The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies. Gertrude Jekyll

Annie's Little Plot

Annie's Little Plot

Monday 7 March 2016

New garden visitors

Its been a cold weekend but thankfully mostly dry after the snow fall on friday. Here is the snow on the war memorial in Greenhead Park.
To contrast here is the same place but on a recent winter afternoon.
So very different. I've not been able to make the most of the dry weather though really as I've been full of cold and feeling very lethargic. I'm just starting to feel better again today. Thankfully I had a day off today though and its been a gorgeous day, clear and sunny though still cold. But I've made a start on my seed sowing. Tomatoes and aubergines are on the propagator, I've sown celeriac, some lettuce, broad beans and leeks. For the cutting patch I've sown a few hardy annuals, some cornflowers, scabious and nigella. So nice to be back in the greenhouse and pottering. It feels more like spring every day.
I love watching my garden birds, there is a big flock of sparrows which visit each day, fighting and squabbling to get to the feeders, blue tits and coal tits, a robin, and a couple of blackbirds. A couple of bigger birds like magpies and pigeons come along every now and then but I've been excited this week by a couple of new visitors, and the two couldn't be more contrasting. One is a wren which I've seen flitting around the garden not actually on the feeders, such a lovely little bird. But the other was a bit of a shock, and perhaps not surprising that its found my garden because of the number of small garden birds and that is a handsome Sparrowhawk. The first time I saw it I think it just quickly flew through, but this week it was sat in the old apple tree. I did try and take a picture but I wasn't quick enough. I don't think it had anything this time but it looks like I'm inadvertantly also feeding him! The other new visitors I've had in my garden before but not for ages and that is a small flock of long tailed tits, I love these little pink, black and white balls of feathers with long tails. The joyous thing was watching them. They were flitting in and out of my two Japanese maple trees, these are leafless at the moment and so I could watch them easily. They looked like they were feeding on little insects along the branches, they were busy dangling upside down and in and out. Twittering away to each other the whole time. So happy for them to clear up any bugs on my plants.
In my previous blog post I mentioned a visit to Dunham Massey last week so I've added a few pictures from our walk here. Above are the snowdrops highlighting the white stem of the silver birches. Daffodils were the other star plant of the moment


15 comments:

  1. Oh wow. The snowdrop and birch combo is just fantastic! I was delighted today at finding long tailed tits in the garden. Like you, I haven't seen them for ages. Better still I think they are nesting :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its a perfect combination isn't it and I think it will get better as the snowdrops bulk up and spread underneath. How fantastic if you have long tailed tits nesting in your garden

      Delete
  2. What a coincidence as we had a sparrowhawk visit too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes thats funny, they are impressive to watch

      Delete
  3. Nice post and pictures. It's a shame that you've not been able to make the most of good weather and I hope that you're feeling better.
    Lucky you seeing a wren, sparrowhawk and long-tailed tits. As far as I know wrens don't use feeders. I rarely see any of these birds. Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes its been frustrating but its really wiped me of my energy. But getting better each day now and was glad to start the seed sowing going for the new season.
      No not sure will see wrens on the feeders but they maybe go underneath and catch the bits that drop. Never thought robins would go on feeders but they have started using them more and more now, don't look comfortable at it yet though!!

      Delete
  4. We were at Dunham Massey on Sunday, the birches with snowdrops are a wonderful scene and the daffodils just amazing.
    We love the way flocks of long tailed tits flutter through the garden, stopping on the feeders and chatting all the time. Yes, we have a sparrow hawk too, they know where to come for an easy meal.
    Hope you soon feel 100%.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The masses of daffodils look fab, some bits of the garden need a bit longer to establish I think and I was a bit disappointed in the hellebores. A nice place to visit though.
      Thanks starting to feel more like myself now.

      Delete
  5. You can't beat listening to the birds at this time of the year, it's marvelous isn't it?
    I love those snowdrops with the sliver birch!Being able to sow those first seeds is a joy too! I managed to get a few out, I'm surprised how quickly the salad leaves are coming up. A lovely post.xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just love having birds in my garden its such a big part of it for me.
      Yes love to be back seed sowing, I've got to take it slowly though looks cool for a bit longer yet.

      Delete
  6. I'm glad you're feeling better now. I'd heard about the snow where you are; March definitely needs to warm up! It's interesting to hear about the garden birds you're getting. I love the long tailed tits, too - such a wonderful little bird. I love the way they help each other out within the flock during the nesting season. The stark whiteness of the birches together with the snowdrops is quite stunning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When the sun shines and hits the bark of those trees it looks even more stunning. They are such a lovely bird the long-tailed tits, they just looked like they were having so much fun!!

      Delete
  7. I love long tailed tits too, they always seem so playful. Sounds as if you are off to a good start on the seed sowing too! I've given up on celeriac, at least for this year, they never seem to thrive here, though I used to grow it well up at the old allotment before we moved. Good luck with all your sowing. And thank you for sharing the Dunham Massey, like Jessica I really love the birches underplanted with snowdrops.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes glad to be started with seed sowing at last, just try not to get too carried away.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hope that you have shaken off that cold Annie. We last visited Dunham Massey some three years ago this month. It looks as if the snowdrops have certainly multiplied since then.

    ReplyDelete