In between racing about in my car to Norwich and Mum’s house, the doctor’s surgery and the hospital, shopping trips to Harleston, Halesworth, Bungay and Diss, I have been able to take my camera with me as I walk round the garden, filling all the bird feeders. I haven’t had time for any gardening for about ten days and I miss it! The weather here has continued bright and dry with frosty, misty mornings and warmish days (as long as you are out of the chilly NE wind). Today has been much warmer with a change of wind direction but according to the forecast, this will not last. Rain and cold are set to return by the end of the weekend.
Hawthorn leaves. We have two types of Hawthorn in our garden hedges, Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata). This is probably Midland Hawthorn or maybe a hybrid between the two.
A Daisy (Bellis perennis). I love its simplicity.
The Elder leaves (Sambucus nigra) are now almost fully out and have lost the pink tinge they had. They are matte mid-green leaves. Last year we had the best elder blossom I’d seen for many years.
Goat Willow or Sallow catkins (Salix caprea). Male and female catkins are on separate trees and appear before the leaves. Sallows are a food plant for many different types of moth. The catkins are known as ‘Pussy Willow’ when they first appear as they look and feel like silky cats paws.
I found a Heartsease or Wild Pansy (Viola tricolor) plant on the path round the big pond. Next to it there is also the first rosette of Spear Thistle leaves (Cirsium vulgare).
Silver Birch leaves (Betula pendula)
I love standing underneath our tree and looking up. Silver Birches eventually grow to be about 26 metres tall. I don’t think ours has quite got there yet.
This Bluetit (Parus caeruleus) sitting in the Birch tree looks a little strange. It has a black sunflower seed in its beak.
It spent some time taking the seedcase off…
…and eating the seed within.
The Greylags (Anser anser) have been amusing me a lot lately. The geese are much calmer than the ganders. The goose here is up close eating some food I put out for it. The gander is further away and hissing at me.
This one I found the other morning standing on top of the hedge.
The original goose on her nest on the island…
…was joined last weekend by another goose (nearest to us).
A third goose has made her nest on the edge of the pond. I surprised her and she surprised me when I walked round the pond yesterday. I am not sure how successful this nest will be as it is quite vulnerable to fox predation.
A Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Daffodils along the ditch at the front of the house
Daffodils at the top of the ditch between us and the old School House.
Our Rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum ‘Timperley Early’) looking majestic.
A very early flowering near-species rose has buds on it. (Rosa xanthina ‘Canary Bird’)
Aubretia
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Richard pointed out this snail trail up the side of the house!
I saw this Muntjac deer doe very early the other morning. It was eating the crabapple tree! The leaf shapes on the window are meant to stop birds crashing into the glass but aren’t very successful. I usually have to pull the window-blind down to stop them!
Very blurred photo! You can see how stocky/thickset these deer are and also the white in their ears.
The does don’t have antlers but have a dark triangular patch on their foreheads.
I think I see her tongue sticking out as she chews a mouthful of leafy twig.
I had great trouble trying to focus on the deer. The camera wanted to focus on the window glass of the double-glazing or the daffodils behind the deer.
Richard on his new tractor-mower. The old one wasn’t working too well so we part-exchanged it for a newer, better model. It has a mulching facility which will be good to use in the summer.
I must share some good news I heard today. My daughter Alice has been told she has her PhD. She is now Doctor Alice! I am so proud of her.
Thank-you for visiting!
yeoldefoole said:
Congratulations to the new doctor!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you! She won’t be any use in an emergency unless you need some cataloguing done quickly! Her doctorate was studying how to evaluate intellectual assets. We can put a value on an ancient manuscript or vintage car but not on people’s expertise and knowledge. She tried to work out how this could be done and interviewed a lot of disgruntled professional librarians who felt they were unappreciated and got no thanks for all work/research/exhibition organising they did.
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yeoldefoole said:
Wow!
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Jill Weatherholt said:
Congratulations to Alice! You must be so proud, Clare.
I really enjoyed your lovely photos.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you very much Jill! I am unbelievably proud!
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Lavinia Ross said:
Thank you for the tour! Love the photos. We have rain and cold here too. March and April seem to have traded places. March was far milder. I like that snail trail up the wall!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Lavinia! We wondered where it was going. It looks as though it disappeared into the roof-space vent!
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Lisa G. said:
Congratulations to your daughter – lots of hard work went into that degree, I’m sure.
Your row of daffodils is just beautiful! The tits have to work really hard to get seeds open, don’t they?
What does a snail want to go up so high for??
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Lisa! Yes, my daughter worked very hard for many years – she just has a few minor corrections to do and then get it all bound and published…at last! We also wondered why the snail wanted to go up to the roof – by the thickness of the trail it must be quite a big one!
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colorpencil2014 said:
I feel like I had a lovely walk in Suffolk lane…I love standing under big trees and lookig up too. I hope you will have some time for yourself and the garden this weekend. Tip for taking photos through the windows: bring the lens as close to the window pane as you can, focusing will be a lot easier. xo Johanna
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Johanna! That tip will be useful for next time. I am always frightened of scaring the birds/deer away if I get too close to the window. I didn’t have time for any gardening today but I hope tomorrow will be better 🙂
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Gallivanta said:
Congratulations to Dr Alice and her loving, supportive family. I do hope others will value her intellectual assets and employ her and pay her accordingly.
I laughed at your snail trail. At certain times of the year, I have them all over my house and windows. My house is a snail magnet. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Gallivanta! I wonder why snails climb up houses? What are they looking for?
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Gallivanta said:
Not sure. Possibly warmth. Or for the adventure like people scale tall buildings. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Adventurous snails! Now there’s a thought!
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Gallivanta said:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129475625 Apparently they have interesting lives. 😉
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clarepooley33 said:
This is fascinating! Thank-you for the link. I am adding this book to my to-be-read-sometime list.
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Gallivanta said:
Yes, I have a list like that, too.
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Kate Happenence said:
Congratulations to Alice!
My old house, I called it the Hovel, backed onto a small wood where numerous deer lived. I struggled many a time to take photos of the deer passing through the garden. If I ran to grab my camera then the deer would disappear. If I had my camera then it would inevitably try to focus on the dirt on the window instead.
There was however a very special evening when from beneath this incredibly large bush/tree thing in the front garden appeared first one deer, then a second deer, and then, still wobbling, a tiny tiny baby deer.
A photo ->
http://happenence.co.uk/evolution/happenences/deer-days/
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clarepooley33 said:
Your photo of the fawn is wonderful! Thank-you for the link, Kate.
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quietsolopursuits said:
Congratulations to your daughter after all the hard work of obtaining a doctorate! Thank you for another look into your part of the world and the tour of your yard. Loved the deer, and of course, all the flowers!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jerry! I always appreciate your kind comments. 🙂
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Lisa Whitehead said:
Lovely photos Clare! Congratulations to Alice.
I remember when we first got here making my husband drive back to a field because I thought I had seen Wallabies.
Then when at the boy’s school the Head talked about the deer that ran through the school, would I help to see it got out alright, I just thought it would jump whatever was in it’s way, it’ll be fine.
Then I finally got to see a Muntjac. I never realised there was such a small breed of deer.
I think they are fantastic, although once our cat tried to stare one down for a long time in the garden, I was glad he left it alone when I found out what big tusks they have!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Lisa! Muntjac are very small and they will eat anything! They have been keeping us awake recently, barking for hours on end! They were originally brought to this country in about 1900 to be put in the park at Woburn in Bedfordshire. Some escaped and have been making themselves at home in the wild since then. We do have a few wild wallabies in this country too. Again they are escapees from parks and zoos. There used to be quite a few in the Peak District where we go on holiday but they were thought to have died out a few years ago. However, I read that one lone wallaby was sighted there last summer. Poor thing! I’m glad your cat came away from his encounter with the muntjac with his dignity and everything else intact!
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Lucy said:
Congratulations to your daughter! Thank you for the lovely pictures. Spring is such a beautiful time of the year 🙂 Have a great weekend!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Lucy! We are very proud of Alice – she has worked very hard for a long time. I hope you are having a lovely weekend too and enjoying the springtime!
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Aggie said:
I was amazed how high the snail went! And loved the stocky deer. Adding my congratulations to the new Doctor. YAY!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you, Aggie! We cannot think why a snail would want to go so high up. Hope there aren’t lots of them up there!
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Aggie said:
Haha, that calls for a meditation on the snail-mind, but who has enough interest?
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
You’re lucky to have geese nesting on your own land. You don’t have to go far to get pictures that way.
I’ve been looking for dandelions and violas and haven’t seen either one. They’re both usually very early too.
That’s quite a rhubarb plant! I’m guessing it has been there a while. It looks like you could harvest enough to make quite a few strawberry rhubarb pies!
Congratulations to your daughter. That must be a relief.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Allen. Yes it is an immense relief to all of us and we are now trying to think of a way to celebrate!
We like the geese a lot and hope that this year they will manage to successfully hatch out goslings. We haven’t had any since 2012. The rhubarb is a monster. We originally planted it somewhere else and then about six years ago we dug it up, split it up into about six pieces, gave away five and planted one small bit in its current vegetable bed. It ought to be split up again before it takes over the garden.
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chiaradiack said:
Congratulations to your daughter, what a wonderful achievement. I LOVE that you have deer visitors!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you very much, Chiara! We love the deer but they eat anything and everything. They especially like to eat all my favourite flowers!
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Draws Shoots and Leaves said:
Lovely photos and very familiar to me just down the road. I love Silver Birches but they are very messy garden companions, dropping twigs in the gentlest of breezes. My rhubarb has put up a flower stem already. Congratulations on your daughters achievement. We have a house full this weekend with children and grand daughter, just sad that the weather has not been kinder. Sue
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clarepooley33 said:
Thanks Sue! Birches are very untidy trees. Fortunately, at this time of year the rooks in our local rookery collect most of the twigs for their nests. My husband had to cut off a flower stem from our rhubarb yesterday! Hope you have a lovely weekend with your large family. Clare 🙂
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Jane Thorne said:
Many congrats to Alice, what an achievement and no wonder your family is proud of her. Love Richard’s broad smile atop his new mower..and loved the pictures you have shared here. Have a lovely Sunday Clare in your magic spot in Suffolk. Hugs ❤ xXx
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jane! A chilly day here again. Having a hot drink after unheated church service and a walk home Brrr! Out this afternoon to do cleaning in our own church this time. That should warm us up! Hope you have a lovely day! xxx
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Cynthia Reyes said:
What a lovely, lovely post. Huge congrats to Dr. Alice. and many thanks for these signs of spring everywhere. Thank you, Clare.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you so much Cynthia. Spring is approaching cautiously here – we are a couple, if not three weeks behind last year. The wind is still from the North West and we are still getting frosts so even though it all looks very spring-like it doesn’t often feel like it! I hope you are beginning to feel better and you are getting signs of a very late spring in your garden too. 🙂
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Cynthia Reyes said:
Same weather here.
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clarepooley33 said:
Ah well! At least there is a little improvement.
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Beautywhizz said:
What a beautiful blog, I am so pleased I found it. Looking at your photos is a pleasure.
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clarepooley33 said:
How very kind of you! Thank-you. 🙂
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http://tinyurl.com/5824d702aeec68ea9c92d5bb8205d2ec said:
Very energetic article, I liked that bit. Will there be a part 2?
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you! No part 2 I’m afraid!
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