birds - ensuring the garden always has something interesting to watch.





A real treat on the day before I left was to see the first visit of a juvenile and parent Green Woodpeckers - feeding on insects in the lawn following yet another heavy downpour - does it ever stop? You'll notice that the juvenile has a really speckled plumage, slightly lacking in bright colours and with no real definition of black plumage around the eye - quite a contrast to the parent bird.
















Anyway as soon as the rain subsides and I get the chance to take some pictures from here I will post again - have a great weekend and will hope to get around to visiting some of the blogs that I've missed out on these past weeks...