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No, I’ve not gone barking mad (not yet anyway). I have not really made off to Holland but (in a way) a little bit of Holland has been transported to our home and it has a tenuous link to my nature blog.

My wife, Wendy, has completed her most recent patchwork quilt and we have managed to mount it in our dining room. I am sure she is delighted to be able to see the culmination of months of her work but it has in fact lifted our spirits for both of us.

I feel I have contributed a tiny amount to this beautiful work of art as I bought her the book with the initial design for the quilt. I have spent a fair number of hours sitting looking at the library of books at Midsomer Quilting  (her favourite shop for all matters quilting and probably most of the UK’s favourite shop too) and it was there (drinking their coffee and eating their chocolate biscuits) that I was attracted to a book “Promenade dans un jardin hollandais” (Petra Pins & An Moonen). I love the series of books produced by the French publishers Quilt Mania as the main text is in French (there is also an English translation) and they always have the most amazing photographs. The photographs are technically brilliant and the quilts are also displayed in the most imaginative ways.

Wendy’s quilt is a tree of life and there’s the tenuous link to my nature blog.

Wikipedia tells me that

“the tree of life is a fundamental widespread myth (mytheme) or archetype in many of the world’s mythologies, religious and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree. The tree of knowledge, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and the tree of life, connecting all forms of creation, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree.”

I would love to visit “L’Ecomusée ou musée de Plein Air de Arnhem aux Pays Bas” which is where the quilts for the book were photographed and which in the book is described as:

” a magical place that relates several centuries of Dutch history through a 100 acre park. Founded on April 24th, 1912, the museum opened in 1918. Nowadays , this site includes ninety-six buildings and points of interest such as farms, windmills, a drawbridge, houses, workshops etc. from different eras, with one of the most recent attractions being a tram station from Amsterdam.”

A visit to Arnhem would also be very poignant as it was there that my Uncle Cyril (a glider pilot in the RAF) was killed in the Second World War.

 

 

 

I so miss my dose of nature. It’s been such a crucial part of my life since I retired. I love the exercise, I love being in the fresh air, I love the way my photography skills are challenged and I love the mental challenge of trying to identify (mainly) birds and (occasionally) flora and the intimacy that that provides.

I have been very lucky through these first few weeks of lock-down in that I have been able (especially with the very good weather we have had) to be outside a lot and to see and photograph a surprisingly large variety of birds in and around my garden.

However, I think that is going to change as the leaves on the trees are coming out thick and fast and (from the experience of the last few days) my view of the birds is diminishing.

This morning the weather was very dull and, as rain was forecast from 10 o’clock, I pressed on and tried to photograph some of the nature (mainly trees) in and around my garden. The purpose of this exercise was simply for self fulfillment. I am not trying to “show off” my garden as it is tiny and designed for minimal effort so that we are able to take off either locally or further afield whenever we want and not have to worry about the consequences. However, it does provide us somewhere to cook a barbecue and to sit outside when the weather is good. I didn’t realise how important it would become to me.

We probably have too many trees for the size of the garden and since I realised that I have reduced the number.

The highlight has been the front garden where we have planted a crab apple and a magnolia, which this year have really been at their best. In the dull weather this morning they probably weren’t at their best for photos but I do restrict my blogs to photos of any particular day.

When the 20 mph signs were erected I thought “what madness, who could possibly do more than 20 mph done this road?” but I have eaten my words more than once when some crazy fool has sped by.

As well as the crab apple and the magnolia there are a couple of other shrubs (I don’t know what they are called).

As the viburnum has finished blooming two peonies are about to bloom but there are some worrying signs with loads of ants on them.

I love this plant (is it an aubretia?) which clings to the outside wall

In the back garden the best has been the acer with its very delicate blossom. But a rowan tree (mountain ash in such a tiny garden – madness?) is about to come out in blossom and the scots pine seems to have more cones on it this year.

The holly had a severe trim last year as did the bay tree and the fig (not featured as it was just too dark to photograph).

The rowan has blossom appearing.

But beneath the bay the lily of the valley is already out (it will always be “muguet” to me for the special connotations it has on the 1st May in France).

An aquilegia has self sown among the lily of the valley.

But the best of all the trees is not outside (!) and I hope to be able to show it (and explain) in my next blog.

 

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Slideshow of my photos from this morning (on an iPad you can pinch and stretch)

This morning I broke my bounds and ventured in to a neighbour’s garden (with her permission whilst she was walking her dogs). I saw the same birds, more or less, but from a different perspective and I enjoyed the variation enormously. Thank you S.

Blue tit

Jackdaws

Collared dove

Wood pigeon

Collared dove

Collared dove

Collared doveGoldfinch

Dunnock

Dunnock

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Male sparrow

Male sparrow

 

 

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Another beautiful day for this time of the year (Easter Sunday) with the temperature reaching 22 C. The birds seemed to be taking it easy today but I was pleased to get a photo of a great tit. I can hear them regularly but don’t seem to photograh them that often.

Was this gull taking precautions?

House sparrow

Great tit

Great tit

House sparrow

House sparrow

Blue tit

This lungwort is getting a lot of atttention from the bees

 

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The weather for the last few days has beeen fantastic. As I write it is 24 degrees C and I have had to come in out of the garden as, with very little breeze, it feels very hot indeed.

I have followed a routine by taking some photos in the morning but this afternoon a couple of buzzards flew over our garden and I couldn’t resist breaking my regime.

I have been surprised and pleased what opportunities I have had from our tiny urban garden.

Goldfinch

I have left some dandelions as the bees love them

A flyover grey heron

The vibernum is lasting well

The bees love the aubretia too

Tulips have lasted so well but are beginning to go over now

Who let those forget-me-nots in?

Unfortunately our rosemary is being decimated by the Rosemary beetle

The crab apple in the front garden is looking spectacular

The magnolia is dwarfed by the crab apple

The acer is beginning to provide cover for the birds

Goldfinch in a neighbour’s garden

Blue tit

Starling

Foreign invaders in our garden – Spanish bluebells

Buzzards

House sparrows mating

Carrion crow posing on neighbour’s gatepost

A touch of Provence?

Lily of the valley and it’s not the 1st May yet!

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Slideshow of some of my photos from the last two days. (If being viewed on an iPad you can pinch and stretch).

Three weeks in to lock-down and there is clearly a repetition in my blogs. My apologies, but trying to capture photos of wildlife from the boundaries of my home is doing the world of good for my mental stability and, for anyone who sees my blog, I hope others enjoy a little bit of digression from the worries of the terrible Covid-19 pandemic.

At least the weather has helped to lift moral and my photography has benefited from a little of the sunshine in the past two days, although this morning when I took most of my photos, it was still very grey.

Carrion crow jumping for joy!

…because he’s found a stash of chips (not ours!)

Dunnock getting tarted up

Blue tit about to move off

Blue tit in flight

Starling with party hat

Bird on a wire

Crab apple in front garden

Bee on crab apple in front garden

Crab apple

Gull (I’m hopeless on gulls especially when I can’t see their backs or the colour of their legs)

Starling

Neighbour’s magnolia lasting well

Hover fly (well at least it was hovering)

 

 

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I thought it was meant to be warm this weekend! It certainly needed a lot of resolve to stay out to get a few snaps this morning.

Peacock butterfly

Wood pigeon

Starling

Goldfinch

Wood pigeon

Goldfinch

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I realise the quality of my photos today are not really worthy of a blog but it does give me a focus in these strange times and its worth keeping a record for myself. Especially as I added a new bird to my garden list (I’m not really keeping a list) when I spotted a distant male sparrowhawk  flying over head – in fact it was probably more likely to be flying over the neighbouring district of Frenchay as it was a long way away.

#stayhome  #staysafe

Male sparrowhawk 

Male sparrowhawk

Dunnock (hedge sparrow)

Dunnock (hedge sparrow)

House sparrow

Lesser black-backed gull

Lesser black-backed gull

Collared dove

Dunnock

House sparrow

Bee

 

 

Just a few birds taken from the garden this morning.

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Carrion crow

Male house sparrow

Starling

Magpie (being mobbed by crows)

No wonder the magpie looked worried

Starling

House sparrow

Wood pigeon

Collared dove

 

Even though it hasn’t been as bitingly cold as yesterday it has been a very dull day and my trips to the end of the path didn’t produce much. I did see the house sparrows, which are making a nest in the eves of the roof of the house opposite, mating in a nearby tree but the light was so poor for a decent photo. More and more sparrows are appearing and starlings, crows and jackdaws are collecting nesting materials. The dunnocks have again been looking at themselves in car wing mirrors.

What was quite an achievement was to get a photo of a blue tit on the bird feeder – my presence nearly always frightens them off.

House sparrows mating

 

Starlings collecting nest materials

Wood pigeon

Blue tit on one of my garden feeders

Blue tit on the tree opposite my house

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It was very cold standing outside my house this morning. I didn’t get much exercise but I did get some fresh air and was entertained for an hour or so by nature.

Male sparrow

Starling

Collared dove

Collared dove

Collared dove and sparrow

Starling

Female sparrow

Female sparrow

Starling

Female sparrow

Female sparrow

Female sparrow