In the Garden......

.........six Goldcrests - Regulus regulus have delighted us today as they flittered around our Norwegian Spruce for half an hour. Along with the Firecrest the Goldcrest is the UKs smallest bird. They particularly enjoy spruce trees as their small thin beak is ideally suited for picking out the tiny insects from between the pine needles. 

One of our resident Robins Erithacus rubecula has been cautiously flying in and out with mouthfuls of moss putting the final touches to its nest. The nest is in a climbing hydrangea on one our house walls but I am a little concerned that it is situated rather low. I am aware, however, that they do tend to build low and Robins know better than me. We have several Magpies Pica pica who patrol our garden along with a pair of resident Jays Garrulus glandarius which makes the garden a hostile world for smaller birds. I have already spotted a Magpie with a blue egg in its beak flying out of the hedgerow whilst watched by two very distressed blackbirds Turdus merula.

The exquisite perfume from this beautiful  Stephanotis floribunda in the conservatory brings back memories of my bridal bouquet which featured its pretty white waxy flowers

Stephanotis reminds me of how lovely it would be to wander through a beautiful tropical flower garden in the warm April sunshine, which with luck, we shall be doing soon. However, flying is off our bucket list as we are endeavouring to keep our carbon footprint lower, so where might it be?