Look whose having a cool drink from the bird bath!

Nature keeps on dazzling.

I love what happens around us when we are least expecting it. A lone Heron, casually flapping his huge wings overhead when we were collecting firewood yesterday. Today,  a fat blackbird sitting on the top of a hedgerow.
I was laughing at Mrs Bun racing comicly across the garden till she savagely pecked Betsy. Although I shouted at her she ignored by admonishment and racing over for food. Bird brain!

The birds!

 Blue tit

 Brambling

 Coal tit

Goldfinch

Luna silences the critics (me)

Lunar, the lavender bantam who isn't a true bantam (the colour lavender is still experimental in this breed and not yet a recognised standard) has proved her worth - eventually!
Despite being older than Mrs Bun and Poppy, she had not laid an egg in all the time we've had her. Lavender was the one colour we really wanted though and she'd earned her place in our little flock just by being beautiful. It's always disappointing though to have a non laying chicken (we had 'The Colonel' once who was an hermaphrodite chicken and upset the other chickens when despite being more cock than hen, tried to lay eggs in the nesting box - it was like watching a bloke walk into the Ladies room and witnessing the fuss that would cause). Still, we loved Luna for being soft and cloud like with a lovely gentle nature. Not for her the treading of other chickens a la Shakira. Nor scaring away the little chicks as Mrs Bun is prone to do. Luna is very much the hippy of the chicken world - "Love and peace, man" would probably be her motto if she had one.
So imagine my surprise when I received a text message from Luke yesterday. Whilst I was at work so was Luna. Busy laying her first egg and doing a fine old job at it too.
The lovely thing about hens in lay is that they will squat down if you pass them and it makes them much easier to scoop up. The others (all out of lay at the moment) scarper the minute we get near them. However Luna now lets us pick her up which is such a delight as she really is just a cloud of down and the silkiest of the girls to hold.
I decided to type this message in the conservatory, just before heading out to get some digging done when, Bang! A sparrowhawk, young, small and inexperienced bashed into a blue tit before heading over the conservatory roof and away. Mrs Bun, the closest to the action, stood - head down, stock still for ten seconds till the danger was past then all six hens rushed off tot he safety of the greenhouse. Minutes later the sparrowhawk returned for another try at lunch but having once again hunted without success it flew to the great heights of the old oak tree only to be chased off noisily by a disgruntled crow.
Indoors the cat is playing with Luke's laces on his shoes and prancing about the place in her make believe cat and mouse scenario and my leg is going to sleep where I'm balancing the lap top awkwardly so I think it's time to stop typing and start digging = how many poor spring bulbs am I going to disturb? 

A feast for crows.

We've been shopping and have brought treats home for the birds. They are currently feasting on tomatoes, sweetcorn (still on the cob) and the last of the Christmas pudding (not such a good idea as it has been dowsed in alcohol). What with the wild birds and the fat grey squirrel that have both been feasting on the seeds in the bird feeders it's been a busy scene this morning. Later on today we are going to move the smaller hen house and run as the ground is waterlogged.
We are trying to give the girls some interest in these dark, dismal days of winter so hidden treats and perches around the place give them some extra things to do. They are going to be in for a shock when we are both back at work and they can't roam around both ours and Jack's garden as they have been for several weeks now. Still, such is life.

Christmas bird

Luke has kindly brought Christmas to the wild birds. Sunflower hearts have attracted the blue, great and coal tits as well as the gold, green and chaffinch. Dunnocks, robins, blackbirds and wrens have all gathered around - with our chicks catching the crumbs underneath.(just click on the photo for it to be enlarged).

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Tenembaum

This weekend we are out gathering greenery for our Christmas decorations. Foolishly, last year I pulled up the hideous hallway carpet we inherited with the house and relished what a lot of stripping and sanding was involved in getting the natural look I desired. But the scuffed and paint-splattered floor lent itself well to the shabby chic look that I could get away with using soft candle light and a mass of foliage swagged up the bannister.
This Christmas we have freshly stained floors and newly painted banisters so I'm loath to risk messing it up with my usual festive decorations. I may just get a big jug of greenery and leave it at that but it's so easy, once I'm in the Christmas mood, to go all out. I shall consult the oracle (Luke) on it and see what he says but after the ten month DIY project that my carefree act of carpet removing caused I'm sure his words will be, "Leave it alone!"
At least we can put up a Christmas tree together.

The finches have benefited from Luke's early Christmas present to them; a sunflower feeder. He added it to our collection of peanut, bird seed, Niger seed and fat ball feeders and within three days it was empty! Mind you we did catch a squirrel dangling from the overhanging branch to help himself!
Well, it's a cold week and every thing has to eat.

Happy hour.

Socks, the cat next door, helps herself to the bird bath water. How filthy is it but she stil helped herself.

Creepy crawlies.

Whilst I'm still on the subject of hens...., we had a little visitor this week. A big, fat, juicy caterpillar, bumbling it's awkward way across the garden and attracting the attentions of Mrs. Bun whose inquisitiveness meant she ended up poking her beak into my photo too. You may see that the caterpillar is still in the second shot and you'll be pleased to know that Mrs Bun left well alone. I don't think she likes the hairs on what she may think is a hirsute large worm.

Whilst the roof is removed from the shed..,

.., it makes a great lookout post for geese! These long necked birds flew noisily over our garden last night. We always race out to watch them fly over the moment we hear their tell tale 'honk'.

Birds, bees and ...., squirrels?

 The bee tucks itself into the monkshood.It's wing tips can just be seen poking out. Below it flies to another flower.

 

 Before moving onto the white gladioli.

 Whilst another pitches in the wild flower patch.

When we had the greenhouse door open yesterday in flew this little wren - one of the smallest birds in the U.K. and whilst very common it's also very shy. We left this one to find his own way out without any interaction from us.

The chickens alerted us to some movement in the garden and it turned out to be a squirrel on the fence. Cheeky chap.

The garden fights back

I know this could be an opportunity to plant up all the things that love wet conditions but I don't want to tempt fate by succumbing to this idea. I want to think that later this year or most definitely next year we will have sunshine and dry conditions. Plus who has the money to chop and change according to the weather? So, like almost all gardeners in Britain this year, I will grin and bear it although sadly not really with good grace. As the barista in the coffee shop said, "We are all just hanging on to our sanity but another day of this weather and the British public will all turn into serial killers! I must start buying my coffee from a different place!

Anyway, we can escape indoors and bemoan our fate but the plants have to battle on. Here are the flowers in the garden, some caught on a rare sunny day this July.

 Aconitum and a rose.

 Only one of the three plants I bought last year have come up but this gives lovely long lasting Autumn colour.

 Bear's Breeches and the aconitum with a Hibiscus

 One of my favourite, longed for plants. I bought this two years ago only for it not to flower last year and this year, when it did flower the rain has knocked it to the ground. Angel's Fishing Rod is it's common name but whilst it is wet enough to keep fish alive I've sadly seen no angels using them!

 This is part of the friendship corner, looking rather bedraggled after the downpour today.

 The hydrangea is changing from blue to pink. All dependent on the type of soil it is planting in.

 A close up of the hydrangea.

 The Eryngium (sea holly) has done well but it's used to harsh conditions. The Echinops (globe thistle) isn't doing quite so well.

 The star of the show, a huge Agapanthus blowing it's many little trumpets whilst the Gypsophilia fills the space in the background.

The white clematis has done well, head in the sun, feet in the shade.

 The spotted foxglove is a personal favourite of mine.....,

 and the bee too, can you see it up the tubular flower? If you click and enlarge the photo you can see the fine hairs on the inside of the flower that brush against the  bee as it climbs in and out.

In the wild area this plant is doing it's job - attracting insects.

 Detail of the Giant Scabiosa head. A great mass of this bendy stemmed plants at the back of a border really do create a lot of movement and long term interest. I love this skinny chap.

A victim of the weather; this lupin was overcome with greenfly, another infestation has stripped my blue lupin within a day. You snooze, you lose, as they say and I caught both of them too late. What a shame.

 My very favourite, Crown Princess Margarita rose. She always gives a good show. The blue in the background is a clematis.

 Evan with the rain, my roses have done their best and as soon as the sun dries them out a little, up they come.

 My second favourite rose, Munstead Wood. This photo doesn't truly reflect the richness of this glorious rose. I moved it earlier in the season so it could climb against the shed and it's doing very well. Such a reliable rose.

Here, the water damage is quite apparent. I pulled gently on the head of this sodden rose and the entire petal structure came away in one piece. Yet the bud by the side has had the benefit of a good dry day as it unfurls so if the rain stays away it will not suffer the same fate. As I type away the rain is back for the fourth time today, heavy as always, and my hopes for the roses fades somewhat.

This bush has one head with waterlogged petals too but still makes a good show. C'mon, Blighty. Show that weather who is the boss (yes, we all know. The weather wins every time)

 My new purchases for this year; I have five or six of these beautiful Verbascums, this one has a sprinkling of rain drops on it's petals.

 So, the Salvia Patens Blue have been planted - in the monochrome border! Well, something is better than nothing and if these handsome chaps flower they will be a delight to view from the house.

 Remember the bargain annual plants we bought when we met up with Luke's dad a month or two back? For five pounds I filled this large blue pot with fuchsias and upright and trailing lobelia. At least these gives us some interest and can be moved around to fill a boring spot in the garden - if only they weren't so heavy to shift!

The half barrel (still smelling slightly of beer!) sits out by the front steps and has spilled over the edges to soften them up. This barrel was filled by Jack next doors' 8 year old grandson and me a few months ago and is a very cheap and cheerful welcome to the house.

 What a graceful arch to the yellow flower stem of the humble tomato. It will be such a shame after Luke's tender cultivation of these plants if they do succumb to blight. It's a miracle though if they don't - conditions (wet and warm) are ideal for it. He's going to get some resistance spray and fingers will be firmly crossed.

Here is a lovely tiny tomato with beautiful curlicue bits adorning it's 'head'.

A room with a view. From our loft you get a slightly better idea of the shape of the garden. With fruit bushes along the left, the vegetable patch behind the white bed and the chicken run and wild garden behind that we move over to the shed and the greenhouse, fronted by the herb garden and then down past the hammock to the clashing corner, the long border, the tree with the bird feeders that our chickens make a run for every time we let them out of their run and down to the friendship border which is obscured by the conservatory roof. Further on down is the monochrome corner, the deck and the wood store. Our compost bin and water butt reside in between the shed ad greenhouse and our bits and pieces, including logs to be cut, hide behind the shed.

If you think I have exaggerated about the rain we have endured this 'summer' just look what has happened to these keys in five days! I tied these to string and hung them over the peas to act as a pigeon scarer (well, really just because I wanted to hang these old curiosities up actually and I needed an excuse) and already they are rusty. Happy days!

D-rat!

I had a visitor yesterday, just at the end of the garden where the hen house is.
I am slowly working through the patch of ground that we'd trodden all over when putting up the fence. Our soil is heavy clay and feels wet underfoot (I know as I have padded around the garden barefoot) so I have been working to remove the masses of pebbles, boulders and the occasional brick. So far I have put in over eight hours of digging and collected over thirty bucketfuls of stones! How can there be so much in such a small amount of soil? Ahhh, but I digress. The visitor!
So, there I was, up at the hen house with my fork, ready to start digging again and suddenly under the fence comes a rat! It squeezed under the fence, saw me, whizzed one way and then the other and was back under the fence within seconds. It was only about two foot from my own two feet but such an intriguing and unexpected sight that I didn't do a girl thing and scream my head off. In fact, weirdly enough, I rather liked it's audacity; four in the afternoon and popping into a domestic garden when it has a huge field to dart about in behind us.
As my chitting potatoes lasted less than one singular night in the shed before being munched by rodents I knew something was coming into the garden and the shed but I didn't expect it to come around in the afternoon. Neither did it expect to find me here judging by it's swift exodus.
The one thing I've changed since seeing the rat? I don't walk around barefoot any longer!.

Wash and brush up.

Every so often the girls have a spring clean, we give them a warm bath with diluted Dettol, check their vent is clean and then Vaseline their legs to stop scaly leg. They don't like it and seem to lose all their dignity with straggly feathers and bare behinds.

Later the hens have a drink together.

Morning visitor.

If you look carefully just above the suet balls you will see a brown bird sitting on the branch. The Sparrowhawk, waiting for rich picking. 

This morning we awoke to see the sparrowhawk sitting in our Acer. It's not surprising because the tree is literally dripping with bird feeders. Suet balls, niger seed, peanuts and wild bird seed feeders all dangle from the branches of the Acer and so it makes sense for the predator to go straight to it's own feeding station. We could hear birds chirruping but the tree was eerily silent and not one bird moved to give away it's hiding place in the shrubs. Whilst we ran for the camera the sparrowhawk flew onto the fence between Jack's house and his other neighbours.

 

Alighting quietly to just underneath the shrubs there was still no movement from any tiny birds and after a few minutes I was sent out to purvey the garden.

 Although I didn't see or hear the bird fly off it took another ten minutes before the birds were prepared to visit out garden again. Here are a couple of gold finches eating the tiny black flecks of the niger seed, a blue tit on the peanuts and two sparrows sitting in the the shrub before attacking the suet balls. It might be worth clicking on the last photo to see the two little dull birds better.