More From My May Garden

My garden, like many others I suspect, is a busy place at the moment with plants bursting into growth and birds nurturing their young. I am replenishing the feeders and the bird tables daily and the bird bath shows regular evidence of some very grubby activity! The main culprits seem to be,

Starlings


and their youngsters!





They are also eating voraciously, they storm into the garden in gangs announcing their presence with loud squawks and squabbling fiercely, with the juveniles loudly clamouring for attention from their attentive parents,

'I'd teach a starling how to speak and sing,
Till every word and note with truth should ring,
With all the skill my lips and tongue impart,
With all the warmth and passion of my heart.'

(Wilhelm Muller)

Of course the Starlings are not the only ones feeding their young at the moment, it is obvious from the frenzied activity, and sometimes unkempt appearance of so many adult birds, that they are busily engaged in bringing up their families.

The Coal-tit

Go, bird of no pretensions,
Fly aloft, treble-voiced tit,
Dear the one at one with me,
From the south to my sweetheart.

(Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hem , trans Joseph P. Clancy)

'So, Chaffinch, sing;
A happy piping pipe, the world to please;

For this is Spring.'

(Thomas Ashe)

Great Tit

You of the jet-black head with parting grey,
Grey feathered check, and unassuming coat.
Again I hear your quick continuous note
Of friendly invitation. Peck away!

(Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley)

'Blue tit, who could measure the power of your tiny spark of energy?'

(Norman McCaig)

These Cornflowers came originally from my mother's garden and spread readily around the flower beds.

'I dearly love this garland blue,
It ever speaks of thee;
And tells me, none could be so true
As thou art, love to me.'

(William Warner Caldwell)

This Greenfinch wasn't looking quite as grumpy as they usually do! Wordsworth called this bird the Green Linnet.

'Thou, Linnet! in thy green array,
Presiding spirit here today,
Dost lead the revels of the May;
And this is thy dominion.'

(William Wordsworth)

My Clematis, 'Nelly Moser' is in full flower now.

'It is at the edge of a petal that love waits.'

(William Carlos Williams)

I have been pleased to see the Robin more in evidence lately as I had wondered if it had been scared away by a cat or worse!

'A merry song, a cheery song!
In the boughs above, on the sward below,
Chirping and singing the live day long.'

(George Meredith)

'Little Robin Redbreast
Sat upon a rail,
Niddle, naddle went his head;
Wig, wag went his tail.'

(Mother Goose)

This Oriental Poppy is a real splash of cheerful colour in the flower bed at the moment.

'The strange bright dancers are in the garden
The wind of summer is a soft music
Scarlet and orange, flaming and golden
The strange bright dancers move to music.'

(P.A. Ropes)

Look who's up to mischief again! I slightly rearranged the feeders on the metal pole so the Wood pigeons can't reach, but not to be thwarted this one has turned his attention to a different feeder!


The Ceanothus is looking lovely at the moment, I do think all the rain last Summer has benefited the garden this year.

This Paeony which was originally from my mother and father in-law's garden has burst into flower this week after seeming to be in bud for some time.

'If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom'

(Audra Foveo)