A Very Late Spring

It has been a long time since I last posted. Too many things happening at home. However, I have still been watching and photographing the happenings in the garden, even though there has not been any opportunity to post them.

Finally some semblance of spring has arrived - weeks late. The bluebells are out and should reach their peak by next week. This is the most wonderful time in the garden but everything is suffering from the unseasonal weather. A short interlude of warm weather in the last week has changed to howling gales, blowing unpollinated blossom from the trees.



The daffodils put on a nice show this year and also the primroses - thousands of them!



The Cherry Laurel is covered in blooms.



I managed to get some nice shots of the ash tree flowers this year. When you look close, they are absolutely fascinating and easy to recognise with their black buds.



The roe deer have been moulting in the last few weeks and look very scruffy. These photos were taken in late March when there was still some snow on the ground. There are two roe bucks that have very impressive antlers this year. Of course, the antlers on a roe never grow particularly big, like the red deer, for example, but they do give an indication of age. The photo below shows the velvet hanging off the antlers.



Another very exciting sighting recently is the stoat! Sadly no photos yet, but we have seen it a couple of times in the front garden.

The hares are also doing well. There were five of them in the field over the garden fence this morning.

Next to look out for are the baby roe deer which should, hopefully, be born around now. We usually see them out with their mother at the end of May.

The birds are frantic with their nesting. A pair of Jackdaws have taken up residence in the Barn Owl box :( I would prefer Barn Owls!

The Blackbirds are doing really well this year.

Another odd sighting - one Saturday afternoon, in broad daylight, a bat was flying around the back garden.

I am hoping that we will get a reasonable summer this year so that the wildlife can get back to some semblance of normality. Fingers crossed again!

What happened to Spring?

It's officially springtime but I am not sure that Mother Nature realises this! What a long winter this has been and there is no let up.

We had a couple of inches of snow (5 cms) in the last 24 hours. That is very little compared to some parts of the UK and we had little disruption. However, the plants and trees still think it's winter. There are no traces of green on the trees.



The animals and birds are also confused. The cock pheasants are following the females around the garden displaying their beautiful colours. The females are not interested. Today's snow dampened this guy's ardour.





Some of the plants are soldiering on despite the weather. The snowdrops have almost finished flowering and these crocuses were making the most of some of the rare sunshine a couple of weeks ago.



Springtime is my favourite time of year. It is Easter next week. Can we please have some decent weather to get out in the garden and enjoy it?

Big Garden Birdwatch

This weekend, the Big Garden Birdwatch is taking place in the UK. Hopefully thousands of people will be taking part by counting the birds spotted during the period of an hour, any time during the weekend. The results are submitted to the RSPB and provide useful feedback about the health of the UK bird population.

I did my hour this morning, just watching the birds I saw in the garden from the comfort of my house!

The day dawned bright and sunny and the rain during the night has washed away most of the snow. There were plenty of birds and animals around making the most of the better weather.

Here is my count:

• 2 x blackbirds
• 3 x blue tits
• 1 x carrion crow
• 2 x coal tits
• 1 x dunnock
• 1 x great spotted woodpecker
• 3 x great tits
• 9 x long-tailed tits
• 2 x magpies
• 2 x marsh tits
• 1 x nuthatch
• 6 x pheasants
• 2 x robin
• 2 x stock doves
• 11 x wood pigeons
• 1 x wren.

That is 16 different species in total and does not include the green woodpecker who came along a bit later and the sparrowhawk who was sitting on top of the bird feeder this afternoon!






It was good to see the sun today after a couple of weeks of very dull dreary and cold weather.

I have been putting food out for the animals and birds while the snow has been on the ground. One afternoon last week there were 5 muntjacs on the back lawn vying for the food! The guy above was one of them and was very aggressive towards another male who tried to get in on the act. He was a bit more condescending to the females and youngster.

A New Baby!

The snow is still here and it's cold and miserable, but my spirits were lifted this afternoon when one of the Muntjacs brought her new baby to visit!






This little cutie is probably only 2 - 3 weeks old. It is tiny and complete with spots and was keeping close to Mum.






I hope there is enough food to keep it alive in this bitter weather.





Hopefully more photographs when it becomes a bit more adventurous!

Daffodils and Snow

An interesting week. On Wednesday I discovered this patch of daffodils in the garden which seem to have been flowering for some time. A touch of spring!

On Friday, winter arrived with 15 cms of snow.

Going back to Wednesday - a glorious sunny day tempted the Roe Deer family to visit. The doe and her twins born last May, who are now the same size as she is, spent most of the afternoon on the front lawn, eating anything they could find and washing it down with water from the bird bath!











The tough winter means the deer, both roe and muntjacs, are spending a lot of time in the garden. I guess there are more tasty shrubs and grass in the garden than in the woods. The Muntjacs especially visit numerous times each day.

It snowed all day on Friday and the weather has remained dull and miserable ever since.

The bird feeders are overrun with small birds - blue tits, coal tits, great tits and long-tailed tits. The robins, blackbirds and pheasants are congregating beneath the feeders to catch to the crumbs and dropped seeds.

Here is a photo of one of the Muntjacs with a little robin in the snow, taken this afternoon.

The temperature has not risen above freezing for the last 3 days - tough for the creatures with little shelter.

Good Riddance 2012

The last day of 2012 and true to this years form, it is continuing to rain. It's official - 2012 is the wettest year on record.

As I write this, it is pouring down and under the bird feeder outside the kitchen window there is a very bedraggled muntjac eating the bird seed alongside an even more bedraggled pheasant. No sign of any little birds - they are all sheltering from the deluge.

Looking back over the year, it has certainly been different to previous years, mostly due to the weather. The plants, animals and birds have all suffered. We started the year with a drought and unseasonably high temperatures in March. Everything changed in April when it became stormy and wet. It seems like it has been wet ever since.

We are lucky to live at the top of a hill and therefore not subject to flooding like some poor souls who have had their homes (and their Christmas) ruined. However, we have lost a few trees to the stormy winds. On the plus side, this winter has been remarkably warm so far.

Let's hope that 2013 will be an improvement for all of us.





Over the last few weeks, the deer have been frequent visitors. The Muntjac family are around every day like clockwork. The little one is growing quite big now and has lost its spots. The photo above shows the buck and the doe.



The Roe Deer twins, born last May, are also regular visitors and are still sometimes seen with their mother. These photos, taken about 3 weeks ago, show that the twins spend much of their time together. They are easy to identify because one of them has a small tear in one of its ears.



Food must be in short supply in the woods because they came right up to the house in broad daylight when these photos were taken.



As we say goodbye to 2012, I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year. Let us hope that the elements are kinder to us in 2013!

Happy Family!

Following on from my last post, I now understand completely why the muntjacs were so aggressive with the fox. I think the photo above explains it - a very happy little family!

It is quite unusual to be able to photograph the buck, doe and fawn together. This photo was taken through my office window. It was very sunny but the deer were in the shade, so difficult lighting conditions.

It is also interesting that they come each day at around 3.00pm. It used to be 4.00pm but they did not change their clocks when we went back to GMT from British Summertime!




The little one is a real cutie but likes to stay close to Mum.



Mum spends a lot of timing grooming it - giving it a good lick all over.




Autumn continues with lots of rain. The water table is now so high that the smallest amount of rain causes flooding.

Many of the leaves are still on the trees with some beautiful autumn colours but the evenings are now getting darker and winter is on its way.