Blackthorn winter

 

From the middle of February, when we left on holiday, until early March, the weather has been mostly mild (for February) and dry; but the past few days have been cold and intermittently snowy, culminating in strong winds and rain today.  The snow here didn’t amount to a great deal – a couple of centimetres at most of wet stuff, although it was much worse further north.  Some news reports spoke of ‘unseasonable’ weather, but it’s not at all unseasonable; it’s what used to be known as a blackthorn winter, cold weather that coincides with the flowering of the blackthorn in the hedgerows, and it’s quite common.  The forecast for the next few days is wet but much milder, except for tomorrow night when temperatures are set to drop to minus 5C.  I had been planning a seed-sowing binge in the greenhouse, but I’m going to wait until that is past and temperatures start to rise a bit.

I’m pleased to see that my garlic and shallots, planted before we went away, are sprouting nicely; the broad beans, however, which I hastily sowed outdoors just prior to our departure, are showing nothing at all, which isn’t encouraging after a month.  I found one bean which had been dug up, and it was starting to sprout, so I’m thinking it’s not the fault of the seeds; I suspect four-legged intervention (the squirrel?).  I still have seed, so will do a repeat sowing. 

The snowdrops are still in flower, but close inspection shows that they are fading; there has been a good show of crocuses, though they have been knocked about by the bad weather.  The first daffodils to flower, the miniatures, opened their flowers once the snow had gone, and have put up with today’s wind remarkably well; the window box is looking good, with ‘Blue Pearl’ crocuses (now mostly gone over), ‘Tete-a-tete’ daffodils just opening and rosemary ‘Miss Jessop’s Upright’ still in flower.  The hellebores are also still doing well; the clump at the side of the house includes a couple of self-sown whites, which I always keep meaning to dig up and plant elsewhere but never get around to it.  And the winter honeysuckle, Lonicera purpusii, is also still in flower and attracting the occasional bumblebee; it’s a fine sight, even in the snow (centre in the photo above).

Mixed miniature daffodils on the patio

Window box - daffodils and rosemary to the fore

Hellebores - mostly seedlings, including whites

In our absence the number of blackbirds in the garden seems to have dropped to a single pair, the others presumably being migrants who have headed off home for the spring.  I’ve been helping our residents by putting out the last two apples from our winter store to keep them going through the cold weather.  The two robins have also enjoyed them.  The fatballs have gone down well with most of the birds, especially the blue tits and long-tails, as well as the sparrows; the robins and blackbirds occasionally try to use the feeder, and the dunnocks and pigeons pick up what gets dropped.  Lefty and his lady have resumed coming to the patio for breakfast, although I think most of what I put out this morning was blown away before they could get to it; the plum tree pigeon pair are also still around, sitting and occasionally mating in the plum tree and sometimes venturing right up to the house as long as Lefty isn’t being too territorial.  The sparrows have started to collect nesting material, dropping bits of dry grass that blow around in the breeze.  There have also been three chaffinches active at the bottom of the garden; I hope there might be a chaffinch nest down there this year.