Tuesday 28 April 2015

Notes from a small garden









The other day I was hanging out the washing, and I saw something from the corner of my eye. I looked down, and there he was. My Blackbird. The one who has taken to singing his evening song in the plum tree. The plucky young thing that won the battle for the garden several weeks ago. My little friend with the beady eye and bright orange beak. He looked up at me with his head cocked to one side, and I remember feeling exceptionally privileged.

I watch the birds from my utility room window all the time. It's testament to my laundry regime. There are lots of visitors throughout the day. Oh nothing particularly glamorous; wren, blue tit, great tit, thrush, robin and so on (although I will never forget the time that I looked up from reading my book and saw a Sparrowhawk sat on the fence. That was thrilling). They mainly pass through, or stop to rummage amongst the shrubs and have a drink from the pond. I admire their industry, and their getting on and doing. They work hard for their families. I am starting to recognise their individual songs, which pleases me greatly. Garden birds have fascinated me since I was a girl, and they continue to do so.

Of course I find them almost impossible to photograph, so a few close ups of stuff in the garden instead. Which is romping away in earnest now. Olly and I have sowed pollinator friendly plants with gay abandon. There are more anemones than you can shake a stick at, the sweet peas are in the ground, the aliums are already reaching for the stars and the clematis is a stunner. I have self seeded loveliness all over the place, which is my personal holy grail. I am hoping for a mad bed head riot of fabulousness.

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I'm afraid that I've been rather absent. No reason. Just family life. Which is tickety boo by the way. I may bombard you for the rest of this week. Post after post after post. Wouldn't that be a treat ;)) I intend to catch up on all your posts as soon as possible.

What's going on in your garden? What's your favourite birdy visitor? I'd love to know.

Cheerio lovely ones.

Leanne xx







20 comments:

  1. Oh your garden is much further advanced than mine - the dicentra is lovely. I had ducks in the garden at the weekend - love seeing them, and can never really grasp that they are wild birds like the sparrows and blackbirds. x

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  2. Hi Leanne. You have such a poetic way of expressing yourself. I am ashamed to admit I have no idea what birds we have in our garden. Song birds that is, there is always some wood pigeons and magpies. There is a blackbird nearby because I can hear it in the morning. I enjoy bird spotting on my bike ride to work. It is wonderful just now because the singing gives them away. We saw a woodpecker on Sunday, it was very pretty. Have a lovely other half of the week my friend. Christina xxx

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  3. What a thrill that must have been to be surprised by that Sparrowhawk sitting on the fence! One of the nicest things about spring is listening to the birds' songs. When I was in Chicago my favourite thing wasn't going to the dinner show, or even the yarn shop. It was seeing the cardinals and blue jays. Like you, I tried to get some pictures but didn't succeed. And your picture makes me think I might need to plant some bleeding hearts. Have a great week!

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  4. I love garden birds too. I don't have very many species here but they're interesting and make plenty of noise. I loved seeing your flowers, the garden is looking really good already. Take care; I hope you're having a good week so far.

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  5. We have two huge pigeons who sit on the fence and one is always trying to get it on with the other, and the other is always edging away, nervously. They crack me up. When they land on a tree branch it actually creaks under the strain, I've heard it. And we have a pair of robins who are tiny and dainty in comparison.

    At the garden centre recently I saw a range of cuddly toy birds and when you pressed them they made the right bird sound. I bought the blackbird for Angus, not because he especially loves birds but more because he likes soft toys which make sounds. We might all learn something, anyway. I'm glad you're having such a good week, you sound happy. xx

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  6. Lots of beautiful red cardinals who come in to eat. We have a little bird who often sits on the railing and sings his heart out, we think he's a brown thrush. A few turkey buzzards who fly overhead and thankfully land in the trees not in our yard. Our cat likes the doves best, thinks they look nice and plump. More squirrels than we want or need. Often hear woodpeckers when we take our morning walk.

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  7. We had a heron land here one. I screamed, "HERON, HERON, HERON" whilst stampeding to get my camera. It took off again the second it's feet hit the ground. It won't make that mistake again. We have several blackbirds who've been pulling the earth out of pots to see what there might be to eat. Last year they had all of the blueberries and they're looking exceptionally healthy this year. I love your photos, it's wonderful at this time of year isn't it, everything unfurling and all the promise of the summer ahead. I hope you get your riot of flowers. I need to make sure I have some pollinator friendly things as well. Last year the garden wasn't ever without a bee, it was wonderful. CJ xx

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  8. It is amazing how many different birds do stop by our gardens isn't it, as you say, darned tricky to photograph though!!! Your garden is obviously doing fabulously, a testament to your hard work! I hope that it keeps doing well, it sounds as though it is going to be brilliant with all of the different self seeded things around the place! xx

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  9. a lovely post. I was thrilled to see a sparrow hawk in my tiny Bristol city garden last Saturday. So close that I got a really good look at him. Beautiful bird. Best wishes Jane

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  10. Your garden is looking lovely. You've obviously got a friend in Mr BB too :o) xx

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  11. We're quite open and no hedge rows so we mainly get House Sparrows nesting in the eaves of the cottage and I can usually hear them scurrying about on a weekend when my treat is to have a cup of tea in bed whilst reading my book. Mabel & Earl my Blackbirds are back again this year nesting in the Honeysuckle but it is so thick this year I can't actually see the nest but there is a lot of activity and visits to the feeders by Mabel & Earl. This year for the first time since we've lived at the Willows my neighbours have Blue Tits nesting in their nest box perched on the end of their garage which I can see from my dining room so I have a birds eye view (excuse the pun) of what they are getting up to. My Clematis have lots of buds on them but it's been quite cold in recent days so I'm just hoping the frost won't affect them. Look forward to your abundance of posts.

    Mitzi

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  12. I love the photo of the water droplets on the leaves. I'm so envious of your thrushes - we rarely see them these days. The same can also be said for starlings which I remember being one of the commonest birds when I was little. We do, however, have a lot of red kites - I think they were re-introduced around here and I often have to keep a wary eye if they're hovering with intent over the chickens or Hamish! Looking forward to more of your lovely posts. xx

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  13. I like watching the birds too. We have starlings & sparrows nesting this year & quite possibly rooks or crows nesting in the chimney too! Self seeded loveliness sounds like my kind of garden x

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  14. I know what you mean about life getting in the way. I've had to whittle things down to bare essentials lately but have somehow managed to keep posting. Somehow.
    No shortage of ideas though! If only I could get me some extra time...
    There's a little sparrow visits every afternoon, poking about for morsels. I try and oblige (although I'm careful as I don't want any more house calls from The Rat, who brazenly appears and enjoys a bit of bread).
    I too love a bit of self-seeding. Foxgloves, aquilegia, fox and cubs... although dandelions are hard to love. Having said that I recently saw a beautiful paperweight with a dandelion head suspended inside and I WANT it.
    Sorry, I'm rambling...
    S x

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  15. As little as possible is going on in my garden. It's not that I don't want these things but as a full time mum and I work full time and like yourself I have a husband that isn't at home for most if the week. I have become very good at the (male jobs) around the house though lol I like to have nothing for him to do when he gets home, then it's just quality time. I am sure that I will have time for a garden when I retire or maybe at that point I will be traveling the world. My busy but happy life, Jenny x

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  16. I too wish I could identify bird song instantly, like you I am learning from the visitors in our garden! Sarah x

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  17. Great photos, I love when everything kicks into growth at this time of year. Watching the birds becomes addictive. We built a bird table on the front lawn so we can watch from the lounge window earlier this year. The garden is surrounded by trees and shrubs, so there is plenty cover for them to come and go. So far we have had robins, chaffinches, blue, coal and great tits, yellowhammer, thrush, blackbird, sparrows, dunnocks, collared dove, goldfinches, greenfinches and most excitingly a greater spotted woodpecker. We also get a pheasant and squirrel, do they count? If I have time I set up the camera on the tripod and have got some good photos with the zoom lens. I wasn't that interested in birds, I like listening to them when I am working in the garden, but as I said , it becomes addictive :)

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  18. One of the great pleasures of the last ten years of living in the country up here is that I can now identify lots of birds. I used to be a bit stuck with a general sense of lots of little brown jobs. I wish I could get good photos though! And I am also learning how to identify song. Love it. Lovely blog too.

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  19. Last year a pair of bluebirds raised a family in our garden. They were wonderful. My favorites though are the robins (American Robins - larger and not as vivid or pretty as your robins) who arrive just as the snow is thawing every year. They descend in their hundreds on the thawing garden and start pulling earthworms out of the soil just as fast as they can find them. Then they take turns in the birdbath even though it's still very cold. They are the first sign that spring is just around the corner for us.
    Sandra

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