Five Little Things

 We've been watching the Great Crested Grebes on the lake for the past few weeks.

Nest building

Sitting on eggs

Catching Food.  Lets hope we see some chicks soon.  I love their stripey, humbug appearance and the way they travel on a parent's back. 

Family History

I've been finding more family history on line.  I knew about this family but didn't have details of where they lived in- between my great great grandfather Alexander Young being born in Loughborough, Leicestershire and later census details of the family in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.  It seems he married my great great grandmother Rebecca Webb in Lenton, Nottingham.  They married on 1st March 1857.

On the 1861 Census the couple are living at 145 Little John Street, St Anne's, Nottingham.  Alexander was a tailor and you can see from the other entries that most people worked in the textile industries in Nottingham famous for both lace and hosiery.  Alexander was the son of John Young who moved to Loughborough from Kirkaldy, in Fife, Scotland some time in the 1820s.  John, my 3x great grandfather, married Maria Parkinson, my 3 x great grandmother, at All Saints Church, Loughborough in 1826. Ten years later they had  five of their children, including my great great grandfather Alexander, baptised at the Dead Lane Primitive Methodist Chapel in Loughborough on the same day.

In the garden the sweet peas are doing well, as are the strawberries.

Also in the garden a very relaxed fox.  

They visit early morning and late evening.  We thought they only had one cub this year as they were bringing one cub at a time into the garden but last night both parents arrived with two cubs.  Apparently they do separate the cubs to keep them safe from predators when they are very young.

It was too dark to take any photos of the cubs but it was a joy to watch them run and play around the garden.

As well dabbling in family history I've been reading.  I took these two books back to the library this morning.  Both read and enjoyed.  I did wonder about the new Elly Griffiths and if I would be able to read it as it has a time travel theme and I don't usually read anything that is time travel, fantasy or science fiction but I stuck with it and did enjoy it in the end as the writing is so good.

After leaving the library we popped into the Emma Bridgewater factory shop for coffee, the garden at the side of the factory was looking lovely.

There were some beautiful roses and the ones below caught my eye.

So pretty.

Well I think that is more or less a Friday five.  I'll be back in June.

A Garden Visit

 On Friday we met up with friends at Wollerton Old Hall Garden which is near Market Drayton in Shropshire.  It's about a forty minute journey from home.  We'd visited a couple of times before but not recently.  

It was a birthday celebration for one of our friends so as we arrived close to noon it was time for refreshment before the small tea room got too crowded.  Lunch was lovely.  We had Hummus and pitta bread with a couple of different salads. Friends had Gardener's platter.  All very fresh and well presented.  Sorry no photos as we were too busy chatting and catching up on news.

After lunch we had a wander around the gardens. 

 'When Lesley Jenkins moved back to her former childhood home of Wollerton Old Hall in 1983 with her husband John, she quickly discovered that the great age of the site demanded formality in the gardens design. She created three north-south and three east-west vistas. The resulting linearity of these vistas together with the hedges, walls and paths resulted in a collection of separate gardens, with each one having its own style and ethos.'

I've copied the above from the website (link at the top) to explain the history and layout of the garden.  It was very sunny so I didn't take too many photos as the light was too bright in places.  Just few photos below of those I did manage to take with my little camera.

The scents and sounds were wonderful - especially the Wisteria.  In the wilder area at the bottom of the garden there were butterflies and damselflies flitting around under the trees amongst the cow parsley.

There were plenty of seating areas in quiet places.

After that it was time for tea and cake before heading home.

Monday in the Garden

I went out into the garden about 8pm. yesterday evening.  It was delightful.  Quiet and peaceful, the light was wonderful, making the garden look quite different from earlier in the day.  We had taken a walk, first thing across the local nature reserve and the May or Hawthorn  blossom was certainly out although there was a really cold wind and I was glad I'd added an extra layer under my jacket.

Later that morning I went out and took photos of the plants and flowers that have made an appearance over the last few days.

The Tamarisk tree is moving towards its fluffy pink phase.  The Peony in the back garden has two flowers open already. 

 The one in the front garden is still in bud.  Geums, Aquilegia, Bistort and Astilbe are doing well.  Also the Clematis Montana and Mountain Cornflowers.  Sweet peas are beginning to climb and twist around their supports and Rhubarb, Gooseberries and Strawberries are also doing well.

The Rhubarb is ready to eat and we've already had stewed Rhubarb with a Rhubarb Yoghurt and a Rhubarb crumble with custard.  The Strawberries will be next and then the Gooseberries.

Sweet peas and strawberries

Gooseberries

The shrub above (not sure what it is) was buzzing with bees, we counted at least a dozen on there.

No rain forecast for the next few days so some watering will have to be done.  The water butts will need replenishing soon as we've used some of the water to top up the pond. 

Bluebells in May

Our nearest local woods are noted for their bluebells and this last week has been a good time to see them.

Hem Heath Woods are maintained by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and I think in a previous post about them I mentioned the many trees lost to the Ash Dieback disease. 

 Lots of Ash trees have been felled, the tree canopy is more open and the paths seem wider but the bluebells soldier on regardless.

Trying to spot birds amongst the trees.

I could hear Robins, Wrens and Blackbirds but missed the Song Thrush, Nuthatch and Chiff Chaff that Merlin told me I should have heard. 

It was a lovely bright sunny day, and this seemed to add to the vividness of the green and the deepness of the blue.  I'm afraid my old camera didn't do justice to the intensity of colour and the heat and scent in the woods.

We seemed to have the wood mostly to ourselves, just two or three dog walkers from the nearby houses.

We spotted many other wildflowers along the way.

All for now.  Have a lovely weekend.