Thursday 25 April 2013

Sunshine and flowers

A common theme of my last few posts is sunshine and warmth! The garden is looking green and springlike and the flowers are vibrant and beautiful. There are possibly thousands of bees, all buzzing around the top of the eucalyptus tree and around the laurel bush. Bracken keeps chasing them and eating them. This doesn't bode well for the arrival of wasps as I think he will get a nasty surprise when he catches one of those!



There have been quite a few birds around, including blackcaps which we heard and caught a brief glimpse of. Also a lone red kite which is unusual to see down here. A very common visitor while I was at Uni in Reading, but a very welcome sighting over the house! I had almost forgotten how stunning they were! 

There have also been some more dramatic sunsets which I have captured leaning out of my Mum's bedroom window...




Bracken has had fun playing in the garden today, and meanwhile I have been using my old skills that I learnt in GCSE Resistant Materials to make a new bird feeder...




.... It was meant to look kind of abstract. I thought it might look more interesting with uneven sides. I hope the blackbirds and robins etc find the tasty meal worm morsels that I have put out for them!

Our afternoon walk was really warm again, shorts and t-shirt weather still! It seems we have a pair of kestrels that look like they have set up home in the small area of woodland behind our house. Fab!! They were being extremely vocal, which is the only way we knew they were there, as they were well camouflaged! 

Finally when I went upstairs to draw the curtains this evening I was instantly dazzled by a bright pink sun, which was just setting beyond horizontal fluffy clouds.






That is all for now folks. It is my birthday in a few days and I'm hoping all the bluebells will be at their best! This time next week I shall be on a plane to Montana! Very much looking forward to seeing my cousin James and celebrating his graduation, and also for our short trip to Yellowstone, which I am incredibly excited for!!

So until next time, thank you for reading :)

6 comments:

  1. Lovely, colourful photos Lou, you've captured some great sunsets. Well done on the homemade feeder and to Bracken for 'helping' you ;-) It may take a few days but the birds will find and love it eventually. You are really lucky to have woodland behind your house, there's no telling what you might see in the garden! Nice to see the Cowslips, we have had them growing in our lawn for years, they were either seeded by birds or were in the original turf.

    Wishing you an early, Very Happy Birthday :-) Good wishes too for your forthcoming trip, it sounds really exciting, I hope you have a wonderful time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :) My mum said she saw a few birds flitting around near the feeder yesterday! Our garden doesn't directly back onto the woodland unfortunately but it is close by! We saw a female blackcap on our walk the other day :)

      I hope you have a lovely couple of weeks!

      Delete
  2. Some lovely sunset photos Lou! Bracken looks like a tonne of fun :)

    Lets hope the sun comes back soon - bring on the bluebells! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Tom :) He is fun for a while, but then playing the same game gets a little tiresome! Especially when I would rather just sit and relax in the sun!!

      Delete
  3. Love your photographs and because you have a tulip on this post,I thought you might be interested in looking at a recent post on my blog as it mainly featured these beautiful flowers. www.birdingforpleasure.blogspot.com
    At my age I do find it a little difficult to read you blog because of the text font you are using. It's a bit like my writing that I cannot read!! That's why I use my computer to write such a lot so that people can read it. I hope to be following you anyway.
    Margaret

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Margaret, I shall be sure to have a look and to follow you too :)

      I was thinking of having a little re-design so I shall take your comment into consideration with regards to the font!

      Thanks again for your comment!

      Delete