Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Wednesday 17 February 2021

Garden and old Wildflower Albums

 

I try and go a wander round the garden every few days to check for new growth and see what is flowering.

Cyclamen



Two clumps of Snowdrops - one in flower and one still in bud.





Towards the top of the garden there are quite a few clumps of wild primroses that have spread over the years.  They are mainly in front of an old stone wall and in front of the wild flower "meadow".












Hazel "Lambs' Tail" catkins and I found just one lone female flower. 








Turkey Tail fungi are forming again on eucalpytus stumps.




Log pile in the wooded area at the top of the garden. I've no idea if it has ever been used by hedgehogs but it will be good for foraging birds and invertebrates.



B and I have talked about buying a budget wildlife camera for some time and decided to treat ourselves as a joint present for Valentine's Day. The original camera was ordered from a well known budget supermarket but when it arrived it was obviously a return as there was no seal on the box, the instruction booklet was creased and had a coffee stain and the batteries had been taken out of the plastic wrapping. So we sent it back and ordered what looked the same model and make from Amazon.  We've put it in the wooded area to try it out and are hoping also to take it to the caravan later in the year if we are ever allowed to travel!!




 I will let you know what we see!  


I've finally got round to putting away the last of my Christmas presents.  These Gallager cigarette cards were a present from D.



They reminded me of some nature albums I have. I may have shared these before but, if so, it was a long time ago.

First a PG  Tips album.  I am sure many of us collected these cards years ago.





I also have with complete sets of cards two Willis Wild Flower Albums from 1936/37. One was a present from D on my 50th birthday.  They really are charming and it is lovely to get them out from time to time and read them. So I am sharing photos of some of the pages.






























For "Rustic Pumpkin" - Wall Pennywort.










In other news B and I had our first dose of the "Oxford" vaccination last week. The second dose is booked for the end of April.  I am very grateful but I shall not be changing my lifestyle.  I was fine.  B didn't feel very good the next day  - bad headache, dizziness, nausea. He thought initially they were side effects but there is the possibility it was a severe migraine as he does suffer from these. Whether the vaccination sparked it off he has no idea.


I hope everyone is staying safe and well.


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




Tuesday 9 February 2021

Snowdrops and Recent Reading

 


At the moment with the lockdown I don't think we are supposed to drive any distance to exercise so unfortunately visits to some of my snowdrop locations are out of bounds. 😒  Anyway last Sunday I visited a local churchyard where the snowdrop display is small but at least it gave me a chance to see more than the few plants there are in my garden!

















A couple of presents from Christmas I am very pleased with. A mouse mat from my son comprised of some of my church photos.  Two drink mats - the one from my son is a photo of Brook Beach, Isle of Wight, and the second robin one is from my daughter and is very apt considering how much time I spend on Twitter as Ragged Robin!!!





Recent Reading

The first is the next in the DCI Banks series.



The next Joanna Piercy - unputdownable as usual!



The next is the first in a new series by Ann Cleeves (Shetland and Vera books).  It didn't get brilliant reviews on Amazon but I personally enjoyed it and will read more as and when they come out. This series is set in North Devon and the new detective is Matthew Venn.





I've decided to take a short break from crime novels and read other fiction for a while.  I still enjoy crime books but as I am reading so many so quickly I found that, although I took in each book as I read it, a few books later they were all merging into one!!!!

Finally, a non fiction book on medieval sculpture at Exeter Cathedral which I loved.  I do so wish now when we had a holiday in Devon we had visited!




I hope everyone is staying safe and well.



Monday 1 February 2021

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

 




It was the weekend of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch when people can watch garden birds and record the species that visit the garden (or local park, etc) during one hour.

On Saturday we had sleet all day and there weren't many birds about  so yesterday D and I took part between 12.15 and 1.15 pm


What did we see?

Wood Pigeon x 4

Robin x 1

Blue Tit x 2

House Sparrow x 8

Magpie x 3

Goldfinch x 4

Coal Tit x 1

Blackbird x 1

Starling x 2

Collared Dove x 2

Just over the garden fence we could see a Great Tit and Carrion Crow but as they were not in the garden they weren't counted!

Mammal wise two Grey Squirrels were seen and unfortunately a cat appeared in the garden after 40 minutes which meant the birds all disappeared!

A few photos - sorry about the quality - they were through a kitchen window that needs a clean!


Wood Pigeon



Starling



Collared Dove



Grey Squirrel





I hope everyone is staying safe and well.