Heard but not seen

Today wasn't a day for spending much time out in the garden; the recent unsettled weather turned into a cool, wet and windy day.  But during a brief foray for some flowers to put in a vase (I'm trying to provide as many cut flowers for the house as I can), I picked up the first sounds this year of a baby blackbird, loudly demanding food.  There are at least two pairs of blackbirds about, one feeding nestlings and one probably still nest-building, and the two males were getting very territorial today - if one of them had youngsters out and about, he would be wanting to keep the rival well away.

The robins are also nest-building, as are the sparrows.  There's a lot of bathing going on, in the bird baths and in the pond (now cleared out a bit); a woodpigeon has had a couple of baths at the edge of the pond.  Nest-building is dirty work.  A blue-tit took a look at the nestbox the other day, so we might get activity there in due course.

Out and about, D saw a huge (100-plus) flock of fieldfares in a field on the edge of the village.  They must be preparing to fly north.

Despite the coolish and, lately, rather damp weather, other wildlife is also doing its spring thing, especially when the sun comes out.  A few more butterflies have been about: a brimstone last week, and a pair of peacocks were mating by the pond.  In the pond, which has been cleared of excess weed for the first time this year, there are little wriggly things that might be baby newts, and I also found a dragonfly larva; I didn't see any of those last year, so that's good news for me, if not for the newts (which are dragonfly larva food).   All the pondlife that I spotted was put back in the water, and the weed was left for a couple of days before going in the compost bin.  I well remember the time I didn't do this and the next day found a frog sitting in the compost bin looking very displeased.

Tulips and brunnera

Current vases of flowers indoors are scented daffodils, and early tulips with brunnera.  The osmanthus and Euphorbia characias are in bloom, the erythroniums and the older of my two potted camellias are in bud, and the plum tree is just starting to flower.  Less obviously, the gooseberries are also in bloom; although the flowers may not be very obvious to us, the bees have spotted them and are buzzing vigorously around them.  They're also enjoying the comfrey, the pulmonaria and the hellebores, all of which are still blooming away, and of course the daffs. 

We won an orchid in a raffle!

April seed-sowing has started: leeks with some mizuna and red mustard outside (well protected from the attentions of the two partridges), and brassicas, lettuces, squashes and sunflowers in the greenhouse.  The March seeds are mostly sprouting in there, and some of the autumn-sown seeds (bicoloured aquilegias for example) pricked out.  It's all getting a bit crowded as there isn't much bench space!

The forecast is for the weather to be drier for the next few days; I really need to get on with clearing the overgrown veg plot to make room for all these plants!  What am I going to do with 30 bicolored aquilegias anyway?