Work and Play

A couple of days up at Mum's gave me the opportunity for a nice mix of work and play.

The work part centered mainly on planting up Mum's vegetable patch. She has a good mix of fruit and vegetables each year. This year we have Early and Main crop Potatoes, Peas, Broad Beans, Runner Beans, Carrots, Turnips, Leeks, Red Onions, Shallots and Red Cabbage. She already has Raspberries, Blackberries and Strawberries planted from previous years.

As usual, as I worked there was plenty of bird song all around me. Most vocal was a strident Song Thrush and a the beautiful continuous song of the Skylark way way up in the sky above me. There were also many Goldfinches in the trees around me with their lovely liquid sounding song.I checked the compost bin to see if any Slow worms had taken up residence and found this one in there and also some young ones too. I also for the first time here, managed to see a glow worm in the garden on Friday night. A lovely bonus!

The play part of my couple of days up there was being able to go out early Saturday morning to do a Birdtrack survey in the country lanes around my Mum's home. There were lots of Skylarks and Yellowhammers and also 8 Hares in the arable fields which are always great to observe.

Part of my survey walk took me through the local Bluebell wood. They are just coming into bloom and should look spectacular in the next week or two.