A spring-like day

Brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Meteorological spring begins officially on Sunday 1^st March. As if to herald that auspicious day, Wednesday was sunny and mild. We opened the patio doors to our sitting room to listen to frenetic birds singing loudly, claiming their territory, challenging their peers.

Squirrels cavorted in the trees, chasing madly up and down the tree trunks, leaping from pathway to pathway along the naked oak tree branches.

The first butterflies were flitting about the shrubs. A bright flash and flittering of lemon yellow, the Brimstone butterflies (Gonepteryx rhamni) had emerged from their winter hibernation in the ivy or holly or brambles. It is the males that are so gaily decked out. The mates they hope to impress are more soberly dressed in greenish-white. They are long-lived, these harbingers of spring, enjoying a full twelve-month of life. They survive almost freezing temperatures with glycerin, a natural ‘anti-freeze,’ and by controlling the water in their bodies. While the warmth of a February sun tempts them from their lairs, a sudden drop in temperature can send them back to shelter.

 

In the uncertain days of early spring, Brimstones rely on nectar from early flowering shrubs and flowers, like pussy willow, primroses, or dandelions, though there are none of these producing anything at present for their sustenance in our garden.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

It’s good to be alive!        

A short stagger in the woods

 

A short stagger in the woods

It has taken a very long time for my leg to recover from the wrench it had in 2023. Ligaments, tendons, whatever, need time to heal. Sometimes, it gives a terrific crack, which is a little alarming, mostly to the onlooker – onlistener?

Anyway, I was delighted to get out into the woods last week. The scents from the deep leaf mould and the green canopy to delight the eyes, the air so fresh I could drink it and the wonderful feeling of release all led to a sense of freedom and renewal.

I like trees. I like the way they embrace each other and the roots hold tightly to the earth, spreading to communicate with one another.

I like the old tree stumps, covered in moss, sustaining life as they rot and become one with the soil.

I like the odd excrescences on the tree trunks.

I like the squirrels scampering along the pathways, high overhead, or racing across the ground from one tree to the next, tails flicking.

I like the birds, singing in competition in a wonderful chorus and flying or hopping from one branch to another.

I like being out in the woods, come rain or shine, and I didn’t really stagger 😉

ABC Wednesday S is for . . .

Salvia has purple or white flowers from June to October and is a magnet for bees and butterflies. It is a member of the largest class of plants in the mint family (Lamiaceaea) It is commonly called sage but not all varieties can be used in cooking. Some will make you hallucinate!

Scabious ‘Butterfly Blue Beauty’ is highly attractive to butterflies and bees. It is a perennial that will form clumps. One flower remains on it despite a couple of frosts! It looks rather more ragged than these, though.

Senecio Serpens or Klienia is also a clump forming perennial belonging to the family Asteraceae. It is native to South Africa and is a succulent that requires little water - therefore it prospers in dry conditions. Its foliage is grey-green – some describe it as blue - and it produces small white flowers in the summer. It is easily propagated from cuttings - or breakings - as we discovered accidentally.

Squirrels Sciurus carolinensis)  of the grey variety were introduced to UK from North America in the late 19^th/early 20^th century and have displaced our smaller native red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) They are able to eat a wider variety of food including acorns which they can digest but the reds cannot. They are entertaining acrobats and noisy when annoyed when they make a loud chittering noise which continues for several minutes. They are inveterate thieves and are adept at accessing bird feeders. I love seeing them race around the trunks of trees, up and down and around and around and am quite happy to feed them. We have some of the sleekest squirrels in Berkshire!

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are also welcome in our garden. From the milk chocolate coloured young to the glossy adults they are noisy, quarrelsome, social birds and always fun to watch. We've never seen a murmuration of starlings like this below.

Syringa usually known as Lilac belongs to the olive family (Oleaceae) it is native from south-eastern Europe to eastern Asia. It is well-adapted to cultivation in temperate climates. Colours range from white through pink and lilac to deep purple. They can be small – around 6’,  or tall – around 32’.

Sunflower seed head

 . . . and of course we have spiders and slugs and snails . . .

Click here for more Ssssssss

Shadow Shot Sunday #103 Jack Russells and a squirrel

If our Jack Russells had ever got as close to a squirrel as this the squirrel would not have lived to tell the tale - or, more likely, the Jack Russells would have had puncture wounds in their noses! Our senior JR, Biddy, used to climb trees, usually in pursuit of sticks. Her daughter, Daisy,  used to discover hedgehogs in the garden, yelp and then come in covered in fleas. They were noisy terriers unless there was a fox in the near vicinity when they would be very quiet and watchful. Local foxes learnt to avoid our garden!
Tracy from 'Hey Harriet' organises and hosts this meme - thank you, Tracy :-) Click here to see more shadow shots - and maybe join in?

Six Word Saturday

It's a windy wet November day
Many of the remaining autumn leaves will be tugged from the branches to join the rest in an unlovely soggy muddy carpet in our sodden garden. The birds will take every brief opportunity to visit the feeders before scurrying back to their places of safety. Can birds scurry? Probably not! Well then, the squirrels will scurry and the birds will . . . NOT. They will dart away, hopefully avoiding the attention of any watching Sparrowhawk.
Periodically the sun attempts to break through but I fear it's fighting a losing battle. The day reflects the sombre mood in our house but that will improve and the weather may not.

Thank you to Cate from 'Show My Face' for initiating and hosting this meme.
To nosey into other people's thoughts please click here.

Six Word Saturday

I can't believe it's Saturday again!

Where does the time go? I mean, it's not as if I go out to work any more! I know that seems to imply that I work at home but I don't. I do the bare minimum.
I'm not a slob - I'd be houseproud if I weren't so lazy - but there are more interesting things to do and ponder. For instance, I often ponder doing some gardening. In my imagination I have a gorgeous plot bursting with beautiful blooms and graceful trees, my fish swim around their pond with fishy smiles on their fishy lips, the frogs croak greetings to me, the birds thank me as they gratefully partake of the food I have so generously provided for them. Even the squirrels pause long enough in their tree planting to express gratitude for the food they share with the birds. The patio is clear of leaves, the path is swept, the tree trunks brushed and polished, the plants dead-head themselves and the spiders do their work outside and never dream of stepping foot (or feet) indoors. (I think I've seen too many cartoons!) Sigh . . . In reality, everything in the garden is fighting for supremacy, the flowers have run riot, the fish are invisible beneath the rampaging pond plants, the ground is so soggy it's like a giant mud sponge and I feel I am fighting a losing battle. Then, suddenly, everything will be barren again, sunk below the surface to plot fresh attacks in the Spring. of course, if I were a proper gardener, I would be working all year round, whatever the weather, to keep my little piece of England neat and tidy, productive and profitable - but when it's cold - or hot - or wet - or windy - I stay indoors and gaze out at the wilderness. Actually I love my garden - it's natural (well, that's one way of putting it) It attracts an abundance of wild life and the flowers and shrubs yield their beauty and scent freely to whoever passes.
Thank you to Cate from 'Show My Face' for hosting this meme.
To satisfy your curiosity why not visit other participants here?

The first day of Autumn 2009

Yesterday, August 31st, was the last Bank Holiday the UK will enjoy until December 25th, Christmas Day. (Scotland's last one was on August 3rd.) Though many people consider that Autumn has arrived, naturally enough when the Autumn school term is about to start or has already commenced, in my mind at least it is still Summer. Yesterday was a warm, sunny, beautiful day and this morning dawned bright and breezy.
Spiders are usually an indication that the season is changing as they come inside in droves but they have been in residence all this year. I know they keep the bugs down and they also amuse the cats and dogs, occasionally nipping their inquisitive noses. This does not dissuade the cats from consuming them - in fact, it probably makes them more determined. The dogs merely flatten them.
I am not a fan of spiders - a fact I repeat ad nauseam - though I appreciate their role in the greater order of things, but an increasing interest in photography has encouraged me to look more closely at them. I admire the efficiency of their design and the intricacy of their webs though too long spent studying them makes me itch.
On my way into the garden this morning I noticed a reddish-brown spider on the galvanised wire mesh panel that slots into the patio door groove (we have this so that small people, dogs and cats are safely contained while fresh air is free to enter) The mesh is 2" x 2" (50mm x 50mm) and the spider was about 0.6" (10mm) and actually rather pretty though the close-ups made me reconsider that opinion. Such a tiny creature, so beautifully constructed, so busy! It seemed to be attempting to build a web, though the constant opening and closing of the patio door must have disturbed it somewhat. He looks as though he's about to pounce - or perhaps he's practising his conducting gestures for the Proms


This is his underside - he looks a little embarrassed or is he simply 'hanging loose'?

I later identified it as a male Garden spider, Araneus quadratus, which is only slightly less common than its extremely common and widespread near relation Araneus diadematus. Males are smaller than females. There are some stunning photographs here. In our front garden we have two Kentish cob trees, brought to Berkshire when my parents moved here from Kent thirty years ago. They produce many cobnuts which are particularly relished by the squirrels - they have expensive tastes as cobs bought from Waitrose are currently £3.99 per kg. As squirrels are inveterate gardeners we have many saplings from the cobs and also from our corkscrew hazel, Corylus avellanus 'Contorta' - this used to be known as 'Harry Lauder's walking stick' as the singer and entertainer Harry Lauder (1870 - 1950) carried a crooked stick for every performance.

While photographing the cobs I noticed, as I do every year, and marvelled at the tight little catkins that will herald Spring in a few months' time, dancing in the breeze before the leaves unfurl. To paraphrase Shelley, 'If Autumn comes, can Spring be far behind?

Meanwhile the day that started so promisingly has commenced its downturn - the wind is strengthening, the temperature is dropping, splendid clouds have massed and are now emptying their contents vigorously on our sodden ground.