Today in the garden

Cold wet windy day today. This morning I spotted a blue tit with 2 fledglings on my patio and also a great tit with 4 on the washing line. No chance of a photograph though. Don't know if they are the ones from my nest boxes but I haven't seen any activity in them for a day or two so presume they have flown the nest. There must also be many nests in the hedges and shrubs around the garden so could have come from one of those.

Also saw a greedy robin, with a green caterpillar hanging out of its beak, trying to fill its beak with bread crumbs. I am surprised it didn't drop the caterpillar. Hope it made it back to his nest and gave it to the young ones. (better for them than the bread)

On the garden steps today were several broken snail shells so I presume a thrush must have been using the steps as an anvil to get some juicy snails.

The primula vialli is open more now and such an attractive new addition to my garden.

The wind has damaged a lot of flowers today and many of the poppies have lost their petals

Yellow flag irises by the pond.

Ox-eye daisy in my little wild meadow area.

A day in Middle Earth

On Saturday we went to Middle Earth Weekend with our grandchildren. This is held annually in Birmingham at Sarehole Mill near to where J RR Tolkein lived as a child. It is the place that gave him the inspiration for middle Earth in his Lord of the Ring books.

There were lots of interesting things for the children to see and do and some quite viscous natives.

Jasmine enjoyed her candy floss

And Zachariah ate most of his ice cream

Daddy managed to finish what he couldn't eat

Jakob and Stuart wanted to try on all the knight's equipment

Jakob tried on the heavy chain mail which weighed 3 stone and had 20,000 metal links

We saw wizards and strange tree people

And is this a tiger?

Finally a try at archery, which is harder than it looks

Looks like we brought a fairy home from middle earth!

Wednesday in the garden

This is the resident of bird box number 2. A pair of blue-tits were bringing a regular supply of fat green caterpillars today. They pop in and out so fast it is difficult to photograph them. Just caught this one with its head popping out.

These are a new addition to my garden and are planted at the edge of the pond. they are primula viallii.

Lots of flowers in the garden at the and they attracting numerous bumble bees. Lupins, forget me nots, geraniums and allium in flower at the moment in the flower bed

Garden update

Good news on the nest boxes. A lot of activity going on in both of them so I think there must be young in them now. This one at the bottom of the garden has somehow been knocked sideways, by what I don't know. It hasn't disturbed the pair of great tits nesting in it. This one has what looks like a juicy caterpillar in its beak. I have seen blue tits in and out of the other box but not managed to catch them with my camera yet.

Today there were a lot of honey bees buzzing around the cotoneaster. If you look closely you can see very full pollen sacs on its legs. No sign of any honey bees. Maybe it is a bit early for them or not warm enough yet. It has been a bit chilly today and quite windy

The pond water is still looking rather green, but not maybe as bad as it was. I have put two doses of barley straw extract in but not sure how long it takes to show any effect.

Saw a newt in there again after going a week or more with no sighting.

Still a few tadpoles but their numbers seem to be diminishing. None with legs yet.

The bright summer flowers are starting to open, and typically it has started to rain the last few days. This ruins the large blooms as it tends to wash the petals away.

Clematis above and below

This lovely large poppy has beautiful flowers and has been here since we moved into the house 16 years ago. Pity the flowers don't last long, especially when it rains.

Sick lupins

I think I must have been starving my lupins. First the leaves started to turn yellow and when the flowers opened they were looking very pale and smaller than usual.

The flower above is the colour they usually are and below shows a rather sick looking one and the yellow leaves. These are both on the same plant.

I think I should probably feed them more often so out came the miracle grow and now hoping things will improve. Maybe a bit too late for the two affected plants but I have treated all of them.

Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday my daughter, son and I had a day out to the sea. We went to Dunravon Bay, Southerndown which is near Bridgend in South Wales. It started off quite a dull day but brightened up later. We started by walking to the top of the cliffs, stopping on the way for a picnic lunch.

Lovely views from the cliffs of the bay, and the remains of Dunraven Castle.

I didn't know at the time but these are harlequin ladybirds which are a threat to our native ladybirds. They are apparently the most invasive of the species in the world. If you spot any, do as I did and fill in the ladybird survey.

Lots of flowers in the woodland. This is Lords and Ladies or cuckoo pint

Entrance to Victorian Garden

Flag Iris in the Victorian Garden

Apple blossom

Iris

Hellebore

Victorian Garden

Cowslips

The tide was in when we arrived and the water looked very cold and uninviting. We sat on the rocks watching 2 people surfing, very brave of them.

More people went into the sea as the tide went out and Sophie and Sam did briefly but it was very cold

Easter Saturday Hike

Easter Saturday and grandson Stuart was given the choice of a visit to the seaside or a hike up the local "mountain". He said that he had never been up a mountain so would like to do that.

This is a photographic record of our hike up Twm Barlwm, which is 419 metres above sea level. On a clear day you can see for miles in all directions. The estuary of the river Severn to the south and the North Devon coast across the water. To the north and east are Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. Further north the Brecon Beacons can be seen and immediately below are the towns of Newport, Cwmbran and Risca.

Not quite the start as we had already walked uphill for about 1 km to reach this point where we turned off the road.

Lots of interesting things to see on the way

In the distance we can now see the summit, or pimple of Twm Barlwm

Grandma is getting left way behind, maybe just because I was stopping to take photos. lol

We reached the summit and sat right on top for a well deserved picnic lunch. The views from here are spectacular but unfortunately the air quality had been poor for a few days due to pollution so it was very misty

Plaque with details of the history of Twm Barlwm.

On top of the world. (well not quite)

Young calf ready for its lunch too.

Lambs having difficulty following after mum up the slope.

What an amazing tree, must be the result of years of coppicing in the past.

What a harsh warning!

We arrived home feeling very tired but we all enjoyed our day out and it is another experience to tick off Stuart's list of thing to do.