fledgling goldfinches

Around 7.30pm tonight there was a loud tweeting commotion going on at our back yard  feeders - four fledgling goldfinches arrived to get their supper with their doting parents before flying off somewhere safe for the night, I will await their return tomorrow and hope that all four will be enjoying breakfast here too!

I am also hoping for better light tomorrow and an early visit from our window cleaner would be useful too he's only been once this year!

More pressed flowers and leaves

As spring moves up a notch, more flowers are now available from my garden, some would be considered as weeds and some are in our hedges, others are in my flower beds.

what can you identify?

The emergence of the hoverflies

You have to love spring - everything starts to wake up again, the plants are starting to grow, hedges are starting to leaf, blackthorn is in full flower and insects and other invertebrates are emerging! hundreds of them this week in my garden! I had to get ID confirmation, but now I know these are a species of Eristalis hoverflies also called drone flies as they look very similar to a honey bee drone.

eristalis sp. hoverflies

eristalis sp. hoverflies

eristalis sp. hoverflies

eristalis sp. hoverflies

The Eristalis have a wing vein with a very distinctive loop which you can see in this photo

eristalis sp. hoverfly

My garden also has many spiders you can see them all dart for cover when you get too close, but these Nursery web spiders don't seem so keen to hide so I managed to photograph several of them!

Nursery Web Spider

Nursery Web Spider

Nursery Web Spider

Nursery Web Spider

and when I was photographing the spiders I also spotted this pretty little woundwort shieldbug

woundwort shieldbug

photography by Angela Smith

Blackcap

another sign that Spring has arrived!
this morning we had our first sighting of a blackcap this year and one of the best views we have ever had of one here, this male stayed a long time, attracted to the remaining berries on our cotoneaster - hopefully he will keep returning now for more!
these photos were taken through our double glazed windows so apologies for the quality!

lesser redpolls and siskin

I counted seven redpolls around the feeders today, it is great that they are still visiting our feeders, they arrived the week after the big garden bird watch, which of course is typical! - so they have been here for at least six weeks now:)

the siskin arrived around the same time and they too are still visiting, not in the same numbers of the lesser redpoll, but this striking male popped by today too.

pressed garden flowers - second batch

My selection this week includes miniature daffodils - these were originally a gift from my cousin in a sweet little pot for the kitchen window sill, but after they flowered I planted them outside, where they have continued to flower year after year ever since; the first of my hellebores, I love hellebores and they are planted under a hedge on a slight bank so the low sun at this time of year shines through the petals beautifully; the very first sprig of blackthorn flowers from our hedge that was within reaching distance, we have had some in flower for a couple of weeks right at the top behind our utility out of reach which has been frustrating, but now even more has come into flower; a selection of heathers, these have been in flower for a few weeks now and there are plenty more to come; a snake's head fritillary flower, this one came from a pot of them I bought a couple of weeks ago, they have almost finished flowering for already, the ones I have had growing in the garden for a few years are just starting to bud and those in the wild won't be anywhere near flowering yet;  and yet more primulas too, not just primroses this time.

pressed spring flowers

snowdrops and primroses from my garden

now I just have to decide what I am going to do with them!

My first session in the garden this year

I would be the first to admit that my garden had been neglected over the last few months, but the days I had free to be out there we had rain and I like to enjoy my gardening, not consider it a chore, today the sun shone and I had a free couple of hours so I set to!
Before

After

I still have to weed the gravel but that will be another day, I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow and I need to be able to move, so I am not going to over do it today. One huge bumblebee made an appearance - spring is certainly beginning to show itself:)

Big Garden Bird Watch

Doesn't time fly! I cannot believe it has been a year since I was last stood at our bedroom window surveying our garden and bird feeders for the R.S.P.B.'s Big Garden Bird Watch but it has been and this morning we found ourselves doing exactly that, only instead of looking out over a lovely white wintry scene like last year, today we had wind and rain battering against our window which made it difficult spotting the birds let alone counting them, but we managed.
The results were slightly disappointing, but considering the weather it wasn't too bad, and as it has been so mild this winter we are still awaiting our first lesser redpoll, brambling and siskin for this winter and it was a big ask for them to make their first appearance during the hour!
So today's list reads as follows.

8 blue tits
4 great tits
3 blackbirds
2 robins
2 house sparrows
1 dunnock
11 long tailed tits
2 greenfinch
9 goldfinch
2 magpies
3 wood pigeons
4 chaffinch
1 coal tit
1 stock dove

Missing from the list, wren, nuthatch, sparrowhawk, collared dove, jackdaw, tree creeper, tree sparrows along with the wintering birds already mentioned

A large flock of teal

A flock of 260 plus teal lifted from the common this week, I wonder what spooked them, we had a possible female hen harrier this morning!