Mum's mole mayhem!

I've just come back from two days gardening up at my Mum's place in Gloucestershire. The weather was absolutely perfect, mostly sunny with no wind. One of the jobs that needed urgent attention was the problem Mum has with moles in her lawn. They have been very busy, particularly in the orchard area in amongst the flowering Snowdrops.

Another job that needed doing was cleaning up the patio and cutting the ornamental grasses down ready for the spring spurt of growth. The daffodils have just started to flower in the containers giving a welcome splash of brightness and colour.

Apart from getting some gardening done, it was such lovely weather that I took the opportunity to go for an early morning walk on one of the days. Whenever I go for a walk up here I write down all the birds that I see and hear and then submit them online to the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) for the current atlas project. This is a really fabulous way of firstly helping a great cause and also sharpening up identification skills for the eyes as well the ears!

I had 32 species in an hour and a half walk. Everything seemed to be in full song including lots of Yellowhammers and Skylarks. A real bonus was watching 5 hares all together scampering about in a stubble field. Here's a photo of a Yellowhammer and Treecreeper, both of which I took while on my walk.