Signs of spring

WEDNESDAY: spotted a frog on my back doorstep.

I had stepped outside to put some peelings in the compost bin. When I turned round, there he was, sitting on the frame of the sliding doors. I must have stepped right over him. He looked like he was thinking about coming in. But then, Luvbug and Mum came to see what I had YELPed at, and he hopped away, behind the pile of flower pots.

THURSDAY: spotted a ladybird in Mum's front garden.

SATURDAY: Drove into town. We took a slightly longer route in order to find parking. Passed verges, roundabouts and slopes covered with daffodils.

SUNDAY MORNING: Spotted a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the laburnum in our front garden. Only ever seen one before at RSPB Minsmere reserve, Suffolk! He didn't stay long. I just happened to be looking out at the right moment.

Had to 'borrow' this photo as he didn't pose long enough :) but this is the type I mean-

 - spotted whilst making a fuss of Scooter, also birdwatching, stretched out on the windowsill. This photo is from a week or so ago, but you get the idea...

 
A little later, we saw two goldfinches in the same tree. Photo is from some time ago but these are the ones we get ;)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON: sat on a bench in the garden, in sun, with Scooter and kindle. Scooter grabbed most attention. Kindles are great, but don't purr. Mum and Luvbug indoors, watching rugby on TV. Dinner in oven. Ahhh. Quality time in the warm sun with my cat. Nothing like it!

It was a good day.

I declare that spring is springing!!!

NEXT.... Mother's Day next Sunday. What's the betting that my AWOL brother turns up, like he did on Mum's birthday? Fear not, my friends, for I have put in my request for a repeat prescription of diazepam.

And then, the following weekend............
THE CLOCKS GO FORWARD!!!!!!!!! HURRAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then......... two weeks from that... IT'S EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but whoahhhhhh there I'm getting carried away...

Balancing Act

This goldfinch was balancing on the buddleia in my front garden. In between storms, and the wind was coming up again, so he was swaying up and down, up and down. He stayed there for ages, so maybe he was enjoying his bouncy rest.

I didn't crop into a close-up because I had liked watching him boinging up and down. If I had cropped it then this wouldn't be what I had recorded!

Bracing for another downward dip.... whhoooooaahhhh....

Looks like the storm's coming in....

Time to go and find some shelter....

Isn't he beautiful?

Goldfinches!

Isn't he beautiful? But this is a youngster- the adults have red on their faces, covering the eye. Or to be more precise, the males have a red eye mask that covers the eyes completely, and the females' eye mask stops half way across the eye area. If you look closely at the last photo, you can just about see his dad on the right, towards the back. You can see the splodge of his red eye mark.

But anyway, my point is, this fella is lovely, but he'll get even more colourful as he gets older!

It took us ages to get goldfinches to the garden. They eat a tiny seed called nyger seed. It's so small you need to have special feeders so that it doesn't just spill out everywhere. The first feeder we bought, we ended up throwing away. No one came to it. And then, earwigs inhabited it. Yeauck!

In the spring, I heard the goldfinches' very distinctive call again, so bought a new feeder. I tried it in a few places, before they 'found' it here, in our hawthorn tree.

One day, I was standing at the kitchen window, finally deciding that yes, this window is filthy and could really do with a clean, when a goldfinch flew down and half hovered, half leaned on the window-pane, just up in the corner. I watched, amazed, as it pecked away at a cobweb. He fluttered to and fro doing this, several times. They use the cobweb material for binding together the moss in their nests!

It gave me a good reason to leave the window cleaning for a bit longer, and also made me think of spiders in a SLIGHTLY better light. (I'm still terrified of any bigger than an inch, though, and feed them to my Dyson.)

This wee fella confirms that these lovely birds have been breeding nearby. Horray!

One other thing, just look at all the berries on this tree! It is absolutely smothered in them. My mum says that this is a sign that a bad winter is to follow. I've heard that before. What I want to know is, how does the tree know this?