PLANTS IN FLOWER : Cowslip, Primula, Pheasant Grass, Festuca, Shrub Roses, Forget-me -Not, Sedum, Nepeta (Six Hills Giant).
The family of hedgehogs which had taken up residence in the vegetable garden have moved their nest from the pile of compost to the woodland. The mother and her five babies clearly decided there was too much action in the previously neglected vegetable patch to remain hibernating there over the winter. I am actually quite glad, because I need to burn the growing pile of roots and branches which have been accumulating this last month, and I am afraid of disturbing any creatures which are tempted to make it their home. I guess I will simply have to dismantle it before setting it on fire, when there is break in the weather.
The swallows from the barn have left for the Winter too, while whirling swarms of starlings pass over the fields. Since I feed the birds over the Autumn and Winter months, it is pleasure to see a wide variety of birds back on the bird table: chaffinches, bullfinches, nut hatches, blue tits, coal tits, great tits and even a shy wren. The pair of red Kites are also often in view above the valley, frequently mobbed by the resident crows and ravens. The naturalistic pond has encouraged an increase in water loving creatures such as newts, frogs and toads, often uncovered beneath some leaves, and which can now sometimes be heard calling in the evening. The multitude of tiny, pure-black fish born over the summer to the pair of gold fish in the pond, are now beginning to show some gold tints. I wonder if they will survive the thick ice though since the forecast is for a very cold Winter this year!
In preparation for planting bulbs by the driveway, I moved a lot of ferns from the grassy slope to the base of the new wall outside the kitchen door where it is semi-shady. I am glad to see all my little box bushes in the herb bed have settled in and the herb garden is looking really established. I have also taken some cuttings of the viridiflora santolina when I trimmed the sloping gravel garden on the south side of the farmhouse, as I expect to see some significant gaps in the Spring after the cold has taken its toll.