A Bit of Colour for a Grey World

A couple of colour popped blooms from the garden this morning to brighten up a grey world:





Taken with added flash to help the subject stand out. Subject colour popped and background blurred using the Mac Ap ColorStrokes.

Sleepy Wasp and Busy Bee

Today we had a trip out to the vet. It was time for Penny to have her annual vaccine boost. For once she wasn't very keen to get in the car. She used to love the idea of a car ride. I think all the recent months of prodding and testing has made her wary of the real intention of having to get in the car. Also as she ages she finds it harder to leap from ground level to the back seat. The way round that was to move the front passenger seat forward so she can get in the foot well first and then on to the seat.

A couple of days ago I took down a thick wooden shelf from the side of a shed and found this wasp had been sheltering, or possibly hibernating, there:



Today, as the temperature headed up to 17C, I spotted a few bees taking advantage of the warmth and a couple of open Crocus flowers:



I also watched a large bumble bee trying its hardest to fly forwards in a blustery wind.

Busy Autumn Bee

Not many bees around now that Autumn is well under way. This was the one I was watching on an Autumn Crocus when I spotted the micro moth I wrote about yesterday:





It was busily collecting pollen.
Towards the end of these video clips you can see it scraping the pollen in to its pollen sacs:

Winter Aconite, a Change of Diet, Goldfinches in the Snow

The cultivated Winter Aconite corms I bought on eBay arrived a couple of days ago and they were left to soak over night in rain water before being planted in the rockery.



It is a plant I have always wanted so now I am looking forward to my own display of cheerful yellow flowers to welcome the Spring. I hope they will eventually look like the ones in the local church yard.



In a trough in the garden the yellow crocus seem to have appeared out of nowhere.



Yesterday I noticed a couple of birds on feeders where I don't usually see them. These last few days the peanuts seem to have come in to fashion again after being ignored for many weeks. These House Sparrows were pecking away when a small piece of peanut fell out of the feeder. The sparrow on the right deftly caught it and flew off with its prize.



Quite a surprise was to see a Coal Tit on the slab fat feeder. Usually they are just interested in sunflower hearts for eating straight away or black sunflower seeds for taking and storing.



It has been snowing for the last hour so I can see it is going to be another day of keeping warm and watching through the window.



The above was filmed a short while ago. It has now been snowing for three hours. As the snow continued more and more birds arrived to frantically top up from the feeders.

A Mild February Day

I spent the morning tidying up in the fruit cage. I might feed the birds and encourage them to visit the garden but they are not really welcome to help themselves to my blueberries and blackcurrants so I have those in a large walk-in caged area. While I was pottering about the garden I saw a Bumble Bee visiting a crocus flower. I think that was only the second one I have seen so far this year.

This afternoon as the Sun was shining for a change and the temperature had reached 11C I took the camera with me on our afternoon visit to the cricket field. In one distant field there were several horses; most standing so the cold wind was behind them.



In another field were a few sheep. Only one of the lambs was in view.



All the time Bobby and I were on the cricket field we saw little wild life. Just a couple of Rooks and the odd Rabbit.



I've always been fascinated by the contrast between these trees. The poplar being more pliable is able to bend with strong winds. The older tree has lost one of its twin trunks and the other has been shaped by the prevailing winds.



As we left the one thing which reminded me that Summer is a long way off yet was the sight of a magnificent Weeping Willow seen here as it is today and compared with last Summer.



Returning to the front garden I saw that there were more catkins and that the Mahonia was giving a good display of yellow flowers as were some crocuses.





Finally, just as we about to go back in the warmth, I spotted another Bumble Bee, well maybe the same one I saw this morning, visiting a heather plant.



So at least there are signs of Spring awakening even if I do have to wait a few months for Summer.

A Bit of Colour

I was looking round the garden this morning after I had topped up the food on the bird table. A few days ago I noticed a little clump of yellow crocuses had appeared, along with a few snowdrops, in one of my planters. Also there are a couple of heather plants in full bloom and a variegated ground hugging evergreen is looking a particularly cheerful sight on a grey morning. The Corylus avellana 'Contorta' (Corkscrew Hazel) has been showing catkins on its bare branches for quite a while now.





To cap all that as I returned to the back garden there was a Robin singing away in a nearby tree. I went in and got the Zoom H4 recorder and captured a snippet of his song which can be heard by clicking HERE. I hope this works - if not please let me know. It should use whichever mp3 player is on your computer.



Even though there seems no end to the cold dark weather for a while yet there are at least a few signs that Spring is on its way.