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Monday, April 30, 2012

30-04-2012 Wildlife around Cailho ….Including a snake !

 

As the sun was shining, we went for a walk on our  4th Wedding Anniversary.

 

This is a meadow just down the mountain, the orchids are purple here.

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A close up of the purple ones in the meadow and a white one in the wood.

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Dont know what this one is ? any ideas ?

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I think this might be something like London Pride….but that’s red isn’t it ?

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I nearly trod on this beauty, a Montpellier snake i think.

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Trees or Ents perhaps ?

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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

24-04-2012 Mum & Dads new abode

 

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Mum & Dad at the back of their bungalow, outside the conservatory.

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Inspecting the many plants.

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Mum & Dad in their natural habitats !

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The back garden.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

04-04-2012 Garden in April

 

Some of the plants in the garden now……..

P1030033 Pomegranate

P1030028Actinidia Kolomikta

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Wisteria ( wedding present from Mike & Sarah 4 years ago…..) going well isn’t it ?

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09/04/2012 Dave made us a cold frame……..I filled it up before he finished !

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16/04/2012 It Snowed !

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Thursday, March 01, 2012

2012-03-01 Garden, Birds & Bees…

 

The proof that I do get up at 5.00am, just before making tea and scurrying back to bed…..

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Preparing the cherry trees for grafting….the one in the foreground is the washing line!!P1020938

Never one to do anything by halves, Dave cut it down with his chainsaw.

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These are the three grafts from the black cherry on to a wild cherry.

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“Here’s one we did earlier”….    last year  !

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Experiment time!

Don’t know if this will work, 2 of the 3 grafts died on this one last year, so we carefully (not with the chainsaw) took a sloping cut to clear all last years attempts away, and then grafted another one at the bottom of the slope to give some balance, the last years graft is well away, we had another like this, but when it was in full leaf, it was ripped off in a strong wind.

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We believe this is a Cirl Bunting, the picture is taken through the window at about 15m, so i apologise for the poor quality, but i didn’t want it to fly away :O)

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Thrush, we don’t see many here, but in parts of France where they do….they are considered a delicacy  :O(

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Nice to see the crocus again, they first flowered in January, and then were killed off in the “big cold” these have been the more sensible group.

 

 

Now for the Bee’s………..we had some mason bees in our wall, so I hung up some canes for them…….now we have lots…….each day they are either, building chambers or hatching from them……I am assuming that the chap with the white “nose” is a new hatchling ?? anyone know?

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The one in flight is an adult….as he has a red/ orange bottom…..

This is a very sad sight, these are the Mimosa trees, which at this time should be in full yellow blossom, however their bark has begun to peel, so they may only be good for the fire !

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Kiwi waiting for her staff to attend to her, whilst she sunbathes…….

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