Catching Up...

I love the appearance of woodland flowers in spring - and one of my favourite flowers is the wood anemone.  I think it's so precious because it doesn't flower for long, and even when it is in bloom it will only open out in the sun, and it will close up again at dusk.  I used to think this little flower was a sort of bridesmaid flower, a prelude to the main event of bluebells that will soon push through the wood anemones and transform the ground into a shimmering blue. But now I look forward to the wood anemone in its own right; its presence indicates that a wood is ancient (in England a wood is ancient if it existed before 1600) and, crucially for me, the bees love it.  Fortunately, my hives are right next to a wood full of these flowers.

Elsewhere on the smallholding spring has arrived at last.  I've been ill recently; first of all with a lung infection and then on top of this I managed to get flu, so I've been in bed with a high temperature feeling sorry for myself. When I did come back into the world (!) I found that everything is growing and flowering, and the "summer" birds, such as Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and this Blackcap (below) are back in the hedges around the pond...



I didn't see my first butterfly of the year until last week, and now they're all over the smallholding...

The bees are everywhere, too, including this bumblebee I watched flying around the hellebores until it stopped and sheltered under some leaves for a while.  I like to think it was sunbathing...

I had my first real look in my own hives this weekend, and I found that I've lost a colony, the only one I've ever lost.  These honeybees were fine in early March, but the last few weeks of cold weather proved too much for them and they hadn't taken the extra food I'd given them. I imagine beekeepers who have kept bees for many years become used to losing colonies, and I suppose I will, too, but I'm sure it will always be upsetting to see the bees clustered and still around the queen.  I'm even more grateful, now, for my surviving "strong" colonies. 

The ducks are just starting to nest at last, although they seem to be laying eggs in barmy places.  Today, we found an exposed egg on top of a pile of mulch, and the female mallard dozing unconcerned right next to it.  Here she is later on drinking from an old bath we collect rainwater in to water the veg...

The swallows have just arrived back and are flying above, so I'm hoping they've noticed the barn as a potential site for their nest.

The primroses have been blooming for a while - and my bank of primroses (where most are growing in small clumps) is looking wonderful...

And other spring flowers are looking beautiful, too...

Meanwhile we've been involved in "maintenance work" on the smallholding; replacing glass in the greenhouse and putting glass in the cold frame.  I'm also really behind with my veg and flower seeds this year, so I've been sowing and planting like mad over the past few days.  This weekend I planted potatoes, spinach, and various flower seeds and I did lots of weeding.  It's typical; the year I decide to rely on seeds for almost everything - is the year I make a late start...

Will I ever catch up?