This and That

 

Recent Reading

I have a horrid feeling this is the last in the Mitchell and Markby series which is a shame as I have really enjoyed these books.

I am persevering with this series although its not one of my favourites!

Easter

I made a simnel cake for Easter.  B made Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday and E made these chocolate cup cakes which were rather tasty :) 

I always try and pick a little posy of flowers from the garden to put on the table for Easter.

In the Garden

The garlic David planted last Autumn is growing well. It will be harvested later in the year.  We've made just a small start on sowing seeds.  D has planted some tomato and wildflower seeds and B some foxgloves to take to the caravan.

Violets are starting to flower - the plants pop up everywhere in borders, pots and on the patio.

Primroses and snowdrops seem to have finished flowering but now we have Cowslip flowers. Last year they had really spread in the wildflower meadow area and we had dozens.

Some years ago we had the eucalpytus tree in the garden greatly reduced in height as it was getting rather out of control!!  Some of the stumps removed we placed round the garden and they soon attracted fungi including Turkey Tail. Now we have a new species to add to the garden list as this huge fungus has appeared on the main tree. Its about the size of a small washbasin with a smaller one appearing above it.  There are two similar species Artist's Bracket and  Southern Bracket (Ganoderma australe) and I think it is the latter - thanks to Dean on Twitter for confirmation. 

Nesting Activity

The female Blue Tit has nested in the nest box which has a camera and the first egg was laid on 4th April which seems early to me so I have checked my nature diaries and listed, where I can,  the dates Blue Tit eggs have laid the first egg in previous years since we had a camera in the nest box and going back to 2010.  

2010: 28th April
2011: 25th April
2012: 25th April
2013: 27th April
2014: 14th April
2015: 16th May this was a very late attempt and the young failed to reach fledging.
2016: 25th April
2017: No webcam this year as it had stopped working. So not sure when first egg laid. The young fledged week commencing 3rd June. Food seen being taken into nest box 18th May. Suspect eggs laid end of April?
2018: No nesting attempts this year although birds did investigate nest box around the 5th May.
2019: 23rd April
2020: 28th April
2021: 19th April
2022: 13th April
2023: 7th April
2024: 4th April

Unfortunately I do not have dates for all years due to having no working camera in the nest box one year and another year Blue Tits did not nest. In 2015 the birds nested very late although it had been a cool Spring.  Sometimes also it is difficult to be sure of the exact date as the female does not incubate until most of the eggs are laid. She tends to cover the eggs  with feathers in the daytime after she has left the nest so the first egg can be missed for a few days.   Overall, however, it  does appear that the date the first egg has been laid has got earlier since I started recording dates.  

I know there has been  research into how climate change may be affecting the seasons and how this may affect species in Spring.  Nesting of some bird species, the flowering of certain plants and emergence of leaves are occurring earlier. 

Research has suggested that birds such as Blue and Great Tits are overall now nesting around two weeks earlier earlier than they did two decades ago as a result of climate change causing earlier and warmer Springs and seasonal changes.  The concern here of course is that the caterpillars the birds feed their young on will not follow suit and also appear earlier.  I know we have had some years which have been distressing as the chicks have died one after the other which appears to have been due to the lack of food being brought in.  Phenology is a fascinating subject and I am sure there is a great deal more research being put into it. The Woodland Trust's Nature's  Calendar asks people to submit certain first dates of seasonal events in the autumn and winter to use to investigate the way climate and weather affect wildlife.

Coleshill

We popped to Coleshill last week mainly to visit the monthly Farmers' market.

There are some nice independent shops in Coleshill. 

D popped into Books Revisited for a short while as I wandered around taking photos.

The farmers'  market is held at The Croft which is right by the church.  

There were quite a few stalls there selling bread, fish, meat, honey, etc etc - not too many photos as there were too many people milling around!

Plants in Walls/Pavement Plants -

Ivy Leaved Toadflax and Herb Robert.

Its Dandelion Season.  Each year it reminds me of my father's Dandelion Wine - it was delicious!

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 camera (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would appreciate an email first - thanks).

Recent Reading, Easter and Garden Flowers and Butterflies etc

 

I don't think I've done a post on recent reading recently so here are the latest books.

I haven't read Agatha Christie for years and years but I enjoyed this first Miss Marple book and will read more.

If I am honest I bought this book because I liked the title and cover! but I enjoyed it immensely.  The book covers the author's encounters with nature and visits to various homes and museums connected with past naturalists such as John Clare, Charles Darwin and Gilbert White etc.  

This book, like the first in the series, was really poorly edited as an e-book (I really ought to complain to Amazon!).  The font size varied from one chapter to another which isn't too much of a pain but text was repeated and even worse bits of it seemed to be missing. It is a shame because I am enjoying this series set in the Scilly Isles.

I bought this book second hand as it now seems to be out of print. I have to admit I learned a lot about the Neolithic Age, Iron Age and Bronze Age - a period of history I didn't know a lot about) and its given me lots of ideas of places to visit. Top of the list is Arthur's Stone!!

I hope this series continues as I do like Nikki Galena and this book was again very good.

I enjoyed Murder at St Anne's probably more than others in the series. I do find at times the conversations between the characters are a bit "forced".  It seems to be the last in the series that you can buy although I think the next is due to be published sometime this year.

My daughter bought me this book for Christmas. It is really a coffee table book full of the most beautiful photos of Grasmere and the Lake District taken during lockdowns.  My only complaint is that the photos are not captioned with details of where the pictures were taken although I recognised many of the locations.

Another Shire book - usually I adore these books but this one I found rather hard going.

A re-read of the next Merrily Watkins book.

Easter

B always makes Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday.

Posy of garden flowers for the table.

I always make a Simnel cake for Easter.  I tried using a recent present of a cook's blowtorch to brown it which didn't seem that successful!

Blackthorn flowers

In the garden

The female Blue Tit has now laid 8 eggs  I hope the brood is more successful than those in recent years.  Butterfly wise - Orange Tip have emerged and I've also seen Holly Blue, Green-veined White and Speckled Wood plus a Peacock.  Worryingly we have had no frogspawn at all this year - I still blame it on newts eating the frog tadpoles and over the years the frog population has died out!  There again there could be another reason.

One of the bays is flowering.

B grew Honesty from seeds he had collected from the garden for here and the caravan.  We now have Honesty Plants in two of the borders here.

The Camellias are still flowering.

Bluebells are flowering - sadly we have a mix of not just the native bluebell but also the Spanish bluebell. They are plants we inherited when we moved in and they have spread everywhere.

Cowslips are spreading too - we now have at least 100 plants in the wild flower area.

I have no idea what this shrub is but it does have thorns!

Wood Anemones and Wood Sorrel

Thanks to Rosie of "Corners of My Mind" I have now remembered what this blossoming shrub is -Amelanchier! 

Green Alkanet and Forget-me-nots

One or two daffodils are still flowering.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

Photos taken by me with Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.