Quote from: Ithoriel on 01 February 2022, 03:40:51 PMWait! They're not? Dang!

But they know what the weather will be! What sorcery is this!!?? 

Divination of the weather, definitely a suspect craft. Perhaps we should hand them by their thumbs until they confess.    

Pheasants. Many years ago, now, our garden was a regular haunt for a truly Gorgeous and aristocratic visitor. A ring necked Cock Pheasant. Full bodied and in his prime... his lordly strut was a joy to behold. On occasion, a much more timid hen may have accompanied.
Christened 'Pheasan Phesumpus' by Ma... the 'Royal progress' was a real pleasure. 
But... years pass. The rough field nearby became housing and His visits stopped. 
There were occasional visits by newer generations... but declining... and I have not seen or heard a Pheasant locally for many years. 
Some time past, I took Ma for a drive though 'The Debatable Land' looking for Pele Towers. We encountered several Pheasants... but not a pleasure. Scrawny, scabby... not what we used to enjoy... and no-one would waste a cartridge on them. Sad. 

So... if you are Graced by a resplendent visitor, in all his glory... just enjoy. 

Sunny Spring day here today. 
Masses of Snowdrops out and, for once, Crocus flowers standing up nicely and not beaten flat as they usually get.
Cleared stick / leaf jams in stream... pleasant to see light glinting on flowing water.
Annoyance is that 'Little Old Guy' still has not finished cutting back bushes, etc. and they are shooting. Seeing as he has already been paid for work, probably not his priority!     
Nice day! 

Finally some sunshine again after a pretty iffy couple of weeks with the storms and the aftermath of those. Spring has well and truly sprung here in Bristol, with everything shooting up left, right and centre. The blackbirds are nest building which is always good to see and I saw a female chaffinch in the garden this morning, the first one for a long, long time.

Well a male Blackcap spotted on the feeders in the garden this morning . Not seen one for a few months, so could be an early migrant or one of the residents that have begun over Wintering in the UK. Either way a pleasure to see on a cold and cloudy day.

The birds have largely deserted our back garden since it turned into the Somme last year, but I'm hoping we can tempt them back this summer as we tidy things up a bit.  Even the squirrel has given up as every time he came back his landmarks had disappeared/moved and he couldn't retrace his steps to his stashes.

Once I've got a few more big jobs done we'll be putting a load of bird boxes up, and also some bat boxes hopefully.  We see them hunting at dusk each night so there's healthy population around here somewhere, and it'd be great to give them somewhere in the garden to live.

Gave the grass it's first 'long' cut of the year yesterday.

Assuming it stays dry - and the forecast is that it will - will lower the blades and give it more of a 'buzz' cut this afternoon.

Then I have to put up a birdbox - xmas gift from grand-daughter - somewhere . . . not sure where yet. There's a lot of cats around here.

Sunny, but breezy Spring day. Garden... loads of Violets, Wood Anemones, Oxlips and Fritillaries out and Wood Sorrel starting. Night Foxes and Hedgehogs busy. April already!   

Dull and grey here but no rain ATM

Planted the first of my onions at the weekend - Stuttgart Giants - it was a glorious Saturday and the tadpoles in the pond on my plot were wriggling like crazy in the warm sunshine.
Makes you glad to be alive   

Tadpoles ?.....Hmmmm...that makes me realise that I haven't seen any toads flattened on the road, this year. Hopefully that means they've been lucky, rather than them all disappearing !

We saw a nice mix of butterflies over that lovely early Spring spell of sunshine and warmth, but none since. Most of the Spring bulbs have gone over, but the tulips are looking lovely again this year. Second early potatoes planted at the weekend and tomatoes and lettuce seedlings doing very nicely on the windowsill. Even the dahlias in pots have started growing and I hope the ones left in the ground have survived the wet Winter.

In my garden the slightly warmer weather has seen the return of a pair of amorous woodpigeons. Most evenings around 6 they fly in (not together), land on the same part of the trellis at the end of the garden and start the foreplay, involving small hops, mutual preening and much beak-locking. Eventually the female sort of crouches down and the male gets flappy for a few seconds. A few more hops, a rest that's the equivalent of a post-coital cigarette, and they fly off. They've been doing it for at least three years, and have convinced me they must be carrying on an intense extra-marital affair.

Of course it may not always be the same pair, despite the consistency of behaviour. But that would mean my trellis has become a prime woodpigeon dogging site....

The blackbirds have fledglings as they are busily carrying worms, caterpillars etc to the neighbours garden. Always lovely to see.

One Swallow does not a Summer make, but maybe 8+ flying over our house this evening might . The garden is coming along nicely and even the Dahlias I grew from seed last year have come up again. Happy days!