DAFFODILS AND DUCKS' DINNER

 The catkins on the hazel, caught by the sun are like golden rain.
I found an old nest from last year in a small tree, it might be a chaffinch I think.

And up in the wood the mountain of old ash sticks fallen from the trees may hide - what? - I would hope for a hedgehog.

 The garden is still fairly bare but stirring - the daffodils are everywhere and must have sown themselves let alone multiply where they have been planted. Here a few different kinds.

Above left is the assortment under the magnolia stellata, on the right the flowers planted originally under the willow tunnel, the trees now removed but the bulbs remain.

Then there are the pots overflowing outside the kitchen door. 

Just had a phone call from  my daughter - she has vine weevil grubs with her strawberries. She is an eco gardener so chemicals are not on. I suggested things like nematodes or even just getting rid of the lot, or washing the roots and trying again in a different bed etc.
Our strawberry plants are beginning to leaf.

Our frogspawn has gone (the frogs were eaten by the heron) so I logged on to the net and lo! Mallard love it so there's our answer - frogs or birds it seems. No spawn - all ducks' dinner.

Mr and Mrs Pheasant are together wandering the garden, she bored and waiting, he strutting his stuff.

On the left are the first flowers on the forget me nots, on the right the teasel - too soon? Note the ladybird. There have been a few in the garden as the weather warms. Wood anemones are out in the wood, well they would be in the wood wouldn't they.

Sometime early last year I did what I often do - drop a pen somewhere in the garden. I have just found one in the long grass behind the oil tank. It has been there for at least a year if not many. It is a uni ball vision elite. And it still writes!

Oh! And I have had a Facebook comment removed! In referring to Donald Trump I mentioned the first verse of Mandy Miller's song Nellie the Elephant - well there you go as they say.