A few critters seen recently

My OH discovered this little lizard without a tail indoors because one of the cats had brought it in. I thought it had lost its tail in the process but looking at some images on the web it looks like this is a tail that is already regenerating. I'm glad to say it was saved and put back outside near the steps to the garage, where there are plenty of gaps between the rocks for it to hide inside. It could be a Common Lizard or a Common Wall Lizard, but I have never delved into the different species of European lizards before!

Little lizard with a regenerating tail on my OH's hand.

And a slightly closer up view.

I was removing some weedy old compost from the tops of the large pots that contain my Oleanders which live out all year, when I moved one slightly and wondered why it was wobbling. I tilted the pot and brushed out what I thought was a stone. Oops, no, it was a tiny toad! 

I worried sick I might have crushed it as it looked a bit flat but appeared uninjured. So I took it round to the back door and went to get my camera. I had hoped it was a Midwife Toad which are only this size when mature (about 1 1/4 inches/3cm) as I know that we have them here from the bleepy noise they make every evening from about April onwards. But after a bit of research it is none other than a young Common Toad, which take quite a few years to reach full size. The way to tell the difference is that Common Toads have horizontal slits in their eyes and the Midwife Toads have vertical ones. This one came to life after I took a couple of photos so I took it back to where I found it and put it under some plants growing out of the house wall.

Very small Common Toad (Bufo bufo). Isn't that a nice Latin name? :-)

Here it is coming to life after its wee shock, and the lovely surface here is my gardening glove!

I was happy to see a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the peanuts a few days ago as it's the first one I've seen this year. They are normally quite common visitors to the bird feeders. I took these photos out of a house window as if I'd gone outside it would have flown off.

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major).

The following photo is a very zoomed in picture of the moorhens' nest, where I was pleased to see that Madame is now sitting on the nest! This is really early for them so hopefully there will be a number of little black pom-poms to watch around the lake soon. You can just see her right in the middle - a black head and the top of the red beak.

Madame Moorhen sitting in her nest.

Not quite wildlife but new life. There are often sheep in the paddock across the road but they do move around to other paddocks. So when they were moved back to this one recently there were already two lambs that were of a fair size, like the one below. But a couple of days ago I was over in our orchard checking out the blossom on the fruit trees when I discovered one of the ewes with twin new born lambs!

A not so new born lamb.

Here's a tatty old ewe with two tiny lambs.

I'm surprised she let me take photos as they usually move away when they have lambs with them.
The sheep here always look really tatty by this time of year!

Early morning dew

I took these photos on 1st April as it dawned lovely and sunny and dewy. I can't resist that combination as it seems quite rare here. So off I went into the garden as soon as the sun came up, still in my dressing gown, to get some pictures.

Nice reflection in a droplet on the same tree as below.

This is my Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy'.
This is its 3rd spring here and so far not a single flower has opened up.
Unfortunately the buds just drop off. :-(
Cross fingers that I get just a few blooms this year!

A variegated Weigela with an orb web.

Dewy tulips.

Greengage tree with a lovely web.

Greengage tree again in front of another plum tree.

This borage survived winter and is flowering now. It is very
hairy around the flower buds which hold the dew beautifully.

On the sunnier side of the garden this is a Horse Chestnut leaf that was just unfurling.
A few days later they were all opened up.

Prunus subhirtella again in the early morning sunshine.

Then I found these amazing droplets on some rose leaves. I could have really done with the tripod I'll be getting next month for my birthday present from my Mum!

Dewdrops on a rose leaf.

They were so perfect!

The magnificent month of March

This month it's been hard sometimes to keep remembering that it is only March. Spring seems very early this year and as for the weather - the only time I remember a warm spell in March since moving here nearly 10 years ago was in 2005, when I was painting the chicken and duck sheds wearing shorts! It has been a joy to see many butterflies and bumble bees around and welcome the return of the summer birds. The Chiffchaffs are very noisy but I enjoy hearing them, and in the last few days the Blackcaps have returned and started singing their far more melodic song.

There are few leaves on the trees around here but we have only to drive south towards Rennes which is always more advanced in spring, and it is quite green looking. But we have it all to look forward to and there are already leaves unfurling on one of the Horse Chestnuts and on some of the ornamental Prunus trees, which have been a joy with their blossom. I'm still desperately trying to catch up with the garden but I think it is better this way, than to be ahead and waiting for spring to catch me up! 

Purple Leafed Prunus, which now has more leaves than flowers.

The Forsythias started off looking like they weren't going to be
much of a show but I was proven wrong, thankfully!

The first daffodils are going over but new ones are opening up like this small narcissus.

The weather wasn't always kind, and we had a cool spell with some frosty mornings until a couple of days ago. I captured a few scenes from my 2nd floor shower room, which is the only upstairs window looking out over the back.

Stormy skies moving in....

Ominous sky coming in from the west.
The tree with blossom in the middle is Prunus subhirtella.

But many days we had skies like this:

Damson blossom. Cross fingers for some fruit this year as
last year was rubbish for any kind of plum.

Prunus subhirtella with much larger blooms in the spring than
the small single ones it has during mild winter spells.

Prunus subhirtella again with a silhouette of
my huge old cherry tree in the distance.

I can't remember ever having plum blossom open in March before, but all three of my mature trees are in full bloom!

Greengage blossom.

A zoom through my grubby living room window to the peach blossom in my orchard
and the sheep in the paddock beyond.

In my woodland I have Celandine instead of grass in many places
and it's been flowering for what seems like ages.

And now a few pictures of the ducks, just because I have pictures of them! I missed capturing any of the wild mallards that have been visiting, as they are so wary and see me before I see them. Then they fly practically vertically up and over the trees and off they go. The best way to watch them is through the kitchen window!

The ducks are full of the joys of spring and Dirk is having his wicked way with all of them!

Dirk, my drake Saxony.

Rachel the Rouen.

The other two on the far bank, Doris the Saxony and Freckles the white mixed breed duck.

Freckles is old and needs more time to rest. :-)

Now April is nearly upon us so it's full steam ahead in the veg patch for me as it's ready for planting now.