A First

We have lived in our present home for 25 years and one of the things we liked about where we live is the garden.  The previous owner was a knowledgeable gardener and filled the garden with the sort of trees bushes and plants that would attract wildlife.  We have not changed very much because we appreciate this and we have continued the tradition. We get visited by squirrels who rearrange bulbs we have planted and bring us bulbs from other gardens. We have planted two hazel trees and of course, the squirrel harvests them for us. Occasionally there is evidence of hedgehogs, but not as much as when we moved in years ago. And of course there are the birds.

We make sure that in the winter the birds get fed and we leave water for them all the year round.  The surplus apples are very popular with the blackbirds.  A few days ago I glanced out of the kitchen window, overlooking the garden, and amongst the blackbirds feeding on the apples scattered over the lawn was a green woodpecker.  The bird is much larger than a blackbird and is so colourful with its bright red head plumage, pale green body and darker green wings that it stood out.  The blackbirds were not at all bothered by the visitor.   I turned to get my bird watching binoculars, kept close to the window, and by the time I turned back, the woodpecker had disappeared.  So no photographs, but I looked at the RSPB website and found a picture - it could have been the very same bird.  I have never seen a green woodpecker before in our garden - in fact I have never seen a green woodpecker before except in books and videos!

During the Christmas holidays my camera managed to get broken and the cost of repair was more expensive  than buying a new camera.  I now have replaced the camera with a similar model and so although I wasn't able to photograph the garden visitor I have taken some photographs of spring flowers in our garden.

The earliest of our daffodils

Proper primroses

I think I shall have to read up the manual to my new camera - these photos took quite a while to load.  I shall have to change the size setting.