First Cuckoo of 2017

Just been outside to turn off the watering, and heard my first Cuckoo of 2017, great as this is still April, just :-)

Really pleased as I know that they seem to be on the decline and over the past couple of years i remember not hearing them so often, so I am really pleased to hear this today

First cut of the year for the hedge

A light trim for the front hedge today, as it looked a little untidy.

I know its a little early and i did check for nest birds, only finding an old nest, 

A little different to the Leylandii hedge running along the south edge of the garden, absolutely full of nesting blackbirds :-)

Seems we may have a leak in the pond, trying to contact George to see if he can work his magic on it to stop the water level falling.

Also put some irrigation around the pergola to allow us to water the roses and clematis better, still waiting for a response from the people who replaced the pergola, terrible job, very bad workmanship and they still sent us the bill!!

They also managed to break a paving slab, not sure how they managed that!!!

i have sent them a letter saying I'm not paying the bill, and i await their response.

Hedge cutting

Spent the afternoon cutting the hedge

 

After the rain of the morning and seeing Chris, Kara & Tyler for lunch, it was pleasurable cutting the hedge in the sunshine, and then burning the trimmings

Clearing up after the greenhouse

After we moved the greenhouse to the bottom of the garden a few weeks back i spent the morning levelling the ground in readiness to return to the lawn.  so many roots from the trees, especially the hedge.  The silver birch that we planted as a stick about 10 years is now about 20 feet tall!







Dodging the rain showers it was nice to hear the buzzards over the field out of back :-), i remember seeing my first buzzard locally only a few years back, certainly less than 10 years, but now we see them almost every day, often flying down the garden...

Later in the day, while clearing up to burn some rubbish I came across some Grass Snake eggs

I havnt seen any snakes, but others have, including Andy who replaced the rabbit frnch a few years nack, he saw three while clearing around the compost heap 

Sitting in my office listerning to a buzzard flying around

A wet day similar to the previous Saturday, but it gave the opportunity to get a few things completed around the house, pictures collected - including the aboriginal print from Australia from 2006, and the new glass in the print from France that hangs in the back loo.

We arranged with Des to have the new cupboards delivered after the floors have been sanded, we have a carpenter calling around to look at the job later today.

A Day in the Garden

Obviously we are increasingly affected by Global Warming, inasmuch that we were able to have a very pleasent day working in the garden over the recent bank holiday.

I was able to replace the grid in the pond, in readiness for grandchildren falling in. 















This was installed by Safapond earlier this year, very quick & easy, and I had removed it a week earlier to allow George to clean the pond out, something he does for us every year
We want to add some more fish in a few weeks, after an Otter took two of the three carp that lived here.