Friday, April 30, 2010

ash springs to life


Ash is a particularly badly behaved horse who is in the field next door to us. Spring juices are running in his veins and he has spent most of the day chasing rooks and rabbits in his field. And he doesn't like having his photograph taken or anything/person in his space (defined as the whole field and all surrounding fields).


Thursday, April 29, 2010

magnolia magic


the magnolia tree and the cherry are all in full blossom. This is usually the signal for an unseasonal storm and gale force winds, but we will enjoy them while they are still on the tree.

Monday, April 26, 2010

the darling buds of ... May



mayflower (cuckoo flower, milkmaids, smocks, Virgin Mary etc etc) has been about for a couple of weeks, so we know May is here.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

no flies on our lichen


the bee like fly on our guardian lion is (probably) the drone fly, a large hive bee mimic.


It was very attracted to the lion for some reason, possibly to do with the lichens growing on the stone.

four dogs and a butterfly


the colourful upper surface of the wings of the orange tip makes it stand out in sharp contrast to the very effective leaf camouflage on the underside of the wings. There were a lot of butterflies about today including a peacock, speckled woods and various whites. Perhaps this year will be better for them all than last year. The title of this blog? You try wild life photography with this lot.

Friday, April 23, 2010

another returnee, chiffchaff serenading the moon

another late spring migrant, the chiff chaff, named for its unrelenting incessant call

Thursday, April 22, 2010

they are back now


our local population of swallows and martins arrived back today. What a pleasure to see Nature's clock still ticking and all's well with the world. Only 4 days later than last year, so the volcanic ash couldn't ground these long distance air travellers.

Monday, April 19, 2010

The eyes are the window of the soul

Psyche is usually portrayed with the wings of a butterfly, and has come to represent the soul, so I wonder what this early speckled wood is thinking when it looks me in the eye.


Oh, for a nice piece of flowering blackthorn? And black it is.

i

Sunday, April 18, 2010

the old duck and angler


I feel this would be a good name for a pub ...if only, as seen down on the Tamar today above Latchley

black bee (aka spring flower bee)



and amongst the lungwort (pulmonaria) growing in our garden we saw this little jet black bee with two very full pollen baskets. As usual with the Internet it is possible to identify just about anything and this is the Spring Flower bee (see link). It never ceases to amaze me what you can see when you start looking properly.

wood anemones



most of the time wood anemones are a soft white, but occasionally you find flowers blushed with pink like these, and they look very pretty in amongst the white.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Inny foot

Spot at the point where the river Inny enters the Tamar, wondering why it is called Inny foot, and whether this is a good example of having one's foot in one's mouth. And below, it was a long way home.


Monday, April 12, 2010

on the forest floor


wood anemones and daffodils, and a few celandines, flowering in profusion on the floor of ancient woodlands.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

stellata


the magnolia stellata is fully out and looking very exotic.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

like a flock of penguins

more from the purple toothwort archive: why do these strange flowers look so like a bunch of penguins or a crowd of monks?

we are not the only ones


who think Spring has arrived

it's here

the celandines are out everywhere, this marks the proper start of Spring. And it's a lovely dry sunny day.

Monday, April 05, 2010

daring buds of April


a horse chestnut bud bursting with energy, and below, the first sign of this year's magnolia stellata emerging.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Easter Sunday


the Easter bunny hunt over, Harriet catches her breath amongst our native daffodils, and wishes everyone a Happy Easter. Meanwhile the purple toothwort is taking over the world.


Saturday, April 03, 2010

hedge dogs

carefully camouflaged hedge dog watching the rabbits but easier to see than the courting couple below.

Friday, April 02, 2010

whitebells


no bluebells yet but these "whitebells" are appearing everywhere in our garden

Thursday, April 01, 2010

still only almost there

and so we wait with baited breath for things to begin to grow, and some warmth in our old bones. Last year our magnolia stellata was in full bloom by now, but it is still only at the bud stage this year. My heart sank when I heard that someone is once again predicting a hot dry summer. This will be the fourth or fifth year in a row that the same prediction has been made (Spot's entire life time has been spent in the rain it would seem); apart from the fact that we have had extremely wet summers for ages now sooner or later they are bound to get it right by chance alone. Please stop predicting hot summers. And here is a cheerful thought from James Lovelock.