Feed the Family

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend wherever you are - it's certainly been a glorious weekend here. It's that wonderful time of the year when new life is bursting out all over the place - we've had the most amazing weather so far, the garden is full of promise and the birds and bees are busy doing what they always do ...

Clematis under my workroom window

This is the beautiful clematis which grows over our front door and under my workroom window. Tucked away inside its leafy depths is a blackbirds' nest and we've been watching with great interest as the parents come and go several times an hour with worms for their noisy brood. It sounds as though they have three or four greedy babies in there and Mum and Dad will be run ragged by the time those kids leave home!

This view has hardly changed since this picture was taken -
no crinolines now though!

We live in the Caretaker's Cottage in the grounds of a big house which is now used as office space, so out of office hours it is a quiet haven for wildlife (and for us), although it's in the midst of a large housing estate. We enjoy watching all kinds of birds, as well as squirrels, hedgehogs, foxes, bats, snakes, frogs and toads, insects, field mice - we've even had the odd horse wandering through and a muntjac deer one time!

Here's a picture taken by my DH - I've blogged it before, but it's worth showing again I think. The photo quality isn't great, but what were the chances of catching this moment on camera?! Click on the picture to enlarge it, so that you can look really closely ...

Look closely between the two squirrels to see their tiny friend!

... and between the two squirrels you will see a tiny mouse - they're so sweet as long as they're not in the house! The squirrels live in a couple of huge walnut trees in the grounds, but during lean times they enjoy the nuts and fat balls we put out for the birds - and we don't mind, because we pinch loads of their walnuts!

It really is a lovely place to live, and hard to believe that we're only five minutes away from a shopping centre and everything else we need - the best of both worlds :o)

Thanks for popping in today, see you again soon

Annie x