PETER HAS EATEN MY FRITTERS

We had a gale last night - twigs down, bench on its back, pots all over the place but the rain has now gone and things have calmed down. The daffs are fantastic - I just by a cheap sack every autumn and shove them in. Next year the plan is to fill the field hedge at the garden bottom.

Having planted one of my favourite flowers out in the autumn, snakes-head fritillaries, I went out today to admire them only to find that some devilish individual had snipped off all the buds.
So, a little research on the web was needed to reveal that fritillaries are a favourite food of RABBITS!
So, I have no chance - they live here, visit here, sunbathe here and dine here.
I could cover the flowers with netting but that defeats the aim of enjoying their bells blowing in the breeze.
In fact it seems to be fauna week!
Just seen first House Martin - they have beaten the swallows this near.

Mr and Mrs Pheas. trundle around under the bird feeders. She is eating for several - eggs on the way. He just struts about in front of our single gnome (though it is a dwarf - Doc) given to me on my retirement.The mad blackbird has returned to attack its reflection in the windows at the rear of the house.
We have wood mice and voles, shrews and moles.
Frogs croak, taddies swim, caddis fly larvae crawl around in their little houses.
Pigeons get fatter and fatter, they nest in the conifers by the shed.
The collared doves have abandoned the beam outside the kitchen and gone nesting elsewhere.

And on and on - first grey squirrel seen so trap out - after last year when one climbed the house wall to empty a house martin nest.
Then, to cap it all, R returning from a trip to the theatre spotted, in her headlights, a rat crossing her path. I suppose, with horses and stables next door, they are inevitable neighbours.
I wonder if Megatron, the local black cat, might actually meet with my approval if he presented us with a dead rat?

R is off to a school reunion this weekend so I will be on my own. The weather is set fair so in goes all sorts - jut bought a new sage for the herb bed and some shallot sets. Sweet pea seedings thrive but the cosmos have a touch of the damping off.

The grass is greening, the weeds are growing, I get I'll just mow the lawn - what do I care? I've got my Aga to keep me warm. (And R)(Though I tend to keep her feet warm rather than the other way around.)