One swallow

It doesn't make it summer, of course, but the first swallow showed up today, swooping low round the garden in search of insects.  It would be nice to think he might consider nesting here, but it's not likely.  We used to get house martins nesting under the roof, until the run of wet summers set in; when the rain came in 2007 they abandoned their nesting plans and moved away, and have never re-established here.

There has been lots of bird activity.  The nuthatches are still in the nestbox.  The blackbird fledglings (at least three of them) are out and about and very demanding, keeping their parents busy; the hen bird is very trusting and comes up close to me when I'm working in the garden.  Yesterday I checked over and repotted a lot of plants left from last year's village plant sales, in preparation for this year's, and found some with vine weevil grubs in the roots; these I fed to the blackbird who was delighted with them.  There's a pair of song thrushes, also apparently collecting food for young, as are the robins; there are at least two pairs of robins, so it's difficult to keep track of which is which!  There are three male blackbirds about too, with a fair bit of scrapping.  Lots of sparrows, as always, busy collecting nesting material; a pigeon fight resulted in some loose feathers on the lawn, which the sparrows immediately seized upon and carried up into our roof!  We've also had greenfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches and a pair of linnets; blue and great tits; a pair of wrens, several dunnocks and a very stroppy collared dove which fights with the pigeons.  The starlings are nesting in their usual place in the roof.  A mistle thrush showed up one day, and the two partridges appear most days, occasionally checking on the broad bean patch which has now been thoroughly staked to keep them off.

The butterfly count is increasing; today I spotted an orange tip, and a female large white.  Lots of bees.

The daffodils are fading, with only 'Jenny' and the pheasants-eye types still looking good (the 'Geranium' ones have been cut for the house).  I'm pleased with 'Jenny'; she sets off the front garden nicely, as does the new tulip 'Sweetheart'.  Interestingly, this has lovely broad, cream-margined leaves; no description of 'Sweetheart' that I can find mentions this, but I'm thinking that it may be the main attraction of this variety for me from now on!  The early yellow tulips are past, the small red ones are out and some of the others just opening; a few 'Havran' down in the bottom border, and some of the 'Uncle Tom's in the big pot.  'Silver Parrot' is in full bud.  The only other ones open are two lovely pink ones ('Sherwood'?), a relic of planting from several years ago, down under the rosemary, and making a lovely pairing; I always forget about them until they pop up.  The camellia is fading, messily as always, but it has been lovely.  The other colour is from the Brunnera, Doronicums and the honesty.

The sweet peas were planted out today, against the wall in the corner of the veg plot; the January-sown ones are still rather weedy and the germination rate wasn't all that good, so I may supplement with some sowing in situ.  The potatoes are planted, and the broad beans are all now sown, with the runner and French beans are germinating in the greenhouse.  The race is on to clear enough of the veg patch to allow me to plant out all the things I've got in the cold frame!  The propagator is full, mostly with half-hardy annuals, and with some double-decking to accommodate everything; even so, there's more that needs sowing.  There's never enough time, or enough room, at this time of year!

The wind has turned to the east again, and is quite breezy at times; yesterday I managed lunch on the bench, but today I gave up half-way through as it was just too windy.  Although it has been cold when the sun isn't out - Sunday was particularly chilly - we've had two days of lovely sunny weather and much better temperatures.  It has been quite dry, though; only one wet night recently, and the watering can has been in use.  Rain is forecast for the end of the week.

Nuthatching

We have a pair of nuthatches nesting in the nestbox.  They're going in and out intermittently, but not often enough to suggest that the eggs have hatched yet - although I did hear cheeping from somewhere down in that corner of the garden the other day.  We're looking forward to seeing the youngsters.  A wren has also been seen collecting moss down at that end of the garden; there were wren families down there last year, so we're hopeful.  The blackbird brood has hatched and the parents are busy collecting food; the apples put out on the patio are gratefully received!  Other wildlife in the garden has included five bullfinches together (three males and two females), a slowworm basking in the veg patch and, less pleasingly, a rat (probably dislodged when a logpile was uncovered).  We're having regular visits from a pair of partridges who enjoy dustbathing in the broad bean patch; deterring them is proving difficult!

After a long period of easterly and northerly winds, and mostly dry but chilly weather, we had a spell of gales from the west, followed by a warm and sunny Easter weekend, and it has been mostly sunny and dry since then.  The sun brought out the butterflies all of a sudden: a peacock, a tortoiseshell and a brimstone (also a few small things that moved too fast for identification).

The gales knocked over the wheelie bin, which had a lot of thin polythene dustsheeting in it; most of this blew away and, although I managed to retrieve some of it, there are shreds of it fluttering from the tops of the ash trees like demented prayer flags.  I hope it breaks down soon.

Camellia 'Donation'

Cowslip patch

The daffodils are fully out, and the tulips are starting; the early yellow ones by the dining room window are 
out and some of the ones in pots are well in bud.  The Epimedium sulphureum is in bloom (I managed to cut the leaves off this year before the flowers came up), as are the Doronicums and Brunnera; the Pulmonaria is coming out, and the lily of the valley is already in bud.  The Camellia 'Donation' in the pot in the front garden is doing beautifully, despite being knocked around a bit by the wind, and the cowslip patch in the lawn (now also boasting a number of primroses and various hybrids) is in full flower.  Meanwhile I'm trying to weed more parts of the veg plot to house the seedlings now coming up in the cold frame, and also to get out as many of the pink geraniums as I can before they take over.  The blackbirds are very appreciative of all the digging!