Accessing our laundry building has become a bit of an extreme sport of late on account of the swallows that may, or may not, be deciding to use the roof beams inside as a jolly good place to build a nest. They swoop in and out like house buyers on repeat visits.
‘Do we like the layout, Ken?’
‘I don’t know, Alice. It’s got washing facilities and a running buffet of chicken food and fat balls, but the neighbours seem a bit nosy.’
‘It’s warm and dry, though, Ken. Nice bit of solid beam. You like a bit of solid beam for your building, don’t you?’
‘I do, Alice, I’ll not deny it.’
‘Shall we try another visit, in what...3 minutes’ time?’
‘Yes, Alice. Let’s. Perhaps bring Bill and Edwina. They know a good nest site when they see one.’
‘True, Ken. But let’s not forget they also like hot tubs and Toblerone...’
I’ve been trying to get a photo of the swallows, resting on the electric cable that connects the house to the laundry. This is the best I can do, I’m afraid, because they are quick little devils...
To the right of the photo is the wisteria. (I am inside the dining room, looking out.) There is a blackbird nest in the wisteria this year. At first I thought they were mad building there, but since the flowers have died back and the leaves have taken over, the nest has become enveloped in a lovely green tangle of sturdy foliage. Mrs Blackbird has been sitting tight for a few days now so I expect there will be baby blackbirds before long. We are hoping to catch footage on the trail cam.
There are wagtails in the front hedge that divides us from our neighbours, dead opposite the nose of Andy’s car which has been in situ for the last 10 weeks because he has been working from home. I think Mr Wagtail regards the car as his territory now so there could be a fight when Andy wants to reclaim it. There is another pair of blackbirds in the hedge on the other side of the drive, in the field. And the new nest box we put up has been home to sparrows. It’s like The Garden Bird Maternity Wing here. It’s lovely!
Remember my plan to keep the Christmas tree alive for next Christmas? Well, I thought the darn thing had died on me, despite a new pot, new compost, a sunny aspect and plenty of water. But then, last week....
...tufty green shoots a-plenty! Of course, now it will spite me by growing three feet in all directions and being too big to fit into the allocated Christmas tree space. But I am glad it is alive and apparently happy.
The roses are making an appearance, too. Wild Eldric, he of the anti-social thorns and keeper of the road frontage, is in full action, as is Starlight Express by the front door. Part of Starlight fell over during the winds last week, almost completely blocking access to the letterbox, but Andy took it in hand and tied it up. It’s definitely calling for more trellis structure ‘pon which to cling and climb. And I’ve got this little specimen in the courtyard slope which produces two colours of flowers...
...pink and cream at the same time. I shan’t argue with it. It’s one of the quirks of the garden I like, plus it smells lovely, too.
More sunny blue skies and warm breezes today. Perfect weather. Plus, the road on which we live is currently being resurfaced, so we have added quietness, too. They surfaced the stretch outside ours the week before Bank Holiday. It was noisy, rumbly, and smelly and I learned that road surfacing crews seem to have a lot of tea breaks and walking up and down meetings, but they’ve moved further on now, so we shall enjoy the closed road whilst we can because I expect once it is fully open again (third week in Jun apparently) we shall be treated to all the lunatic Audi drivers and motor bikers enjoying the new road surface, despite it coming with a new 50 miles per hour speed restriction.
I might go out with my hair dryer and stopwatch and see if I can persuade them to slow down...
Comments