In The Garden

It was a nice spring day. Though I was warmed by my tasks, the sweater never came off. Laundry dried nicely on the line as The Man of the Place helped me to get the vegetable patch dug over.Chaffinch

I discovered to my delight that my dear neighbour Charlie is the owner of a rotovator! He was kind enough to loan it to me first thing this morning. Charlie even got it down to our place for me. I started it up and began the first few runs. I was quickly out of breath and tired. Those things are heavy and I have never had much in the way of upper body strength. I asked for assistance and it was given! So, though there is some raking to do, the ground is tilled! Yippee!! The weeds and grasses that were hauled out of the garden were thrown into the hen run. The chickens loved that! Siskin

There was a hard frost last night and it is a sharp reminder that we live in the far north. Nothing tender should venture outside the protection of the greenhouse until the end of May. A few warm dry days would tempt an impatient gardener to risk it, but don't.Goldfinch

I loved being out in the greenhouses early in the morning. I was out there watering a few seedlings and sipping my tea and I heard a buzzard scream. I looked and directly above me way up high a buzzard was circling. I know that it won't go for my hens when they're in their run so I just enjoyed watching it surf the air currents. Perhaps it is the same buzzard that was bold enough to sit by our pond a few weeks ago. I heard a curlew cry down by the burn and in the distance there was a woodpecker drumming. I felt that all was right with the world.

We've had a good week for birds here at the house. Our swallows came back today. I hope they enjoyed their stay in Africa and are ready to get busy. The last big storm knocked the swallow nest off so they'll have to rebuild. We will also have to be extra careful and keep the shed door shut. Swallows will nest in there if given half a chance.

Last week I had a new sighting at the bird feeder. I always get excited when I see something new. I couldn't figure out what the bird was that looked like a striped version of a sparrow.I managed these two blurred photos and sent them to Dean from Dean's Daily Diary (formerly Mostly Macro). From this flimsy documentation he helped me to identify the bird as a reed bunting! It thrilled my nerdy little heart. It's a new one to my life list. Thanks for the help Dean!

Here is a list of the birds that have been seen by me here at Whitelees in the past seven days:

Swallow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
Siskin
Mourning dove
Wood pigeon
Blackbird
Mistle thrush
House sparrow
Reed bunting (!)
Robin
Wren
Buzzard
Lapwing
Crow
Jackdaw
Pheasant
Curlew
Starling
Great spotted woodpecker
Canda goose (flew over in a big V)

I'm glad the garden is dug over as the forecast for tomorrow is drizzle (of course). The garden tools are safely stored and I am all set for the next burst of good weather to start putting some hardy things out in the garden to grow.