The mornings over the past few days have been crisp, bright and warm!
Letting the animals out is even more of a joy when the weather is so gorgeous. You forget what is going on in the world.
After all, they don’t have a clue and every new day is another adventure.
Spring is gathering momentum, and the spring blossom is beginning to erupt with flower buds bulging and about to explode. The bees are out and about on warm days looking for blossom and sources of water.
I am frantically trying to get prepared. This new hive is ready to hopefully house another colony of bees in the coming months.
I still need to put together loads of frames to replace old wax, but also to allow for expansion and new colonies. Not much time left, but I am sure it will come together and we will be ready.
Last year (2019) we had our first goose egg of the season on 25th February 2019, this year it was today, 26th February!
It’s amazing how nature’s clock is so accurate. It won’t be long before we have a goose eggs for sale (sorry, still local collection only).
I know what I am having for breakfast this weekend! Goose egg and soldiers….. delicious.
Quite beautiful this morning. Everything covered in frost glinting in the early morning sunlight. This Witch Hazel looked like a little glimmering jewel.
While landscaping our gardens we have dug up many things including old tools, farm implements, water pumps, tyres, bones and scrap metal.
However, one of the most delicate and lovely things we have found are antique bottles.
Varied and obviously old, quite often the writing on them tells a story.
One bottle reads:
WHEELER
LONDON
TRADE MARK
SOFT WHITE HANDS
Another reads:
MRS WIINSLOW’S
SOOTHING SYRUP
CURTIS & PERKINS
PROPRIETORS
My favourite is:
SAMPLE BOTTLE
DR.KILMER’S
SWAMP ROOT
KIDNEY CURE
LONDON.E.C
Described as a Wolf Moon, the moon certainly had a presence this evening! I don’t think the picture does it justice.
A new year has begun, and the garden is already showing signs of life. Apart from the daffodils and snowdrops poking up through the ground, this beautiful and fragrant Viburnum flower is putting on a beautiful show!
I look out on the beehives every day, but make an effort at least once a week to do a quick walk around and check there are no issues.
Most of the time, they seem quiet with nothing happening. They might as well be empty boxes. However, today one of the hives had this big pile of dead bees outside.
Bees keep there hives clean and tidy and this one had just had a big clean-up pushing out all the bees that had died.
It appears alarming to see this small handful of bees on the ground, but this can be quite usual. As the bees born in the summer die they fall to the bottom of the hive.
As part of housekeeping, the overwintering bees will cast all the bodies out of the hive entrance.
This happened to bee a bright warmish day, and later on bees could be seen flying from all the hives, including this one.
We have unfortunately lost a duck and a chicken over the last couple of days. Taken by Mr Fox! We haven’t ever had any issues with Foxes, but this year we have lost 3 ducks, 2 chickens and a goose!
Wow! The colours of the medlar in autumn is incredible!
I have never eaten the fruit. Each year I store it, ready to eat, and never get around to it.
I am not sure if it is the fact that you have to let it get to the point of rotting before you eat it that puts me off?
However, I wait until the spring and the big flowers probably make up for what I may have missed.
