After a half day of sunshine (albeit accompanied by some less than June like temperatures) we are back to dreary autumnal like weather today.
Nice weather for ducks, as they say. We have a rather large family of ducks living near us on the brook, and I'd heard whispers of ducklings, but until yesterday hadn't seen them myself. Three ducklings swam past, stopping to forage round the tree branches the wind has blown into the brook in the last few days.
I've become slightly preoccupied with birdlife of late. I think the British DNA is part Twitcher, so it was only a matter of time. Mr & Mrs Robin are officially nesting in our garden wall. He's always so busy; gathering nesting material, bringing food home, and chasing away sparrows. And he is always, always singing. I was told they do that to deter other birds as they're very territorial. On a couple of occasions i've gotten a little too close to the wall and some very worried robin eyes have peered back at me.
I've also finally been able to entice more birds to the garden by hanging a bird feeder. It took a while, but a group of blue tits now feed from it each afternoon around 4.30pm. They're quite noisy, never hold still for long, but they are my favourite British bird.
It has become habit to embrace what sunny moments we have and walk up the road to our neighbour's farm to buy eggs. I particularly love doing this for the views of the countryside, and to see what is blooming in the hedgerows.
Of course the roads are brimming with cow parsley, and buttercups.
There are blackberry flowers. And daisies.
Nice weather for ducks, as they say. We have a rather large family of ducks living near us on the brook, and I'd heard whispers of ducklings, but until yesterday hadn't seen them myself. Three ducklings swam past, stopping to forage round the tree branches the wind has blown into the brook in the last few days.
I've become slightly preoccupied with birdlife of late. I think the British DNA is part Twitcher, so it was only a matter of time. Mr & Mrs Robin are officially nesting in our garden wall. He's always so busy; gathering nesting material, bringing food home, and chasing away sparrows. And he is always, always singing. I was told they do that to deter other birds as they're very territorial. On a couple of occasions i've gotten a little too close to the wall and some very worried robin eyes have peered back at me.
I've also finally been able to entice more birds to the garden by hanging a bird feeder. It took a while, but a group of blue tits now feed from it each afternoon around 4.30pm. They're quite noisy, never hold still for long, but they are my favourite British bird.
It has become habit to embrace what sunny moments we have and walk up the road to our neighbour's farm to buy eggs. I particularly love doing this for the views of the countryside, and to see what is blooming in the hedgerows.
Of course the roads are brimming with cow parsley, and buttercups.
There are blackberry flowers. And daisies.
It is becoming a bit of a seasonal nature study. And quite lovely to document. I think i'll continue through the seasons- soon i'll be able to include actual blackberries, then autumn leaves and so on.
These wild violets threw me yesterday. Just a small patch. I can't work out if they're confused by the weather like the rest of us? I thought wild violets were finished for the spring, but perhaps in shady spots they will keep blooming.
And the eggs, the eggs are a thing of beauty themselves. Never uniform in colour, shape, or size. I love them so much more for their nuances.
Kate x
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