March 2021

3^rd - The grey heron now has a name - Percy (for perseverance) - back twice today.

3rd - Snakeshead fritillaries - now in two places in the garden.

3^rd - The climbing rose (Dublin Bay) is looking vigorous while the hellebores give some nice colour at this time of year. The buddleia grows no matter how much you cut it back! Primroses and poppy are looking good.

4^th - Percy is back pretending to be a garden ornament...if only....

6^th - Hellebores and lungwort providing some nice colour at this time of year.

6^th - Some new growth on the holly; Lords and Ladies continuing to flourish; soon have a daffodil? Foxgloves have survived the winter.

6^th - Cowslips, primroses and ox-lips - nice to see variety.

6^th - Still fascinated by the growth on the apple trees. First sight of the northern marsh orchid!

7^th - Love the colours of the crocus - and they provide good pollen as well.

7^th - Nice to see buds on the apple tree while getting some more colour from the bedding plants.

7^th - Percy is determined - looks like one of my newts has gone!

7^th - White tailed bee on some ivy.

8^th - Signs of growth on the Clematis while I am not sure what these green shoots are!

9^th - Frogs and the time of year.

11^th - Lot's of frogs in the pond - one less now that Tawny Owl brought one to the nest box!

12^th - Highlight of my day - a tawny owl in the nest box - will it stay?

12^th - Oxlip, Lungwort and crocus bring some colour to a cool day.

12^th - Hellebore, heather and daffodils to add some colour.

12^th - Still not sure what this is - time will tell!

16^th - First daffodils opened; snakeshead doing well and still no idea what these shoots will be!

16^th - Lot's of insects enjoying the warmth and the heather.

16^th - More crocus to enjoy - they really do bring some colour into the garden.

16^th - Even the frogs came out in the warmth of the sun.

17^th - Leaping Salmon and Dublin Bay climbing roses are looking good as is the goat willow.

17^th - Hellebores and some more nice splashes of colour appearing.

17^th - Jacobs Ladder, oxlips, forget me nots and bathing wood pigeons.

17^th - Early evening update - now have two eggs in the Tawny Owl nest box - easy to see when she leaves for dinner!

19^th - Now we have three!!!

19^th - Snakeshead fritillaries looking good. Frogs are taking their chances with the heron(s).

20^th - Lovely dew on the grass this morning.

21^st - Garlic is doing well - should help keep the greenfly off the roses! More rhubarb appearing along with another two northern marsh orchids and bugle. The Lords & Ladies seem to have spread to another part of the garden while lungwort gives good colour. The marsh marigolds are under netting to keep the heron off... Flowering oxlips.

21^st - A hovering blackbird going for the peanut butter log while more insects are appearing.

22^nd - Pear and apple trees appear okay - while goat willow is doing nicely.

22^nd - The crocuses do not look quite so good in the grass anymore while primroses and cowslips are good. Clematis Freda is starting to flower.

27^th - Hellebores still showing well. Bluebells looking lonely. Snakeshead fritillaries starting to show their true colours. Apple trees are looking hopeful while the oxlips are braving the weather.

30^th - Frog spawn today - counted no less than 20 frogs in the pond. They may feel safer now the "heron net" is in place.

30^th - The heather looked lovely in the sun today. Some more cowslips appearing while the hawthorn is beginning to show.