Trying something new

I look at a lot of craft blogs on the Internet and have seen some lovely embroidered pictures framed in embroidery hoops.  Saw some more in Craft in the Bay in Cardiff last week.  Decided I would try some myself.  I enjoyed doing these and think I would like to do more. All I need now is a cheap source for embroidery hoops.   I have plenty of crafty bits and pieces to use to make them.  I still need to back them.  I have looked on the Internet and so many different suggestions as to how to do this. So will have to think about it.

Butterfly and Bee. 

Quite like my little bee, I think it might feature in a lot of pictures.

Swans story

Spring is well and truly here and it is time to start the swan's story again.  I love to follow them through the year and hope some of you do too.  Last year the pair had 8 cygnets which caused quite a stir in the area by their travels around town to another lake nearby when they held up the traffic by walking down the middle of the road.  The female was injured at one stage and taken to a swan sanctuary for treatment but later returned.  The cygnets have been moved elsewhere as the adults try to drive them away at the end of the summer.  They are probably with a group of several other juveniles somewhere.

On March 11th I noticed they had started building their nest on the lake in the same place as last year.   The female or pen builds the nest while her partner, the cob supplies the materials.

  Today I stopped by the lake as I noticed the pen was sitting on the nest.  I watched for a while until she stood up and saw that she had 3 or maybe 4 eggs.  This seems rather early in the year as I had read they lay between late April and early May.  I don't know when she laid the eggs so if only recently there may be a chance she will lay more.  The usually lay up to 7 but as they had 8 last year she may do the same again.

The incubation period for the eggs is 35 to 41 days so hopefully we will have cygnets on the lake in early May.

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.