Spring has finally arrived...

Despite some pretty stormy weather the last couple of days the start of the week brought some milder weather and the first sightings of the beautiful Brimstone Yellow Butterflies to our garden - pictured here on the Pulmonaria - they look rather striking with the bright blue flowers - posing perhaps!?  During the week I've also caught sight of a couple of Comma Butterflies too but they were flying around so no photo I'm afraid.

A few nights ago I came across the first hedgehog of the season - presumably out for a stretch leg and a munch after the long winter hibernation!

The best sighting this week - just yesterday was my first swallow - a male swallow which greeted me on my return from a hard day's work and then today on my morning stroll with Lucy - loads all sitting on the telegraph wires and chattering away "swallow-style" and there were also quite a number flying really low over the fields searching around for insects I suspect - it was quite amusing to watch as they darted they way around the herd of cows - the cows seemed quite unperturbed!

The moment the swallows arrive is always a very heartening and special moment and I'm in awe of these small birds which travel all those thousands of miles against the odds and seem to arrive back here each year - incredible!  I always feel priviledged that they would choose our barns to nest in.  It was funny talking to my sister this morning as I was telling her that the swallows were early this year - last year they arrived on the 28th March to which she replied - "only you would notice these things as living in London when would you know they'd arrived?" and she's right - the coming and going of the seasons are so much more apparent when you live in the countryside and I think you have time to notice which is one of the things I love... isn't this what life is all about!?

Wishing you all a good weekend... and I hope to try and get to visit a few more blogs this week - I've not done very well of late - so please don't feel neglected...

To celebrate Mothering Sunday....

In honour of a very patient & encouraging Mum (& Dad!).... it was enlightening recently to recieve some "old" pictures from my parents of me when I was small and very amusing to see where my keen interest in the garden started!!  I think I owe a lot to my parents for my love and respect of plants and gardening and probably to my Mum's Mother too who loved her garden especially her prize roses which you always got shown when you went to stay... strange thing is that I now catch myself doing the same when we have visitors :-)

At the tender age of 3.5/4 showing an interest in grass cutting ...  mowers have changed a little since then!

At the same sort of age caring for the flowers ...

Apparently this was me sharing my ice cream with the daffodils... not sure if they appreciated the sacrifice!

Completely at home sat in the garden with my sandwiches... nothing has changed really even 40 odd years on...

It is interesting looking back and wondering what part parents play in the path you take in life, but some of life's passions and interests clearly start early on... perhaps it's an in-built thing but perhaps it's the patient hours parents spend showing you the pleasures of growing your own fruit and veg are actually very rewarding and a lot of fun... I can certainly remember the rewards of sneaking off behind the raspberry canes for a quick snack! Mind you, I can also remember the many afternoons in late summer going blackberry picking with my family and after the novelty quickly wore off finding it rather boring .... something I've picked up again now and love! 

My Mum especially spent many hours "splaining" things to me following my endless questions of "why this or how's that?", whilst the enjoyment in what I'm sure were painstaking hours that my Dad spent in the greenhouse and on his veg patch has certainly rubbed off - whatever it was, it makes life worth it as does being able to share it and encourage others with the same!

My apologies for a gap since my last posting... work is keeping me pretty occupied at the moment but will try and add some more before the week is out!  Hope you all have a great week...

Our Garden in Brittany - a fly-thru for ready meals!

After a fairly rubbish night's sleep last night with the strong winds and yet more very heavy rain here I pulled myself out of bed at 9.40am to go and get Lucy out and was stopped in my tracks on the stairs when I noticed we had a visitor poised quietly on the roof of the bird table - a large Sparrow Hawk - thinking this must be like the equivalent of a Macdonalds Drive-Thru for him or her - with free ready meals!!  There wasn't a Blue Tit in sight!  So I rushed back upstairs to try and get a shot of the bird and this was the only one I managed through an upstairs window before it took off!  It was a nice surprise on such a dismal morning!

Sorry I've not been around visiting blogs much this week but have been busy working on a garden design for some French clients which has certainly kept me busy.

However in odd moments during the week I did manage to get one or two pictures which I've been storing up for my weekend posting.  This young Great Spotted Woodpecker sat for ages after filling himself up on peanuts from the feeder - I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of last year's babies which I'd captured on the bird table last summer.

The weather has played a predominant part this week - I think we've had the wettest weather we've ever had in the last 7 years now in Brittany - at least Lucy was making the most it!

This is the field just below our house looking towards the road - the water right up to the arch on the stone bridge (hidden by the bushes!).

The stream which runs along the bottom of our woodland is now a complete torrent which has flooded almost as far as our French farming neighbours - this is only the second time that the little bridge over the stream has been completely immersed too.  We had very strong winds last night but from what I could see no real damage which was a relief.

A view from our woodland towards our neighbours!

The spring flowers have certainly benefitted from all the extra watering - the daffodils are almost out, Hellebores continue to bloom and finally the lovely red Camelia has fully opened! 

This morning I discovered one solitary flower on the Pulmonaria had braved the elements too.  With the rain the perfume from the Lonicera was amazing... it's not an easy shrub to photo with such delicate flowers but a real favorite.

During the week of horrible weather it's been nice to see a few snowdrops and bright yellow crocus without having to go out of the house!

Do hope you all have a good week - have been busy collecting up toilet rolls in readiness for planting seeds in a few weeks hopefully... more on that in due course...

Going green just has to be seen...

There are so many ways us gardeners can be helping  to do our bit to care for our poor planet and following the suggestion of Jan from Thanks4Today Blogspot in Virginia USA  in recognition of the 40th Annivesary of  Earth Day on 22nd April for us bloggers to promote what we're doing in our own gardens in order to encourage others to try some new ideas in their own.

To celebrate I decided to do my bit as well...

I must admit I'm all for gardening organically, without the need to use chemical pesticides and insecticides and to date have found this very successful.  We were helped here by the fact that our garden and woodland which borders a stream had been left to do it's own thing for about 9 years or so - it's own little eco system had evolved and it's amazing how nature does look after itself and at the same time enable you to have a thriving garden in so many ways.

Garden Watering:  Natural rainwater can be collected in water butts or containers to save on draining other water resources.  Watering can also be reduced if you following the practice of mulching - placing compost/grass cuttings around plants in the borders which will enable the soil to retain moisture for longer during the warm months of the year - reducing the need to water too often.

Planting: One method of planting up my beans and Sweet Peas has been using the cardboard inner tubes from toilet rolls and kitchen rolls - by placing as many as will fit into a plastic seed tray and filling them all with compost till they are 2/3 full sowing the seed or bean and then topping up with more compost.  Once the plants have established they can be planted out straight into the soil in the cardboard tube which in time just composts down and thus not disturbing the delicate roots! 

Protecting young plants which are vulnerable to slug damage:  Another idea which I use each year is by getting used plastic water bottles and after cutting off both the top and base - use a pair of pinking shears - the kind of scissors that give you a zig-zag pattern - divide each bottle's middle into two or three sections - the jagged edging is ideal for pressing into the soil around each young plant - meanwhile the zig/zag top edge will make it difficult for slugs to get at the young plants!  Normally I just leave these in the ground during the growing season and they work a treat!  Coffee grounds can also work quite well when sowing rows of young salads. 

Composting: A posting like this couldn't bypass the value of home composting... by saving up all the vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds, some newspaper and thin cardboard as well as grass cuttings - these can all go towards boosting the soil and boosting your plants.  I have made two using 4 wooden posts and chicken wire - one is full and I usually leave for a good six months to rot away whilst the other is being added to - by the time that one is full the other one can be used!

Weedkilling: Don't be so hasty to kill weeds in your gardens - a margin of wildflowers/nettles, grasses around the garden or in certain areas are invaluable to wildlife - to insects, birds and small mammals alike - nettles for instance provide essential plant food for young caterpillars which in turn are essential food for parent birds feeding their young and so it goes on.  Nettles also make wonderful soup - pick of the top 4 leaves of young nettles and use with a mix of potatoes, chopped onions and stock - yummy and full of Iron!

I really could go on and on and will try and add some more ideas as the year goes on but hopefully this will help for starters.... all of these practices takes little effort and bring plenty of reward!  Don't let another year go by without at least trying one idea...

Please do leave other ideas you yourselves have tried as it's always great to hear of new ones...

ps. Jan - many thanks for instigating this - absolutely great!

Have a special Valentines Day...

Wishing you all a very Happy Valentines Day - traditionally a day where birds are to have thought to have chosen their mate!

With the quantity of little Blue Tits in our garden right now - I reckon a Speed Dating event is needed!!  Have a special day...

More surprises....

Well I must admit this morning was a surprise in itself to open the curtains to find a couple of cm of snow lying in the garden - there was me thinking that spring at last was on it's way and then this!!  Well there are some benefits too in that the weather today certainly brought some extra visitors to the bird table and needless to say didn't get a great deal of work done - too distracted by all the actiivty in the garden!!

The Snowdrops are amazing little flowers - so small yet so robust... and SO beautiful too.

The best bit was actually getting the Fieldfares in the garden ... at last... and have managed a reasonable picture of them - these were all taken from indoors through the window so am quite pleased really!

I can now report that we have two Goldfinches coming regularly to the bird table now which is great... maybe there will be baby Goldies to come?

Today's snow also brought the male Black Cap - as well as the Fieldfares he seemed to be interested only in the apples that I'd put on the grass - ones that I'd picked in the autumn and which had now seen better days... they appreciated them!  I couldn't believe how horrible the Blackbirds and the Fieldfares were being to each other - this was the bird version of road rage I think!!

I managed to get some closer shots of the bird table later in the day from our porch... the Blue and Great Tits are so funny...

Finally to end the day I took Lucy for her walk and decided on some black and white pics to end the posting...

Do hope you've enjoyed some of the snippets from my day here... I wonder what the rest of the week will bring?

A lucky escape... involving a woodburning stove!

Today, lunchtime turned out to be an interesting one... it was freezing cold outside with a really biting wind and it had been trying to snow on and off all morning.... so I'd come downstairs to have some lunch.

Sitting on the sofa in our sitting room, quietly eating my lunch and watching television at the same time, I suddenly noticed a movement in our woodburner (which wasn't lit thankgoodness!) I thought nothing of it and continued to watch the television thinking that I'd imagined something.  I then noticed another movement and then was completely taken aback with what I saw next...

It was a little beak, a little blue head peering out through the glass door and when I took a closer look it was a Blue Tit... which had come all the way down our massive chimney (our house is probably the equivalent of 3 storeys high) and done it's final journey down the flue pipe of the woodburner landing in a good pile of soft cold ash from the evening before - how it wasn't injured is a mystery. 

Anyway... without wasting anymore time (would have loved to have got my camera but wanted the little fella to be able to get out as quickly as possible) I opened our French Doors to the garden, then standing to the side of the woodburner, opened the door and out he flew straight out into the garden.

Feeling that at least I'd been able to help on his journey through life finished my lunch!