Signs of Spring

[oldapple]

A beautiful day here in N Ireland, at least 15 ladybirds sunning themselves on a fence and one huge bee on the viburnum hedge.

[jackdaww]

lots of bees in the garden heather.

frogspawn in the ponds.

skylarks singing - that seems quite early to me .

[scotia]

And also a beautiful day here in Central Scotland. It is difficult to believe that it is February. The only ripples on the loch were caused by ducks diving and trout supping flies from the surface - safe in the knowledge that the brown trout season doesn't start until the 15th March. One small fly-in-the-ointment was the morning frost - just as my early rhododendrons were coming into flower. My first seedlings (lewisia cotyledon and primula florindae) are just peeping through in my unheated greenhouse.

[tjh290633]

Our magnolia has its first flower of the year and the yew pollen is blowing in clouds.

TJH

[88V8]

A peacock (butterfly) on the wing.
The only place he could find to sup was the buttercups that had fortunately escaped my grass cutting.
Problematic, this warm weather when there is nothing for premature venturers to eat.

V8

[UncleEbenezer]

Walking out yesterday afternoon after the storm, I noticed (of all things) lots of cherry blossom under foot. Yes, a big tree in full bloom had lost some of it to the weather.

[bungeejumper]

Queen wasps starting to wake up in our loft. One of the little buggers stung me as I climbed into the roof space and put my elbow on it. My whole arm came up in a swollen rash. Awful for three days.

Somebody remind me. Did Mrs God makes the wasps as well as the bees? And what about the hornets?

BJ

[sg31]

Somebody remind me. Did Mrs God makes the wasps as well as the bees? And what about the hornets?

BJ

I'm sorry to hear about the wasp sting, I hope you've recovered fully.

We get a lot of wasps in our loft. When we bought the house we found 2 abandoned nests in the loft, one was about 2 foot diameter and 3 foot high, the other was a metere long and irregular shaped. Both were much bigger than I've ever seen before. Since then we have had a few small nests but the biggest was only about 1foot diameter.

For some reason our loft is a favoured over wintering site for flying insects. We get masses of flies (cluster flies), lacewings and wasps. We had a new roof put on last year and I spent quite a lot of time on the scaffolding in the late autum. I noticed that on a sunny day the roof was covered in flies, I presume being brown it warms up quickly and the flies sit on it as it's warmer than the surrounding air. I can imagine them crawling under the tiles as it cools in the evening and hence into the loft. I set off a smoke bomb in the loft late last year and that has got rid of the problem.

I'm quite fond of hornets, they are very impressive. I wouldn't like to be stung by one but thankfully they are generally quite good natured (if that's the right phrase). We have them in the house regularly but they are easily caught and returned to the outdoors.

[scotia]

I saw a bee working over the blooms on an early Rhododendron (Praecox) on Monday. Both the Praecox and Cilpinense Rhododendrons have produced excellent blooms this year. Often they get spoiled by frosts. Today its cold, wet and windy. The temperature is forecast to drop further by Friday, but hopefully there will be no sharp frosts.

[scotia]

The temperature is forecast to drop further by Friday, but hopefully there will be no sharp frosts.

I'm afraid there was a sharp enough frost early this morning to spoil the flowers on the cilpinense out in the garden. But my pots with praecox and cilpinense on the front door step appear to have survived.

[jackdaww]

chiffchaff heard singing (imperfectly) saturday at cardigan teifi marches reserve.

a bit early for an arrival , possibly overwintered .

[monabri]

First egg this year from our chicks

[kiloran]

First egg this year from our chicks

But do you have chicks from your eggs?

--kiloran

[monabri]

First egg this year from our chicks

But do you have chicks from your eggs?
--kiloran

No...we don't have a cockerel.

[jackdaww]

First egg this year from our chicks

But do you have chicks from your eggs?
--kiloran

No...we don't have a cockerel.

=====================

i always kept a cockerel with our hens - it seemed better .

we also raised lots of our own flock .

sadly that was a past life.