20th April

20th - Saw a thrush while out driving today.
22nd Reappearance of goldfinch in garden.
25th- First flower on apple tree and first strawberry flower.
Sunny today we went to Kingsbury water park. We saw blue tits, great tits, sparrows, pied wagtail, various butterflies,great crested grebe, tuffed duck, mallards, mute swan, Canada geese and black headed gulls mating.
26th- Showery Cole tit and great tit in garden.

Cole tit (Prus ater)
Sexes are both alike. Lays 6-11 eggs. Feeds on insects and seeds.
"This tiny son of life; this spright"... Walter de la Mare

Great tit (Parus major)
Our largest tit and familiar in gardens. Lays 8-12 eggs. Eats seeds and insects.
"Teacher, teacher, teacher,. That's your song"...Robin Ivy
April ends with a day of sunshine and showers.

April 17th

17th/18th - A beautiful weekend ,heralded by a glorious dawn chorus. lots of flowers giving colour to the garden: forget-me-nots, pansies, aubretia, celandine, violets and last be not least the blossom on the tree.

Sweet Violet(Viola odorata)The flower of Aphrodite.

Forget-me-not
There are 2 stories of how the Forget-me-not got it's name:
A Knight and his love were walking together when the Knight fell into the river. As he fell he threw a handful of small blue flowers and shouted forget-me-not as he disappeared under the water.
Or
When God was naming the flowers in the garden of Eden he missed a tiny blue flower amongst the blooms. When he sat to admire his work he heard a little voice saying Forget-me-not.

April 2010

 "The Cuckoo comes in April,
he sings his song in May.
In the middle of June he changes his tune.
In July he flies away."

1st Sun and showers.
2nd - 2 robins at the meal worms. The bushes and trees are all in bud.
7th - The crows are building a nest in a large tree at the back of the garden. I watched as they flew in with twigs of assorted sizes finding each a place on the nest.
The phlox is in flower- bright pink against the gravel.
Lots of bird song and butterflies around. I must learn to identify them.
Heard a Tawny Owl last night.
13th Sparrows collecting nesting material.
Male blackbirds fighting over territory.
The robin has come down to eat the meal worms while I sit still in the garden.

Robin(Enthacus rubecula)
Both sesxes are alike and very aggresive. They lay 5-6 eggs and eat insects, worms, seeds, fruit and berries.