Tea on the bench

My benchmark - more or less literally - for warm weather is whether I can sit outside on the bench, usually with a mug of tea or some lunch.  Last weekend I managed the first mug of tea outside (and without wearing a jacket).  The warm weekend has given way to something more typical for March, however; still dry, apart from some rain yesterday morning (but more is forecast), chillier temperatures and a brisk wind.  The soil is probably still quite warm for the time of year, though; today I spotted the two partridges luxuriating (there's no other word for it) in an extended dust-bath which they had excavated for themselves in the seedbed prepared for the leeks but fortunately not yet sown.  One of them, and I'm guessing it was the female as the other bird was being the lookout, was rolling on her side, leg kicking away as she dug herself further into the sun-warmed ground.  There's a trench of garden compost buried underneath - I wonder if that's providing added warmth?  Anyway I now know that I'll need to protect the leeks, and anything else sown outside.

Red sky at night

I did wonder briefly whether I should take the bubblewrap down in the greenhouse - temperatures reached well into the upper 20s in there when the sun was out, even with the roof vents open - but some night frosts are forecast for next week, so I've left it there for the time being.  The new dahlias have been potted up but seed sowing hasn't started in earnest yet; it seemed a pity to be inside when the weather was so good.  The cooler temperatures and the wind will probably see me in there in the next few days.  I did some tidying up of the overwintering plants.  While pulling dead leaves off the blue echeveria I was startled by something flying out at me; it must have been hibernating under the top rosette.  It was a big flying insect, making a clattering sound and clearly not pleased; could it have been a hawkmoth?  It disappeared and I haven't found where it has hidden itself.


There has been a pleasing number of bumblebees around, and, while I haven't seen the tortoiseshell butterfly again, there was a brimstone about the other day.  On the bird front, sparrows are collecting nesting material and there's a pigeon building a nest in the holly tree; a song thrush came for a bath one day, and a wren has been about in the bottom hedge.

The big daffodils and the very small ones are in full flower (the slightly smaller ones in the shady borders are yet to open), as is the pulmonaria; the muscari (those that haven't been dug out) are just starting.  A few dandelion buds have started to show, so I've begun the annual round of trying to dig them out or at least pick the buds off before they can open.  We managed to cut the grass for the first time today, so they're a bit more visible - but so too is the moss, which seems to get deeper every year!