No sign of any blossom yet in the North Orchard although daffodils are flowering throughout the Gardens.
Lots of feathers on this patch of grass - looks like a Sparrowhawk is visiting fairly regularly.
Hyacinths, daffodils and crocuses
Tulips, however, are still mainly in bud with just the occasional flower.
Lower Wilderness
I left the walled part of the Garden to walk around the Extra Gardens - all the hazels in Nut Ground have been coppiced.
A pair of Mallard were on Mirror Pond - no sign here yet of Snakeshead Frittillaries flowering.
Sparrowhawk has been busy again - yet more feathers on the lawn in New Orchard.
No frogspawn to be seen in South Pond - Great Crested Newts can be found in this pond.
Had a magical encounter with a pair of Long-tailed tits that drank just a couple of metres away from me - totally unconcerned by my presence. Unfortunately close as they were, they were too far away for the lens I was using - photo below heavily cropped.
Plenty of Lungwort in flower around the Gardens.
Re-entering the Walled Gardens into the South Kitchen Garden
The Secret Garden
There were a lot of Hellebores in flower especially around the Lower Wilderness.
No sign of any butterflies but there were a few bees around - mainly on the hellebores
I really liked this particular Green Hellebore
Back in the Secret Garden
Lower Wilderness
Primroses looking rather lovely.
Parterres
There is a new water feature by the Visitor Centre
Castle Bromwich Hall (now a Hotel). I'm off to an afternoon tea here later in the month which I'm rather looking forward too :)
Sadly, the Hall still has the rather ugly Hotel signs :(
Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens are well worth a visit if you are in the area. For further information please visit their website www.cbhgt.org.uk or visit their blog - link on the right under "My Blog List".
Thankfully, Blogger has behaved itself today :) apart from one of the Hellebore photos being printed the wrong way up!!!!
13 comments:
It is certainly good to see that some flowers are in bloom, everything is so slow here. Thank you for all the pictures, including the sideways one and especially the LTT.
Lovely set of photos, Caroline.
about time the flowers were blossoming eh!
Toffeeapple - Thank you. Hopefully, we'll get a sudden burst of colour and blooms if mild weather continues.
Deano - Many thanks :)
Pete - Still feels like early March flower and weather wise :)
Just beginning to seen signs of green on a very few trees but long for blossom covered branches... it will all come out in a rush now the temperatures rising no doubt!
What a wonderful place and how lovely to see all those flowers blooming. There are still depressingly few here. I love that green Hellebore too. Fantastic to see those Long Tailed Tits drinking. I only ever see them fluttering about...
Tricia - Looks like we're in for a mild spell so as you will say everything will appear all of a sudden. Some of the ornamental trees are showing some blossom now :)
Em Parkinson - The Gardens are lovely. I tend to go about once a month as it is so lovely and quiet there. Hope you get some flowers blooming soon.
Lovely photographs of spring flowers, even if things are behind this year. And wonderful to see the long-tailed tit coming down to drink like that.
Hi Caroline :-) How lovely it is to see those positive signs of spring but as you say everything is so much less advanced than it should be by now. Your colourful photos are lovely, I have always loved Daffodils, their golden colour is so welcome after the dark and dreary days of winter.
I don't think I've seen a Great Crested Newt since I was a child :-( I haven't even seen any frogspawn yet this time although I really haven't had very many opportunities to look.
Those Sparrowhawk signs are unfortunately an all too familiar sight in my garden. If the feathers are neatly stripped I know it is the culprit but if they are really untidy I know it was a local, killer cat which is even less welcome!
What a lovely encounter you had with the LTTs, I have never seen one on the ground. I had to smile about the Hellebore photo. I had all sorts of problems with formatting again. After a long and frustrating battle I thought everything was as I wanted it but when it was published I found a couple of the poems were all over the place. I corrected the problem but in the meantime two people had commented so they would have seen the mess it was in :-(
I forgot to say, the forthcoming afternoon tea sounds very grand :-) I hope you have a lovely time.
Wendy - Thank you :)Hopefully, there will be a lovely display of the rest of the flowers when they eventually appear :) Thinking about it I haven't very often seen a LTT so low to the ground :)
ShySongbird Hi Jan :) Thank you :) There is something lovely about daffodils :)
I haven't seen a Great Crested Newt for a long time either. The newts in our pond are Smooth. No frogspawn in the garden either - latest in the past has been 31st March. Still no sign despite milder weather although I did find a headless frog near the pond with a swollen abdomen (could have been an egg laying female??) yesterday. Gruesome sight and sad :(
Sorry to hear you have had problems with Blogger again - its so frustrating and time consuming :( Blogger have definitely changed the set up to upload photos (or at least on my set-up) and it seems to be that that is causing the problems. I am sure the people who had already seen it on your post will not be too bothered Jan because it was such a lovely post :)
The afternoon tea is via a voucher Emily gave me for that birthday ending in 0 last December!!! If I am allowed (by hotel and daughter!!!) to take any photos I'll put them on here :)
Hope you are continuing to enjoy Edith dvd :)
Love the Hyacynth. One of my favorite bulbs. I'm glad you had a pic of the long-tailed tit. Everyone post the Blue-tit......the Long-tailed is stunning. Thanks for sharing that bird. I'm always surprised at the first butterflies to appear. It's a treat to see them and then I get excited that they'll be back again:)
Chris Rohrer - I just love the perfume from hyacinths :) Glad you like the Long-tailed - one day I'll get a decent photo :) Wrong lens again :)
With the warmer, sunnier weather - butterflies are starting to appear - as you say its wonderful when they return :)
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