AND SO IT GOES

On and on into 2022, must say have not done much recently - a bit of raking and leaf blowing and keeping off the sodden turf. 

And the stream overflows, covers the planks we walk across, mild weather but WET!

New bird feeder for Christmas fixed under cover out of the rain and the butterfly one which attracted no butterflies so, apologies to B, I have converted it into a nesting box. The feeders are being well used - goldfinches on the nyger seed, and all sorts on the other and here pheasants scavenging on the ground below.

The gardener has been again and the log pile grows, the bonfire is getting huge and the hole in the woodland seems rather forlorn.

However it is not always four o'clock and getting dark though it feels like it and bulbs are coming up early - snowdrops and daffodils mainly. We still have parsley and the weeds have not been assassinated by hard frost so are thriving, alas. There is no sign of the tulips in the pots but it is only January 1st.

And though almost every day feels dark and damp there is the occasional burst of sunshine to draw me out of the kitchen door to look at the view.

We do have colour in the garden and I did get a small vase for the table over the festive season. The miscanthus glows when sunny and the undersides of the leaves on the magnolia grandiflora mimic that colour.

On the lower banking the Viburnum bodnantiense pink dawn is flowering and casting scent across the grass.

And so it was Christmas, and what have we done, eaten too much and had lots of fun (sorry John).

I leave you with that emblem of the British Yule tide, the robin.

Happy New Year