Nostoc!

One day in February when Stuart and I were looking round the garden he spotted these strange lumps of jelly-like substance among the gravel on the path.  I had noticed this once before then forgotten to check it out.  I contacted Gwent Wildlife Trust as there is usually somebody knowledgeable there who can often put a name to anything.  As usual someone did.  It is called Nostoc pruniforme and is a form of cyanobacteria.

 My first thought was how to get rid of it but after reading about it I think it might be a useful addition to my wildlife garden.  This is an extract from a Wikipedia entry. Click on it to read more.

Cyanobacteria inhabit nearly all illuminated environments on Earth and play key roles in the carbon and nitrogen cycle of the biosphere. In general, cyanobacteria are able to utilize a variety of inorganic and organic sources of combined nitrogen, like nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, urea, or some amino acids. Several cyanobacterial strains are also capable of diazotrophic growth, an ability that may have been present in their last common ancestor in the Archaean.^[6] Nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria in coral reefs can fix twice the amount of nitrogen than on land—around 1.8 kg of nitrogen is fixed per hectare per day. The colonial marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium is thought to fix nitrogen on such a scale that it accounts for almost half of the nitrogen-fixation in marine systems on a global scale.^[7]

Early Mother's Day.

Visited the boys and their families last weekend as I had been invited to watch granddaughter Jasmine in her first dance show.  Prior to that she had a Stagecoach show which I also watched.  This included dancing and singing and also acting using puppets they had previously made.  Here is Jasmine posing for photo after the show. She is the one in yellow.

After this show we took her to the theatre to prepare for the dance show.  Jasmine was dancing with a group of children aged about 4 - 7.  They tap danced to the tune Wiggly Woo which is a song I remember from the 1950s.  They all did very well but we were not allowed to take any photos. 

I took the doll cushions I made for the girls and they both loved them.  Jasmine even took hers out when we went for lunch on Sunday.  We went to a gastro-pub called The Farm in Solihull for Sunday lunch which was my Mother's Day treat a week early.

I took photos of everybody's lunch but won't bore you with them all. Everybody had something different and there was quite an extensive menu. I had my favourite roast beef which was very nice even though the giant Yorkshire pudding was a bit overdone. I will show you mine

Granddaughter Safeya with Bear standing on daddy

 Grandson Zach with uncle Sam

Jasmine and Jakob waiting for their lunch

Jasmine with her new friend. 

More Cushions

My latest cushions are for my granddaughters. 

 Jasmine was 7 on Sunday, yes doesn't time fly!

Couldn't make one for her and not one for Safeya. She will be 2 in May but she can have it this weekend when I will be visiting them.  

Made the pink one first intending it to be for Jasmine for her birthday but found some lilac fabric in my stash, and as that is her favourite colour decided to do another.  In case her colour choice has changed I will give her first choice and give the other to Safeya, who I am hoping isn't as fussy about colour just yet!

Making friends with Poppy who seemed rather indifferent to them

Admiring the flowers. 

Sunny March Day

A lovely day here in South Wales. Out in the garden looking for signs of Spring. 

 Poppy is enjoying the sun too.

Last week the first batch of spawn appeared in the pond. I had seen quite a few frogs around for a few days but only one batch.  Not a very good picture I'm afraid. 

Yesterday there were several frogs in there but couldn't see them very well as they didn't surface. Managed one picture of a pair that I thought were going to surface but changed their mind. Perhaps I scared them off. 

Still no more spawn today.  Last year there were 10 or 11 batches.  Time yet I suppose. I have also seen 2 newts in there on several occasions over the last week. 

Spring flowers are starting to open and the first bees are taking advantage of the heather and getting their first nectar of the season.  Difficult to see but there is a bee there in the centre of the photo. 

Crocuses are open in the sunshine around my little cherry tree.

Other flowers

Muscari (grape hyacinths) 

Daffodils and primroses

Celandine

This is my plum tree. Don't know what the name of it is but it has very small sweet yellow plums. It doesn't produce fruit every year and I think it might be because it flowers so early.  If it is cold there will be no insects around to pollinate it so I think that is why it fails.  As I saw quite a few bees around today so it might be a successful year. 

Close up of plum blossom

It is starting to look like snow underneath the tree as the petals fall. 

Several birds around on my feeder this past week.  Great tits, bluetits, greenfinches, robins and chaffinches. Also feeding on the ground I have seen blackbirds, dunnocks, starlings, jackdaws and wood pigeons, to name but a few. 

Crocheted blanket.

Been busy using up odd balls of yarn.  An easy crocheted blanket made of "granny" squares.  Don't know who it is for but maybe good to keep this granny's knees warm in the winter.

Up-cycled cushion

The latest in my home made cushions. The idea for this cushion came from the book Patch by Cath Kidston.  In fact it looks very like hers as I used similar colours and also backed it with pink gingham.  I used patches from old embroidered table clothes and table mats which were brought into the charity shop but were too stained to sell. Also some of my own old embroidery in there.  Hers had piping round the edge but I used bias binding (home made).

That time of year again

Yes it's the time of year when I start looking for signs of spring. We are having such a miserable wet and windy winter. We are fortunate to be in an area that is very unlikely to flood but parts of the country are have a really bad time.  I do worry about the wind blowing my rather large trees down but so far the only problem has been a large amount of very small branches which blow off my silver birch tree.  These are always blowing off but maybe more so this year.

So far it hasn't really been very cold this winter and like last year my potted geraniums haven't been killed off by frost. There is still time though.  I also have a potted chrysanthemum which has been outdoors and is showing signs of new growth

The earliest I have seen frogs in the pond is 14th February. That date is approaching so I am keeping watch every day for signs of them arriving.  It was later last year and I missed it.  I missed checking one weekend and on the Monday the pond was home to 11 batches of spawn. 

I had my bird boxes put back up a few weeks ago by a very nice man called Richard who runs a project called Project Nest Box.  I happened to mention on a local group on facebook that my gardener hadn't put them back up for me yet after he had them taken down for me to clean them.  A couple of days later Richard arrived and fixed them for me.  So far I have seen several bluetits visit them but not sure if they have started nesting yet.  I also saw a cheeky robin peeping into one when a bluetit popped out and chased him off.  I will keep you updated when there is any action there.  I have also bought a new feeding station for the birds and it is proving very popular already.  A few weeks ago when I was doing the Big Garden Bird Watch I saw hardly any birds.  The last couple of days I have seen bluetits, great tits,robins, greenfinches, chaffinches, starlings, jackdaws, collared doves, wood pigeons and feral pigeons.

A bluetit enjoying the peanuts. 

As usual the first flowers to brave the cold are the delicate snowdrops.

There are a couple of crocuses in flower. I used to have quite a lot but they have gradually disappeared. Just yellow ones left.

The only other colour is the primroses and not many of them just yet 

The daffodils are growing fast,  Wonder if I will see some on St David's Day