What Animal?

A flash of red and a disappearing bushy tail in the woods is the only bright colour in a grey brown world. Fog again but reallly bad this time.

Bird Song

Out of the freezing fog came the caw of a raven and in the background came the song of the blackbird and the feisty residence robin added his angry sound all this while putting out the rubbish.

Hard Frost

Woke up to a pleasant surprise  a good old fashioned hard frost . At first t thought it was a light dusting of snow, but no it was frost everywhere was a sparkling white.
The thrush in the tree  saw the cat and the cat saw the the thrush cat tried to jump to catch the thrush but the thrush just flew away with ease. Not my cats , but next doors my cats at the moment like being indoors at the moment.

Winter Sunshine.

Leaves sparkling in the winter sunshine, covered in a hard frost, sparkling like hundreds upon hundreds of tiny diamonds, so pretty.
The resident robin pop his head out to say hello I am still here defending my territory.

antics

Watching the squirrels doing their early morning antics. Wish I was as agile as them. We had the very tail end of storm Barbara just really windy and wet, nothing to worry about

Frost!

When putting out the washing I thought it was a bit cold didn't  pay much attention till I had to go to the  other washing line and walked across the lawn , we had a hard frost, plus I was in my nightdress!

Parakeets and The Owl.

A lovely  crisp sunny cold day, a flock of at least 20 parakeets flew pass going home to roost.making a noise as they passed soon be home they seem to say..
In the distant the owl is hooting .

Waterproof or Lighter? That's the Question.

Glorious autumnal weather such a mixture rain wind sun drizzle, cold warm. What coat do I put on the lighter weight one or the waterproof one, hat or no hat? Put on the waterproof one on and get to hot put the lighter weight one on and get soaked! Can't win, then there is the hats I won't even go there!
The leaves are slowly going from the trees and where they were crispy and crunchy to walk in they are now wet and slippery so have to take care when walking out.
The beech trees have finally dropped their nuts and it's quite painful to walk over them, the sweet chestnut tree has now gone to sleep.
The back garden is one a mess due to leaves wind and me not being able to get out there to do a tidy up, but hopefully this weekend I can , it can rain I don't mind, then it will be waterproof coat lighter one , hat or no hat?!

Rainbow.

Just saw a most beautiful rainbow I could almost touch it well I think I could that was how low it was. All the colours of the rainbow I could see most clearly, these are the times I wished that I had a camera of some sort in my hand . So beautiful it was

Difference In A Year.

What a difference a year makes this time last year the fields where submerged and river were running here there and everywhere,nothing but rain and more rain nothing but grey skies, this year? Really mild a mixture of sunshine and rain at the moment sunshine, the trees still with their leaves on , their colours brighting up they grey,blue sky.

Lovely Autumn &Rainy Days

After a long hot summer, a mixture of lovely autumn days and grey rainy days. Loads of red berries everywhere lovely to see. The leaves are still clinging onto the branches.
The Virginia Creeper which I planted ages ago gave a wonderful show so beautiful the colours well were fantastic.
The garden is now beginning to go to sleep for the winter. The nettles that gave the butterflies so much pleasure are still going strong and they are staying , going to make a wildlife garden around them as they are going to be the main feature.

Allotment.

A dash of home grown tomatoes, a sprinkling of blackberries, add a couple of corn cobs, mix in a handful of runner beans, one small leek and don't forget 2 perfect apples and what do you get ? You get yumminest from the allotment.

Nettles.

Glad I left the clump of nettles near the back door the amount of butterflies who visited it was a lot , so the nettles are here to stay.
Storm clouds are building up one minute then go in the next minute, wish it would storm as we need the freshness back.

Rain,Heat,Rain.

After last weeks bit of rain the intense heat is back, but we are promised that the rain will be back soon. It was nice to have the earthy scent after the rain came again and everything looked so good and lush.
It looks like it's going to be a bumper year for the beech nuts.

Mind boggling.

A trip by steam train took us into a different countryside than usual.  Saw long horned cattle.
Steam train running alongside the beach, mind boggling.

Pure Bliss.

The apple bough is full of reddish russet and green apples, it's bowing so gracefully into a arch, so pleased. Cannot wait to pick the apples.
Friends plum tree has a load of plums this year, pure bliss.

Ants

Flying ants are everywhere at the moment, I spoken to the ants who are still in the front garden I told them I left you alone you leave me alone deal, they didn't take any notice just carrying on doing what ants do best!

A Beautiful August Morning.

A lovely soft sun shiny morning with a lovely gentle breeze.
There is a branch so load with apples that it is bowing so low down so when they are ready to pick I won't even be standing on tiptoes..
And also the birds are very welcome to share the apples and the insects to.
The nettle clump I left for the butterflies has grown and it is a good host for them, so pleased.

1st of August.

Wow the 1st of August already and it won't be long and Autumn is here. Things in around the garden have been very quiet, but the ants nest has gone , nothing to do with me I hasten to add.
One of my cats the one who is frighten of her own shadow and taken a strong dislike to my new neighbours cat, boy does she chases it out the garden, I didn't believe my eyes when I saw her chasing the poor thing.

A Flock Of Geese.

A flock of geese on a golf course green whoops! And they were enjoying themselves. The golfers won't be happy!

Allotment.

Helped my friend who has got an allotment, pulled up some beautiful carrots and boy do they taste nice. Radishes as well have grown well. But unfortunately he left the peas a bit late to pick, but they were fine, it was my job to pod them , this was one of my favourite jobs when I was a child, one for me one for the colander!
The beans are coming along nicely so are the potatoes. All in all the allotment is doing well despite the funny weather we are having at the moment.
I keep saying he planted a marrow , he keeps saying he planted a cucumber, which one of us is going to be right?

Beech Trees.

Mowed the lawn with the new lawn mower it wasn't to bad just a bit tricky when turning the corners. But I forgot about the ants nest whoops! You should of seen them scurrying around there was so many, fortunately they left me alone.
Saw an other butterfly, but not many butterflies around this year.
One of the neighbours was complaining about the trees near us, we have got two huge beech trees near us, this neighbour was complaining to a council worker, yes the beech nuts are a pain to walk on when they drop, but they give shelter to the birds and to the insects . They drink up enormous amount of water, if they are cut down we shall be flooded as where we live it is very flat and a lot of people concreted their front gardens and where will the rain go?  Not sure what the council worker replied as I had to go to work .

Garden In Two Halves.

I wasn't going to mention the weather again, but I wouldn't believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes, half the back garden swathed in sunshine the other half was being battered by hailstones, I didn't have a camera of some sort on hand. It's times like this you wished you did.

Wildflower corner.

Going to sow some wildflower seeds near the butterfly nettles to create a wildflower corner. My new next door neighbours have put a 6ft fence between the 2 properties so a wildflower will look nice and cover a boring wood fence up.

Butterflies are here so is summer.

I am happy now saw a cabbage white butterfly on the clumps of nettles I left for the butterflies. I have a small bit of garden for the wildlife. So I am happy for me summer is here.

Big Mouth.

Me and my big mouth, we had 2near perfect summer days ,warm, the sun out,
a nice gentle wind lovely, this morning grey grey and a touch of rain, I wil try hard and not write about the weather as I think I put a jinx on it.
Walking up to the bus stop, I was looking at the gardens as I pasted and they really look nice . It's nice to see the different gardens each stamped with the personality of the gardeners. And it's nice to get ideas from them, I would never copy, but sometimes I think I would of never thought of that , I will try that but maybe with a different plant or shade of plant etc.

A Most Perfect Summer Day To Date.

A lovely summer day, warm sunshine a blue sky with a few white clouds, no rain clouds in sight and a gentle wind not a breeze as the wind is slightly stronger than a breeze.
Bees buzzing  in the garden lovely to hear them buzzing.
The apple tree is loaded with a load of apples so hopefully a good harvest this year.

Busy,Busy.

In between the showers it warm and sunny. The grass is beginning to grow again after being mowed to practically nothing. Glorious shades of greens in and around the garden and countryside.
The ants are still busy busy! But they stopped for a while to entertain some slugs who came to visit them.
The slug and snail hotel is overflowing now so an other hotel has opened up just near the nettle clump.
Plenty of bees about but not seen any butterflies yet.

Life stil the same.

Just got the grass cut in time as it started to rain heavily again. Mind you the grass was overdue to be cut, due the weather and other things . But it's done now.
 I have got an ant hill equivalent to a skyscraper but I am leaving it due to the fact I have no ants indoors! I respect the ants and hopefully they respect me.
The slug and snail hotel has been open for a while very happy residents, but I am still doing the snail and slug dance.
Talking about residents the Robin has been quiet stil about but he still here. Also I now got a resident blackbird with white feathers in his wings, welcome mr blackbird.

Freezing Fog.

Woke up to a grey freezing foggy morning. But it doesn't stop the birds from going about their business.
The dampness of the fog seem to enhance the bare trees and the bushes. The daffodils are standing bravely this morning.

All Things Yellow.

The yellow bush who's name has escaped me is slowly coming into flower. The daffodils have put on a good show front and back alike a good year for them in my garden. And the sun has decided to go on a mini break somewhere warm.

Beware of the Robin.

Woke up to a wet morning grey skies, a heavy downpour, then the sun decides to pop out and shine, then it hid behind the grey cloud as it passes.
Got a blue tit family nesting in the back garden, they are out of harms way. The residential Robin is still with me, and he is now used to us coming and going , but if anyone else comes up the path BEWARE! Does he scolds bless him and the noise he makes!

Beautiful Sunset.

Last evening a most beautiful sunset appeared the colours was so stunning even a photograph wouldn't be able do justice. Nature at iher best, but no snow at the moment.