Birds, Bees and Blooms

14 - 19 April 2020

This is a wonderful time of year for things in bloom.  I am continually amazed and grateful for the wealth of plants and creatures that share this land with us.

 Our fabulous wavy-leaved monkey orchid, still surviving, despite the odds being stacked against it.  (Strimming, building work, pathways - somehow it has managed to come up each year despite all these.)

 Borage - our new favourite invader.  I planted a few organic borage seeds in the salad bed some years ago - the flowers are edible - and they grew and flourished.  But this year it has leapt down the hill to the hugel beds and the elderflower beds and colonised both of them.  It is a welcome intruder, as it has a deep taproot that brings minerals up from bedrock and as leaves die off, adds those minerals to the soil for other plants to use.  I am hoping that this year borage will protect the elder trees from too much cricket damage.

 Our first iris in the pond.

 One of our colourful lunches: very heavy on the cabbage: home-made quiche with home-made sauerkraut, coleslaw and leaf salad.

 There is a tiny speck of yellow in the lower right third of this photo - it was an attempt to catch the moment when two golden orioles flew into the pear tree.  Lovely big bright yellow birds.  I'd never seen one before - very exciting.

 Our five stunted little orange/mandarin trees seem to have enjoyed having their circles dug out and cleared.  There is a lot of blossom - maybe some of it will turn into fruit this year!

 The first nasturtium flower.  I have planted nasturtiums all round the new stonework, hoping for a good spread of peppery leaves and edible flowers.  Nice to see one plant at least making an effort!

 When we drove out for shopping a couple of days ago, we saw that one of the beekeepers has put around 20 hives in the field opposite our track entrance.  We have noticed more and more bees are turning up to collect water, so now we know where they are coming from.

 The roses have started to bloom too.  The petals are good in salad.

And an unexpected visitor - a new (to us) variety of bee orchid creeping out from under a pallet.