Wildlife Garden Progress (7)

I manage my garden to help provide food and habitats for bees and other insects. Every few months I record the habitats and flowers so I can compare over the years. The Cowslips are just coming into full bloom in the front grassed area while the woodland area Primroses are still in bloom. I added some Grape hyacinths and Anemones around the trees for nectar feeders. The most popular plants with bees are Comfrey and Dandelions - conveniently seeded in various parts of the garden. The Kingcups around the pond attract various flies. In the shadier areas, there are Hedge garlic, Yellow archangel and Celandines while the main bed at the bottom of the garden is full of Red Campion and Foxgloves this year

Spring Comes to Toft Wood

Yesterday for the first time I heard a Willow Warblers singing in Toft Wood and managed to photograph it in full song. The Woodland Trust has cut back quite a number of trees and bushes to widen the paths. On the walk round the fields back home, the view is now turning yellow with a lot of the oilseed rape in flower.

Spring in Hardwick Wood Cambridgeshire

The spring flowers are pretty much on schedule in our local wood - the bluebells are a bit later than last year as they need another week or so to be a full carpet. The Oxlips are at their best and are extra large and full of flowers - probably the result of the very wet winter being a specialist of boulder clay soils.  The wood is still very muddy underfoot. The cowslips just outside the wood are also very abundant this year. The birds are busy displaying and setting up nests etc - a very obliging wren and distant views of woodpecker, blackcap and nuthatch.

Dry Drayton Church

 St. Peter and St Paul in Dry Drayton is my favourite so far of the churches we have visited because of its simplicity and light feeling inside. The building is substantial and consists of a chancel, an aisled and clerestoried nave with north porch, and a three-storey west tower. The tower is the oldest part of the present building and dates from the 13th century, as does the majority of the chancel and nave, with 14th century additions. The plain octagonal font dates from the 13th century. The main restoration was mostly carried out on the middle of the 19th century by William Smith at his own expense. Between 1851 and 1853 he reconstructed the chancel, approximately to its ancient length, providing new glass as a family memorial. Between 1859 and 1862 he restored the nave, clearing away the old pews and a gallery. He attempted to straighten the North aisle but it still leans at a worrying angle. A. W. Hamilton-Gell gave an organ in 1881.

Fox Among the Bees

I was busy photographing bees on a patch of heather in the Botanic Gardens for a project I am doing,  when I became aware I was being watched. It isn't often you end up photographing a fox with a macro lens. He did a few large yawns and then moved to a more 'secret' place deeper in the bushes. 

(Bees for records Ashy-mining Bee, Common Carder bee, Honeybee, Red-tailed bumble Bee, Mourning Bee, plus two to be ID'ed)