the first tortoiseshell of the year

This is getting ridiculous, it is only 11 January and this bright tortoiseshell is already on the wing.

my tree

the bracket fungus eye (if they have an eye) view of the tree

frog spawn and daffodils

On our first walk of the year (in the rain, some things never change) we saw some frog spawn, a very happy robin whistling away, and our amazing daffodils. One advantage of having kept a regular blog (for 6 years now) is that it is easy to compare what we see now with previous years; without doubt this is the mildest winter we have experienced here, and the earliest frog spawn by about 3 weeks (which is a lot).

Happy New Year from Spot

And a Happy New Year

and may the sun shine on us all.

out of season

just wandering around the garden today I found these plants in flower (from the top, camelia, feverfew, geranium and cape lily), in addition to our normal winter flowering shrubs mahonia and viburnum. The camelia is at least two months earlier than usual. Any hard frost now will damage the buds. What a strange year!

only in our imagination

It's been a tumultuous year for everyone everywhere, and a sad one for us, but here's to a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you all.

Love

Spot and the OHG