Wildlife in April

Nesting a plenty at the moment, with countless House Sparrows in the Clematis over the shed, Blue Tits in the Nest Box, at least one pair of Blackbirds on our south eastern boundary and the Mistle Thrush next door. Also Goldfinches and Coal tits must all be nesting close by again as they are frequently helping themselves to beakfuls of Hattie hair (along with the Blue Tits and Sparrows).

Pond Life

The Village Puddle is taking on a life of it's own. As hoped, it is already attracting lots of attention.
The Tadpoles are growing - in the region of 50 of them at the last count. Kindly donated by the local commoners.



The birds are finding it a great addition to the birdbath. This was the second Blackie in a very short space of time to make the most of the facilities.



Not the only one wanting a bath tonight. This Pied Wagtail was having a great time splashing about too.



A bit less welcome has been a large number of wasps calling in for a drink. I have a feeling it may be a good year for them.

Meet Jarvis

Jarvis spends much of his life on our boundary. Often he is chaperoning his harem as they come off their nests to fill their crops.



But mostly he is just there. Calling his girls and generally showing off. He is a bit of a loud mouth to say the least.

His 'Cocker' routine starts at about 5am, and continues periodically through the day.

Don't you just love him?

Ridge Walking

Meet Vince. Our ridge tiles needed re pointing - or even reattaching in some places - Vince is our local drainage expert, who also doubles up as a really useful guy to know. He was working in the village this week, and after a brief chat yesterday, he was here today.


The unseasonal weather did present him with a few problems, but nothing that a bit of water couldn't fix.

Is This Summer?

Last Year we had lunch outside for the first time on 14th April. This year we were about a week earlier. Last year we had our first BBQ on 20th of May. This year we had Pimms by the Pool on 17th April.


Our first BBQ this year was on 18th April. Happy Birthday Alison. I don't remember having a BBQ for your Birthday when we were kids! I know you weren't here, but we had a few friends round to toast your big day anyway! We had the odd gate crasher too....

Easter Holidays

School's Out! Emma and Rosie bring their Mum and Billy the school bear, for a Cumbrian holiday.


The forecast was for the dry spell to end on Monday, the day they were driving up. Then it changed to breaking down on Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday. By the time they left on Friday, we hadn't had a drop all week.
Amongst all the things we did, we visited Lacy's caves on the edge of the River Eden.

The woods on the way to the caves were a mass of wild flowers and we didn't see another (human) soul.

And Then There Were Two

No hanging around waiting this year. Number two is here the day after the scout....

The Arrival Of The Scout

3 days earlier than last year, the first lone Swallow has arrived on his scouting mission. The rest started to arrive about 4 days after the lone scout last year, so we'll keep our eyes peeled on Tuesday!

A Genius at Work

Glorious spring weather, reaching 19 degrees today. What a day to be outside. After riding out this morning, I spent the afternoon faffing in the garden. The village puddle is keeping me well out of Husbands way, as he cracks on and plants more veg. I did give him a hand planting the tates for what it's worth!

Fingers Crossed

We're not convinced that this isn't just Blue Tits narrowing down their short list of potential new homes.



But we have been getting regular trips to, in and out of the nest box for about four weeks now. First spotted by Mum and Dad when they were visiting while we were in Lincolnshire.

There has been a lot of work on the entrance, and sometimes there is a lot of banging about inside. Laying carpets perhaps?


All we can do is watch, and wait with our fingers crossed.

Red Is The Colour

We have had fleeting visits from the odd Red Poll through the winter, though now is the time we started to see them regularly last year. True to form we have started to see a pair over the last few days. One male and one female. Tonight however, we had two males for a change - and I had my camera to hand too....




Also on the theme of Red, this time last year we had routine visits from a pair of Red Legged Partridge, who went on to rear young (we assume) as we had two different coveys through the summer, one of 4 and one of 17. Anyway. Monsieur et Madame are back in their old breeding territory and paying us a visit each evening at the moment

Windy Wall

A couple of days of showers (heavy ones!) and winds of around 18mph, gusting to 30mph. Little can be done in the way of proper gardening, but sorting out the edges of the new 'Village Puddle' has kept us out of mischief.
First the turf at the far side needed lifting, then the slabs on top of the wall needed to come off. The hardest of all though is building the wall on the right hand side, as this needs to be higher than it was, in order to get the levels right.
Fortunately we have an endless supply of very local, free walling stone. Sadly though it doesn't come supplied with a dry stone wall expert.

Social life stopped play eventually, but a bit more playing around at the far end, and it should be OK.
Plenty more work to do on the inside of the puddle, but it is beginning to look something like we planned.
Oh and just by way of recording, we had the first of this seasons Rhubarb last night!