Hi Annie
It’s good to hear your news. Lovely that the new hole in the gate is being used to such good effect! Cute hog on your avatar – typical, walking through the water bowl! Glad to hear there is lots of activity in the back garden, too.
I went for my fortnightly shopping the other day and the verges looked lovely here too, with all the cow parsley, etc. Luckily round here they leave some of it, but also luckily had cut it at a dangerous junction which I have to negotiate. But yes, strimmers are a worry with cutting roadside verges too.
Yes, I was very sad to hear about Nigel – such a lovely dog, but I did think he was suddenly looking very old on the last programme he was on. It doesn’t seem long ago that he was as young and sprightly as Nelly. I expect she’ll miss him, although I did see the new little one licking her, which I thought was quite cute.
Still fairly busy here, with mostly male hogs. Igel still seems to be disappearing with the males, so maybe wasn’t pregnant after all. Although at least one large one left her alone, so maybe he knows something the others don’t! But apparently even if mating takes place the hogs don’t always become pregnant. In fact, according to Pat Morris “Many females still fail to become pregnant, even after several matings, and a fair proportion may escape becoming pregnant altogether.” Just have to hope Igel isn’t one of those. We could do with some hoglets around here! Hopefully some females!
Sadly lots of flowers and plant tops got zapped by that frost we had the other day. Perennials, so couldn’t take them in and didn’t want to wrap them because of the hogs. The plants had all been growing too green and lush with all the warm weather beforehand. But hopefully there will be more back before too long. Chelsea is taking up a lot of my time again, even though it isn’t on! Just love seeing all those lovely plants. I wonder what they will do for Springwatch this year.
The other night a frog made a starring role on a video, right in the hog feeding area (no hogs present at the time) and I’ve been seeing a few damselflies, near the ‘ponds’ which is lovely. I’m really pleased with my front garden, with all the shrubs growing now – I’m always seeing birds out there. It’s only a tiny area, but is getting to be quite woodlandy (but without large trees overhead). It looks lovely in the spring. Only trouble is the shrubs have grown to the height where I need to cut them now, but it’s worth it. I just use secateurs – shears are too much like hard work!
Please you take care too.
