Weather

[Thedoog]

Just seen our first brood of Mallard chicks, and oh deep joy first BARBY of year, just need to get away in van.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Just seen our first brood of Mallard chicks, and oh deep joy first BARBY of year, just need to get away in van.

The magpies out our back had young which fledged 2 weeks ago. No deep joy though

What I have noticed a lot of this year is ladybirds, the first one being in February.
Although it would have been nice to be away this week in such glorious weather I'm glad I'm not. Got too much in the garden to do. Hopefully I will have finished by the time we go away in May and hopefully out of 3 weeks we should have a bit of decent weather.

 

[Big S]

Girls caming running in the house from the garden late afternoon after seeing a bee the size of a dinner plate on their trampoline (well not quite as big as a dinner plate but I must admit it was a whopper).

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

And the ants are out and about allready, looks like the wars starting early this year

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

... and another glorious day today so more gardening.
I hoovered the sludge out of my little pond yesterday so I'm going to net some tadpoles from the bigger pond to put in there before they get gobbled up by the fish. The pond skaters were back yesterday, nice to see them. We've got a bumble bee nesting under a patio slab at the bottom of the garden close to where one nested last year. Lovely creatures

I'm just hoping we don't have any late frost else it's goodbye to my plums and cherries. Both are out in flower.
Yes ya ol' tyke, the ants are a pain in the aspidestra and so are the queen wasps. I've caught quite a few inside this year looking for somewhere to start building a nest. Last year one started to build a nest hanging inside my shed and another was building a nest under a rock by my pond. Neither survived His Windyships wrath

It's a pity really because wasps are benificial. They catch lots of pests like flies and bluebottles. It's in autumn that they become a nuisance when they have no honeydew from their larvae to feed on so come to us looking for sweet stuff like fruit.

 

[Parksy]

It's a lovely morning here so sod the garden, I'm off on a weekend rally by the Severn in Worcestershire so have a great weekend whatever you are doing

 

[forestgump]

smelly the dog has been in the garden p..,.,.,ssing every where thats a good singe,

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

We had a pair of visitors today ...................

 

[Gagakev]

Hope the BIG BROWN BEAR did'nt have duck a la Orange

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Hope the BIG BROWN BEAR did'nt have duck a la Orange

I bought that a couple of years ago Kev. Some new age traveller types were on a bit of land near the Holywell Bayjunction on the A3075.
It cost me £80 which was cheap considering what a chap charges locally. It took a bit of shuffling around of kit in the car and van to get him home

We spotted them again last year but they were nearer Redruth but they didn't have much for sale. We will keep our eyes open for them again in May.
They are very gifted to carve them with chain saws and the bear looks so life like.

 

[Gagakev]

That Bear is brilliant, love it and all carved with a chainsaw.
We see those types of things around here occasionaly (Devon) but not of that quality.
What do you treat/paint him with?

 

[GeorgeandAde]

First wasp today in the conservatory

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

That Bear is brilliant, love it and all carved with a chainsaw.
We see those types of things around here occasionaly (Devon) but not of that quality.
What do you treat/paint him with?

I use Cuprinol Garden Furniture Finish. I thought the colour was better than the staining they did after carving him.
At the moment he needs a good clean after the winter. He's 32" tall.

We did see some more of these carvers the other week near Burford. They had a bear which was about 1 foot taller but nowhere near as realistic and they wanted £600

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Yesterday afternoon we were sat in the conservatory being entertained by two bonking squirrels

My granddaughter did her best to take a pic on her phone to show her friends

It's amazing how they keep their balance because it's the equivalent of two people trying to have nooky balanced on a washing line