My own Springwatch in Brittany...

Great excitement this morning....

Back in March when I was in Cornwall I bought a couple of nesting boxes to go in our woodland but didn't manage to get them put in place until April and have never noticed any activity around them at all - so it was with regret that I thought I'd have to wait a whole year to see some activity...

Well little did I know....

This morning I was out on my morning stroll with Lucy in our woodland and noticed that one of the new boxes had come off the tree during the storms last night and on closer inspection the screw holding the box to the tree had completely sheered off... still quite sleepy I picked up the box and got the fright of my life when I saw movement inside the box as it had fallen with the hole facing towards the ground. I left the box where I'd found it, took Lucy in for her breakfast and returned to the fallen box with a step ladder and new screws and a good screw driver!

On careful inspection there looked as if there was a complete family of young Great Tits inside as the parents were going berserk but my biggest concern is that by this point were not moving at all and I was very concerned that they were injured or even worse. But without wasting time I thought I'd no option but to fix the box back in place and take a back seat and watch.... which is what I did.

It was an exhilarating start to my day to watch both parents going in almost immediately and feeding the chicks as well as removing faecal sacs from the nest. I went to check on them this evening and all seems well - large amounts of high pitched cheeping from the nest so I'm guessing they were just keeping as still as possible out of fear and trepidation!

I wonder how long it will before they fledge?

Mummy and baby woodpeckers have been very present in our garden again today... she's been feeding them from the fat block on the bird table which certainly seems a favorite - it's wonderful to watch and just a shame that I'm limited to taking pictures through a window...

Birding news from Brittany

Many thanks to all of you who've left postings and comments on my blog these last few weeks have really appreciated the contact - it's been very busy with work, leaving little time for blogging... but looking at the forecast this coming week you may see a bit more activity on here and with any luck will give me the chance to catch up on what's going on with your own blogs...
There's been all sorts of things going on on the bird front in our own garden as some of you may know... some really good and some not so good....

The first bit of great news is that all 5 of the blue tit chicks fledged last weekend - they've been spotted along with Mum in the oak trees in the main since then feeding on all the green caterpillars - particularly after the episode with the Great Spotted Woodpecker attacking the nesting box.


News on the Woodpeckers which have been nesting in our woodland somewhere - a young male was spotted on the bird table this morning - these pictures were taken through the bedroom window, so not bad I guess!


I was devastated about 2 weeks ago to discover one of the female swallows had died - she was the second female to set up nest in our stable - I have a nasty suspicion that it was one of our cats. Noticing that none of the swallows were on any of the nests following this incident and fearing that we'd not have any swallow babies this year, did my best to make the openings into the stable as cat-proof as possible - since then Mummy Swallow No. 1 has returned to her nest of eggs and has been sitting tight since then.... so watch this space...


Out in the garden this week we appear to have a pair of Wrens nesting somewhere as they have been incredibly noisy and mouthy whilst I've been outside... hopefully there'll be more news on them too...

I wonder what news anyone else has on the bird front - they play a vital part in the garden so are worthy of more than a mention on here...

Hope the weather is a bit more cheery where you are... bon weekend!

Curious goings on....

It all started yesterday afternoon when I'd come home from work and from the office window noticed the Great Spotted Woodpecker at the entrance of the nest box where the blue tits currently have young and he really seemed to be harrassing them. Then one of the adult Blue Tits tried to see it off and there was a right old commotion. I went outside at this point and then there was no sign of the Woodpecker.

Even more curious was only this afternoon discovering that part of the nest was lying at the foot of the Walnut tree below the nest box and yet the Blue Tit parents were still going in and out of the box - the young still in the box as you could hear the cheaping.

Has anyone come across this kind of goings on before - not quite sure what to make of it and obviously a bit concerned... any thoughts on this would be much appreciated..

Wild & Wonderful....

I was going to do a posting later this week but after discovering an Emperor Moth out on my walk with Lucy this evening I just had to post this straight away... along with one or two other pictures that I've taken in and around the garden these last few days...

The moth was almost at ground level hanging onto a Buttercup stem so I was lucky to see it - the first one I've seen ever and quite stunning with it's little furry body and interesting antenae!

Then alongside this I thought you might enjoy Mr Toad who I discovered under a pile of leaves - a great help when it comes to ridding the garden of some of the slugs and snails!

Walking around the garden this afternoon I thought I'd take some pictures of some of the other lovely flowers we've got out at the moment - I love all the hardy geraniums and the garden is full of different varieties... the earliest out are these deep purple Geranium phaeum and then I spotted this other one... the variety escapes me right now...

Then last but not least the lovely Irises which are just starting to open.

Finally.... with all the very mixed weather we had last week I managed to capture this double rainbow over our garden - quite beautiful and also the day we sold the car... nothing like a little reminder that Him above is looking after us! There really is something special about a rainbow...

Spring has certainly sprung!

Well I just couldn't let another weekend go by without adding something to my blog - must admit I've really missed having the time to post more on here recently - it started with a 2 week break in Cornwall - at some point soon will do a posting just on this as we visited some lovely gardens and coastline. Then since returning at the beginning of April it's been 24/7 gardening both for clients and here too - just managing to keep up with the ever growing grass and weeds! I must admit I've really missed having the time to keep up with other blogs too - maybe the wet weather will give me a few more spare indoor moments this week? So before the rain I thought I'd share something of our own garden with you...











I'm pleased to say that we've had a mostly very dry and sunny weekend here - even some time to sit and enjoy our plot for a change in between the digging and planting that is! Seeing this garden and woodland come on over the 5 or so years that we've been here has been a wonderful experience - especially considering the state it was all in when we bought it... the house alone was uninhabitable and the garden just left for 8 or so years to do it's own thing. What is amazing to me is that I rarely have to use any products on the garden other than a bit of diluted weedkill on the gravel as the place just seems to look after itself... the birds alone do a marvellous job.




There's still a huge amount to do and massive scope for future development - every year I try and set myself goals of things I'd like to achieve and being the determined person that I think I am I seem to get there in the end! What I love is looking back at the before photos which gives me a huge sense of achievement and encouragement to press on to the next bit - here are a few...


















Birds busy nesting already - baby blue tits can be heard from the nest box on our Walnut tree, the Great Tits are also nesting in another box and the Swallows are nesting too.... more on that soon!

Have a good week and will try and post again soon...

Growing Stuff....

Amidst trying to keep our own garden and clients' gardens maintained at an extremely busy time of year I had to share the details of a fantastic gardening book which I've been reading recently.

As a gardener and a lover of books especially on the subject of anything to do with gardening and planting I really couldn't resist this one! It is definately a "must have book" and would make an ideal gift as there really is something in there for everyone - for the experienced gardener or for people just starting out and wanting to learn more - it's even got ideas that would appeal to children too.

It has been so refreshing to find a book that doesn't just regurgitate what we find in gardening magazines and the latest in gardening books - there really are some interesting, original and quirky ideas even for those with little resources and a small growing space!

We're always looking for ways of re-cycling used water bottles - especially in France and one of their suggested projects is creating a mini window garden using half a plastic bottle along with some unwanted newspaper - an ideal base for growing your sprouting seeds to add to tasty summer salads! There's no reason why this idea couldn't also be adapted further for general seed growing too - put a few holes in the water bottle for drainage and fill with compost!

Growing Stuff covers subjects such as the basics of sowing seeds, pest control, pruning and caring for plants as well as giving you ideas on vegetable and herb growing, including some delicious recipes. It's got pages on wildlife gardening and details on how to create your own worm farm and also a ladybird house. There's so much in this book, I could go on...

There are quite a variety of contributors to this book which makes it more interesting including both Richard Reynolds and Elizabeth McCorquodale. If you've read this posting and keen to find out more click on their website.

If you would like to order a copy you will get a 40% discount as a reader of this blog and you should email Jessica Atkins mentioning that you found the details on my blog site.

I really hope you enjoy this book as much as I did....

I understand tha anyone wanting the book posted to France that the costs are as follows:
Surface Mail - £4.65 (2-4 weeks)Airmail - £5.22 (1-2 weeks)Astro Air Economy - £8.20 (up to 5 days)

Owly tales from Brittany....

Well, it's certainly been an eventful week this week and I've been planning various posts for my blog in my head whilst I've been out doing the first round of grass cutting and strimming and weeding... I could go on! But without the physical time to sit and write and with a spare half hour I thought that I'd make a start!

Last Tuesday my hubby was away in the UK and was round at some friends for supper - they live about 25mins from us. The weather got worse and worse during the evening with torrential rain and strong winds which is as it was when I was driving home (praying that I wouldn't break down)! About 2/3 of the way home I noticed this lump on the opposite carriageway and having driven past it thought it looked like an owl... so I did my best to reverse back in the pitch black and horrible weather not making it easy, until I drew level with this item, only to notice a Tawny Owl on it's feet but all hunched forwards as if it had been stunned by a passing vehicle - being on my own and with no gloves in the car I felt terrible that I couldn't do anything to help the little fella so had to drive on feeling really guilty and wondering what would happen to him, hoping that somehow he managed to get himself to the side.

Anyway - obviously living in the countryside with plenty of owls around and never wanting to be in that awful position again of not being able to help a poor creature in distress decided to contact The Barn Owl Trust that someone had mentioned to me only a few weeks back to ask for their advice - I got an email by return with some very helpful information. If you look on the information and downloads section there's loads of suggestions of what to do if you find owls - injured or otherwise. For those wanting to encourage owls, there's a section on how to build nest boxes! - you should take a look as it's a great site and I just wish I'd known all this before I found the poor tawny owl - I did drive past the following day and there was no sign of him so I'm hoping that he did just fly off.

Anyway to continue the story - on Friday having looked at the forecast for this next week decided that I'd better crack on with the grass cutting if I was going to get all my clients' gardens done before going away so set off in the morning and arrived at the final destination about 6pm! So after I'd finished loaded the tractor onto the trailer, locked the car and took Lucy (Labrador) for her evening stroll... and very pleasant it was too! It wasn't until I'd got home which was about 5 mins from there and about 20mins from nightfall that I discovered the keys to the tractor weren't in my pocket - my heart sunk - so drove all the way back and did another circuit of the walk to check I'd not dropped them. About 5 mins from the car I suddenly noticed the large white flapping wings of a Barn Owl - scouring the meadowland - quite beautiful and then he flew on meters away from me, gave out a little squawk and went on his way - I took this as a sign that I'd find my keys... well you know what I got back to the car.... drove on home and discovered them in the back of the car under my gloves... it was worth the detour to find them!

Photo thanks to Steve Brace