Dawn chorus.....I don't think so

As we are approaching the longest day of the year in a couple of weeks, the first faint glimmer of light appears at about 4 o'clock in the morning. How do I know? Well, I have to get out of bed at that time due to age and also because I am sure I should have been a bird. Whatever the time of year, I wake up when it starts to get light and my eyes are programmed to close when it gets dark. Having a catnap doesn't even stop this!
Anyway, I usually have a look out of the windows and then get back into bed and lie there listening to the birds as they start breaking into song. It all starts with the blackbirds and soon spreads with all the smaller birds joining in. I'm lucky that I can still distinguish the different songs of a lot of the birds despite living in the centre of a city for a quarter of a century. The real dawn chorus is beautiful to hear and eventually I drop back off to sleep.
My alarm is set for 6:45am and sometimes I wake up before this but around this time I come downstairs to make a cup of tea and go back up to listen to the news and drink my tea in bed.
That's when the second 'dawn chorus' starts and it's not pleasant at all. It's the time the commuters arrive in their cars to find a free parking space for the day and they are not fussy about how they park or who they disturb. It seems that they are all deaf because as they start to arrive my ears are assaulted with a variety of thumping, tuneless music and rap which makes the cars 'bounce' off the road. Then it takes them (usually the male of the species) at least twenty manoeuvres to get the smallest of cars (with the loudest exhausts) into a space big enough to park a double decker bus or chieftan tank ....or both!
These cars all have about six doors and although they are occupied by a single 'driver' , this person then proceeds to open every door one by one then closes them with a loud 'slam'.
That's not the end of it though because they check and double check that they have 'beeped' it and off they go, only to return thirty seconds later to go through the whole process of opening, slamming and beeping again before finally disappearing.
Give me birds rather than men any day!!!!!!!

And the winner is.............The magpie!

For a few weeks now the magpies have been showing their youngsters around the area and showing them where to get food and water and also where the dangers are and what they look like.
Although I have been woken up ridiculously early almost every morning while the flying lessons and aerobatics are taught, I don't really mind because I find something amusing and comforting about their 'clacking' call.
The magpies usually gets a bad press because they steal eggs and chicks from nests (and nestboxes - sorry, Emma) but you have to hand it to them as they are amongst the most fiesty and dedicated parents of the wild bird population in Britain.
Around here, the neighbourhood cats have all been marked out by these parents and if one is spotted, the alarm call goes up and both parents rush to try to get the cat as far away as possible from the youngster. They will use every ruse imaginable to distract the cats, acting as if their wing is broken, taunting and mocking, dive bombing, you name and they'll do it. I watched a pair this morning chase a cat up the road for over a hundred yards until the cat disappeared under a car. They only left it alone when another moggy crossed the road outside of my house which brought them back down the road in hot pursuit of their quarry.
While all this is going on, the parents are egged noisily on by the youngster who is sitting well out of harm's way on the roof!
I'm hoping that they will continue to come into the garden from time to time because I would really like to get a picture of one but they seem to be a bit shy when they see me.

Lazy day!

Today is supposed to be the last very hot day of this spell so I spent a lazy day sitting outside in the shade watching the birds, the bees and flowers. I can't cope with excessive heat so I decided to relax and read the paper and just 'chill out'. However, every time I came inside to get a drink or the paper, something happened outside so I got my camera and kept it nearby. I'm glad I did!

Now you see it (and just look at the size of his 'saddle bags'!)

Now you don't!

Meet Whizzy the woodmouse........two inches long and moves at the speed of light!

Lucky to catch him again!

Who's that stealing the bird's nuts? Stop Thief! You've got your own.

I just love my garden and who cares if I do talk to the wildlife that shares it, I feel honoured that they like it too and they don't mind me being a little eccentric as long as I keep the food coming.

More garden pictures!

It's a lovely afternoon and I was sitting outside in the shade listening to the radio. However, I have had to come in because Squidge was hanging over the top of the fence looking for his tea, the birds were lined up along the fence for theirs too and the magpie was sitting on the roof gaping so I knew he wanted a good drink. Isn't it wonderful how these wild animals and birds know exactly where to come for good food, drink and the occasional bath!
They also know that I will come in and leave them to it if they look at me long enough!

Ena Harkness with Geranium Himalayense 'Gravetye' just coming into bloom.

And Mrs Sparrow said 'Who's that pointing a camera at me?'

Up the garden path (in the morning sun)

Self sown Campanula Portenschlagiana (I just call it campanula)

The old sink with Rose Danse du Feu leaning over a lemon marguerite and apricot arctotis (the lobelia in front is a trailing one which is a royal blue colour and just beginning to flower.

These were all taken yesterday morning but everything looks totally different in the afternoon sun and in the evening when it is in complete shade it has another look again.

A day in my garden

It was such a beautiful morning that I took a few pictures of the garden just so that you could have a peep. No-one can see it as it is completely enclosed. It's my little bit of heaven.

Osteospermum

Waiting for the dianthus to flower

Two for the price of one..........

Two colours on one plant

Time for a snack!

Hopefully I will be able to show you some more tomorrow.

The start of a feast!

For the last couple of weeks I have been able to buy strawberries grown at Cheddar at the farmer's market. They are supposed to be the best in the country and I think they are. The colour, smell and taste let me know that summer is really on it's way.
Today at the farmer's market the stalls had some of the new season's salads and vegetables for sale so I came back with my shopping trolley filled to the top! As all these crops were growing within a thirty mile radius of the city only yesterday (they still had yesterday's rain on them), they are the freshest that can be bought.
A couple of weeks ago I bought some asparagus for Eden and myself because we both love it. The season is so short and I knew there would be about three weeks when she wouldn't be over so I didn't want her to miss out. Today I got a lot of salad vegetables including lettuce, spring onions, beetroot and local greenhouse tomatoes. I also bought new potatoes, small sweet carrots and spring cabbage.
This is just the start because in a week or so the broad beans and peas will be ready followed later on by courgettes, runner beans and everything else you can think of. I just love the summer when I can buy such a fantastic selection of salads and vegetables all grown on the doorstep and much fresher than the supermarket.
Everything has now been washed and prepared and is stored in the fridge ready to be used. If you need a tip to ensure your lettuce stays crisp and fresh just wash it as soon as you get it home then dry in a salad spinner. Take it out and lay on a couple of layers of kitchen towel then blot off as much water as you can without bruising the leaves. Store in a large plastic container that has a fitted lid and place inside the salad drawer in the bottom of the fridge.

Football free area!

It's easy to tell that the Football World Cup is imminent because already the fans are driving around with flags of St George stuck up on both sides of their cars. There are also large flags draped from several windows around here too.
None of these pathetic people ever fly the flag of St George on St George's day, although he was the patron saint of England and I doubt that many of them would know when this is anyway, so for that reason, I refuse to take part in this ridiculous display of false patriotism. Not only that, I do not like football or footballers and I will certainly NOT be watching any of the World Cup on television.
I can remember watching England win the World Cup in 1966 but then it was a totally different game. The players were real gentlemen and they earned a pittance compared to today's players. In those days football was a proper sport, not only for the players but the fans were sporting too. There was certainly no thuggery at matches and they were enjoyed by whole families, but alas, not any more.
Most of today's footballers are grossly overpaid and I don't think they are as skilled as those that played when we did win the World Cup. Nowadays, if they get a tap on the ankle they fall to the floor in agony, grasping the affected leg but if another member of their team score a goal, they soon forget about the pain and are leaping about with all the rest.
As for the WAGS, don't get me started on them!