Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens in the Spring Sunshine

I paid a brief visit to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens yesterday lunchtime and had a very pleasant walk around in the sunshine. Most of the blossom and tulips have finished flowering but there is still a lot of colour as the late spring flowers start to come into bloom.

There were plenty of butterflies on the wing - large, small and green-veined whites, speckled wood and lots of holly blues. We have had a lot of the latter species in our garden this year - it must be a good year for them. Small and green-veined white were new species for me this year.

This climber with beautiful coloured foliage greeted me as I entered the Gardens.




I've been that busy taking photos of flowers on previous visits that I've missed this small unusual stone statue.



Lots of honeysuckle in flower in the Melon Ground





and the peonies are starting to flower.



Inside the Green House



Lupins are starting to flower in several areas of the Gardens



Red campion by the North Orchard




Leaves on shrubs and trees have really opened since my last visit in April as can be seen in the Nut Ground (a copse of hazels) in the Extra Gardens just outside the walled garden.



The holes in this tree (suggesting a gargoyle type face to me!!) would make good nesting holes for birds.





Cow Parsley (or Queen Anne's Lace) was flowering everywhere





This is another species of umbellifer - not quite sure which one but its not cow parsley



Daisies and dandelions



The frothy blossoms of hawthorn



Marsh Marigolds (Kingcups) are still flowering in the South Pond



Back in the Walled Garden, the vegetable patch is ready for sowing.







Parterres



Alium



Golden Chain



Upper Wilderness



Castle Bromwich Hall



Looking toward the Green House



List of the 19 bird species seen in Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens since I first started to visit regularly in January 2010

Robin
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Blackbird
Mallard
Wren
Wood Pigeon
Long-tailed Tit
Goldfinch
Dunnock
Carrion Crow
Magpie
Cuckoo (Heard)
Mistle Thrush
Redwing
Chaffinch
Sparrowhawk
Jay
Feral Pigeon

Hopefully, the list will grow this year. It struck me yesterday what an ideal habitat the gardens are for spotted flycatchers - a species which has declined rapidly since the 1960's. I would love to know if they nested here in the past.

Butterfly species seen in 2011 = 10