news from the garden

Well the arrival of spring might mean that Toby is happier naked but it seems he's not the only one feeling a bit frisky!

It's been a while since I mentioned little Herbert/Sherbert Hogwart here and so I've been stalking around the garden at night with my camera. Please forgive the quality of the pics - I'm clearly no wildlife photographer, but I did manage to capture some clear evidence that Herbert/Sherbert has a girl/boyfriend!

They've been trundling round the garden together for the last few nights. Is it just a childish infatuation (afterall Herbert is not yet a year old) or could we be hearing the patter of tiny feet come autumn? I will keep you posted!

Our garden (although it is only a medium sized suburban one) is quite a haven for wildlife this year. We're regularly visited by grey squirrels and all manner of birds. We have blackbirds, robins and sparrows nesting and this year we even have a great-tit family in our nestbox. They hatched last sunday and now the parents are frenetically trying to stuff as many grubs and caterpillars into those little gaping beaks!

I love the arrival of spring and that nature is out there, doing it's thing. Hope you enjoy your patch this weekend!

Comments

[Mistral]

I found your blog and I'm very happy to meet you :)
It's a lovely place, a kindly place where I spend my time reading you, descovering you and your beautiful family.
I love too much your bunnies, and cause I live with two of real similars I know how they're shining the life of whole my family, with their presence.
I'll wait you on my blog, see you soon
and sorry for my awful english.
A kiss

[Carol VR]

Hoping the weather warms up considerable in CANADA, so I can work on my little patch of nature.

[KarenV]

I've been reading your blog for ages but have left very few (if any) comments but I just had to comment on your wildlife post as it struck a chord. We live in the centre of the city and have quite a small garden, but have managed to attract a pair of blue tits to our nesting box this year. We are also regularly visited by a robin, a wren and any number of blackbirds. Oh, and pigeons...;) Thanks for sharing your photos :)

[kirsten]

well, hooray for herbert! hedgehogs are definitely a 'visually-cool' animal. too cute.

glad toby's having fun outside - my son is frequently seen wearing his sisters rain boots (on the wrong feet) or mismatched shoes (also on the wrong feet) because he's just so excited to get outside... finally!

[susetheslowknitta]

love the garden photos, I often see hedgies, but never 2 cuddled up together!

[mylizziejane]

I was so happy to hear that your little hedgehog is still around. Even though I live in the USA our garden is brimming with all kinds of wildlife also, some that we have never seen before. It makes for great photo taking. Have a lovely weekend.

[Hedgehog]

No sightings here yet - hares everywhere, but the hedgehogs haven't ventured out yet. Will keep my eyes open, though!

[Annie]

I'm loving my patch this weekend as the rain is softly steadily falling

[Danielle]

Right now my patch is being mowed by my hubby! I love the smell of fresh mowed grass :) The sight of all things green and blooming, and animals peeking out certainly makes me happy after the long long long winter!

[Stacey]

Herbert...you go, boy! I'm so glad he has someone special-- the little cutie! Thank for keeping us up to date on his love life!

[Molly's Knitted Teddy Bears]

I just love watching squirrels and birds during this time of year as well. Thanks for the hedgehog update--please let us know if you have any sightings.

Have a great day.

[Trish - Brisbane Oz]

Oh what a wonderful story. I have shown my kiddies all about Herbert/Sherbert and we were all excited. We don't have such cute critters here in Australia. Thank you for sharing.
Trish x

[Angel Jem]

Oh the farm yard is busy,
in a regular tizzy
and there's one very good reason
it's because of the season!

(seven brides for seven brothers. I love that film. How un-pc is that?)
Loving the spring feeling here!

[Anki]

As I'm new in the bloggers universe I like to just randomly check out blogs around the world. I must say yours is one of the nicest I have seen. Such pretty toys you're making. I will most certainly come back for more visits.

Greetings from Sweden,
Anki.

[frazzy dazzles]

The Little Bush Princess was very excited to hear the next installment of Herbert/Sherbert's life. The picture was just an extra bonus for her! Thanks - Jen

[Jocelyn House]

What a delight it must be to have a garden visited by such wonderful creatures as hedgehogs, and squirrels. Living here in Australia, they are at once familiar (we've all grown up with the tales of Beatrix Potter and such) but at the same time exotic. Until we moved to Victoria last September our visitors were umpteen eastern grey kangaroos (they used to come and sleep outside the children's bedroom), both brushtail and ringtail possums (the brushtails used to steal the cat's dinner on a regular basis), the most gorgeous swamp wallabies, and the occasional sugar glider.

I'm trying to forget other less desirable visitors such as the eight foot long red bellied black snake, that made us have to delay a pediatritian's appointment when it decided to sleep underneath our car, the brown snake on the verandah, or the baby tiger snake I fished out of the pool. Though over a period of ten years these were isolated incidents. What wasn't so isolated were funnelwebs on the outside of the window frames (their webs never survived the broom for very long) or the nasty biting ant that decided to excavate under the slab and kept coming up into the house through cracks.

We may not have the same wildlife visitors now, but to compensate we have a much milder climate, green rolling hills (not that common in often sun-parched Australia), rain (also not that common in many drought afflicted areas of Australia), lovely rich and deep volcanic soil, fruit trees galore, and lots of beautiful black and white cows as neighbours. The cats are in seventh heaven and don't miss the possums at all. In fact, over the past few nights they've had a lovely time chasing bogon moths all over the place.

Jocelyn
Wonderful West Gippsland

[Maddy]

Well Ms Attenborough you have really got a garden full of life, I can just see you in your kaki pants and long lens camera stalking the garden late at night. Ha ha ha!. I'm so jealous of those little hedgehogs, they are sooo cute. As for the great-tit family, what can I say, just fantastic.

[Darla]

Love, love, love the newest additions!