More of "This and That" !!!

Another post about reading, baking and garden wildlife etc!


Recent Reading


This book has been in the "To Be Read Pile" for ages. To be honest I thought it was about geology whereas it is more about the geography of the British Isles but I did enjoy it and there is a fun quiz to do at the end.

Treated myself to this for the Kindle and loved it. This series has just got better and better although there is a bit of a gap in years between the last book and this one.

Garden Wildlife and Flowers


Perennial Cornflower

Two varieties of Cranesbill Geranium are now flowering. The first blue one is much loved by bees and the second one flowers all summer. In fact, I might try deadheading the blue one once the flowers have finished in the hope it will flower some more.

London Pride

Lily of the Valley - sorry rubbish photo but that border is overgrown with brambles and I couldn't get any closer

Lilac

More and more Red Campion flowers are appearing in the border where it has self-seeded.

Rhododendron - we just have the one. I must admit I am not overkeen on them but the flowers are pretty and the bees seem to enjoy them.

Rowan is in flower

Aquilegias/Columbine/Granny's Bonnet have self seeded in the front garden.

Blossom in the wooded area - I can't get close enough to id as the path into the "wood" is covered in brambles and nettles at the moment!

Whitebeam in flower

Ribwort Plantain

Tellima grandiflora or Fringe Cups. Sorry Dean I had forgotten we had this in the garden when I saw your photo. I spotted this at Brueton Park on a public footpath some years ago and someone very kindly identified it for me and even gave me a plant. So thank you Tony if you ever visit the blog.

Climbing Hydrangea coming into flower on the patio - E thinks robins are nesting there.

Valerian

Holly Berries!

Star of Bethlehem

The kettle you can see in the arch was once used by robins as a nesting site. In those days the arch was completely covered in "Mile a Minute". To be honest I rather liked it but B thought it had got out of control and replaced it with a clematis which is only just starting to grow!

I put out the moth trap on Thursday evening - min temp 11.1 but there was a Full Moon and no moths were caught just a Caddis Fly.

New species for the garden include - Mint Moth (Pyrausta aurata), Tree and Early Bumble Bees and Leaf Cutter Bee.


There are 8 Blue Tit eggs and the female is still incubating - they may hatch in a week or so. Fingers crossed!






One lone Nasturtium seedling

and Sweet Pea seedlings are appearing.

No sign of the sunflowers or wall pennywort germinating and sadly we lost all the rose cuttings we took from my mum's garden last autumn even though a couple did have shoots. Perhaps we should have put them outside rather than in the porch. B has kept one that looked more alive than the rest so one can but hope.


Cooking

Mushroom Curry for tea and

E made some Chewy Almond Flapjacks from Mary Berry's Fast Cakes book

Thanks again to Sarah - the flour has arrived from Shipton Mill.



Knitting

I've been knitting a little owl and finally finished sewing it up yesterday.

Rainbow last night

A few more pages from the little journal. Warning if you don't like spiders don't go past the first two photos or look at the last photo in the blog post.

I found this spider in the moth trap when I was putting it back together - I think it may be Steatoda bipunctuata sometimes called The Rabbit Hutch Spider - common in animal pens, sheds and garages. There were some cocoony type things nearby (eggs or young??) so I put the spider and the cocoons together near the greenhouse.

I hope everyone is coping with the "stay at home" rule and you are all safe and well. Take care everyone.



All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera