Unwelcome visitors

The true wildlife lover, I suspect, treats all wildlife equally.  I don't find this comes naturally, especially regarding the garden; I will go out of my way to look after ladybirds but ruthlessly deal with greenfly (currently inhabiting the lettuce in the greenhouse).  We had some undesirable wildlife around this week, and I don't particularly mean the buzzard (still regularly overflying our end of the village) and the red kite that turns up from time to time.  The nuthatch pair, now busily applying mud to the outside of the nestbox to make it more homely, had a nasty moment when the greater spotted woodpecker dropped in to inspect the box.  I like the woodpecker, even though I know they take nestlings, but I like the nuthatches more and don't want their young to become woodpecker lunch.  Fortunately Woodie has no hope at all of breaking into the nestbox (it's made of terracotta), but I'm starting to see the point of the mud, if it makes the entrance hole too small for a woodpecker's head.

The other undesirable visitor was a rat which came to the patio to pick up droppings from the suet feeder and to nibble the apple left out for the blackbirds.  (Ironically, the blackbirds are much keener on the suet than the apple; the female blackbird can just reach the fatballs from an unsteady perch on the metal pole holding the feeder.)  I think it's an old rat; it looks a bit mangy and didn't hear me approaching.  It took refuge in the woodpile and I haven't seen it since; I have been taking a more lenient attitude to the local cats when they come into the garden (although on the whole I regard them as unwelcome visitors too!).

Woodie's less predatory cousin the green woodpecker has been drumming optimistically for a mate, and a tawny owl has been calling occasionally from nearby.

Good wildlife this week has included a song thrush, the long-tailed tit pair still coming to the suet feeder, and a pair each of goldfinches and bullfinches.  Flying insects are also coming out, including the first butterfly of the year (a brimstone, as usual).

The weather is still chilly, even when the sun is out, and recent showers have included sleet, snow and hail.  The flowers are coming out only slowly, with most of the main-season daffodils in bloom, some muscari starting and a few tulip buds showing, but little else at present.  At least the daffs are keeping us in cut flowers.  Seed sowing in the greenhouse has started, and the propagator is already full (with some double-decking); a new shelving unit has been assembled and is awaiting the rush of seedtrays ....

Bed and board

Our elderly and decrepit buddleja has now had its annual prune, which always opens up the views down the garden (it may be elderly but it's big when in full growth).  While I was working away at it I heard a dull banging noise, which turned out to be coming from the summerhouse.  The summerhouse is equally elderly and decrepit and has several holes in the woodwork (it's due for a complete rebuild this year); a bird had got in through one of the holes and was ricocheting from one window to another trying to find a way out.  When I unlocked the door, the panicky ball of feathers stopped pinballing around for long enough for me to see that it was a nuthatch (which promptly made a quick exit).  Last year they nested in the nestbox on the side of the summerhouse, so they're apparently considering a return; today one of them was speculatively trying to stick mud to the nestbox wall, as they did last year, so with any luck we'll have them with us again this spring.  Time to put up defences against the local cats; one of them tried to climb the summerhouse wall last time.

The relatively mild winter meant that we had fewer bird species in the garden - presumably enough food elsewhere - but now the need for nesting sites and some fast food to keep them going through the busy times ahead seems to be bringing them back into the garden.  The latest bird to find the suet feeder is a long-tailed tit, which has now brought along its mate and they've been coming daily; a coal tit and goldfinch have also appeared at the seed feeder, and a collared dove (haven't seen one of those in the garden all winter, most unusually).  Another new development is that a buzzard has been hunting overhead on several days; they appear over the field behind us from time to time, but not usually right over the house.  I wonder if it's nesting nearby?

Signs of spring: the blackbirds are starting to sing, quietly, the sparrows are collecting nesting material

Honeysuckle flowers (if you look closely ....)

and the first bumblebees have turned up, enjoying the winter honeysuckle and the rosemary flowers in particular.  The daffodils are continuing to open, and other flowers are waking up from their winter dormancy; the honeysuckle by the compost corner has some flowers just waiting to open.  The weather is still on the chilly side, especially as the wind is mostly from the northeast, but dry, and when the sun came out today it started to feel quite pleasant (if you were wrapped up!).

Status quo ante

Hellebore - self-seeded into the path

Back after 3 weeks away, and I was rather expecting to see more colour in the garden - but no, it all looks very similar to how it was when we left.  Although some of the daffodils had looked to be on the point of flowering when we went, only one of the big daffs (in the lawn by the septic tank) is half-opened.  There are some Tete-a-tetes in full bloom in various pots (including a pot in the cold frame which I thought contained crocus bulbs! - I really must get better at labelling bulbs that have been lifted), and some crocuses too.  Otherwise there are the snowdrops (the later ones; the earlies are going over) and wallflowers, the hellebores, the 'Whitewell Purple' crocuses at the bottom of the garden, and a few doronicums and epimediums.  One of the osmanthuses is starting to flower too.  The lawn does look greener than when we went away, although maybe that's just because, in Norway, any grass not covered in snow at this time of year is bleached grey-brown and anything looks green in comparison.

At least nothing much seems to have suffered in our absence.  The weather has been relatively benign for this time of year; some frost, a fair amount of rain and wind, but nothing extreme.  Some of the broad bean plants are looking the worse for the wear and one or two may be past saving, but otherwise the only damage in the veg patch is where Something has dug into the bean trench in the hope of finding food, but that's easily remedied.

On closer inspection, there are signs that the seasons are moving forward.  The transplanted gooseberry bushes are putting out nice green shoots and the blackcurrant bush that was moved is also budding nicely.  Rose bushes are starting to leaf and the first annual weed seedlings are showing - always a sign that spring is springing.  The weather at the moment is an early-March mix of chill, light night frosts, occasional snow showers and surprisingly warm sunshine.  The birds seem more sprightly too; a thrush that we heard singing a couple of times before we left is still around in the distance, and the blackbirds are getting territorial.