Small Pleasures

A beautiful sunrise on a frosty morning this week.

Long tailed tits in the garden. I’ve seen them in the woods behind the house but this is the first time they have visited the garden. They’re tiny birds but full of character. They travel in family groups and constantly chirp and tweet to each other. A pleasure and privilege to see and hear in the garden.

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The RSPB site describes long tailed tits as little balls on sticks, but I have never seen a bird look more like a feathered ball than this goldcrest. He was scurrying up and down some conifers behind the house. Goldcrests compete with firecrests for the title of Britain’s smallest bird, neither of them weighs more than the equivalent of five paper clips.

This little fellow had fluffed his feathers out until he looked like a puffer fish but he wasn’t sick, just cold. It’s difficult to keep warm when you’re so small. It had been a freezing night and there were still patches of ice in the woods were the sun couldn’t penetrate. I know he wasn’t sick because he was so active, he bounced about the tree like a hyperactive ping-pong ball. I took 23 shots and he was only vaguely in focus in three of them, in the others he was either a blur or a handful of tail feathers disappearing into the greenery.

I have lots of photos of birds bottoms, they are the most uncooperative subjects. Another tiny bird I regularly see, who refuses to stay still is the wren. He is constantly on the move, searching for insects, and ignores all my pleas to pose for the camera.

But bird bottoms are better than no bottoms. What a pleasure to know these three tiny species, who are so vulnerable to prolonged cold weather, all survived the harsh December. Temperatures are still regularly sinking below zero at night, but there’s a lift in the air during the day heralding Spring. The birds have started to sing their hearts out, competing for territory, the evenings are lighter and the catkins are out. Spring is coming.

And I have used the last of 2010’s vegetables. This pumpkin has been sitting in the dining room since October while I wondered what to do with it, never having grown pumpkins before. I ran out of veg this week and decided to try pumpkin soup. YUM. So simple, so low in calories and so good. I softened some onions in fry lite (I’m on a diet so olive oil is not allowed but would be better) bunged in some chicken stock (from a bottle), hot water and the pumpkin in large chunks, a hefty pinch of nutmeg and masses of fresh ground pepper. Cooked until the pumpkin was soft (~30 mins) and then whizzed the whole thing with a hand zapper. It had a luxurious, smooth, creamy texture without the calories of added cream. A perfectly pleasurable Winter soup. If I had another pumpkin I think it would use a mix of cumin and chilli powder rather than nutmeg. I will definitely be growing more pumpkins this year to experiment with the other spices.

July to August

This poor robin sums up July, as usual it started to rain at the end of June and just forgot to stop.

At least he has fat cakes to keep his energy up.

There are three robin fledglings in the garden, all very independent and quite strident in their demands that everybody clear out off their patch.

Baby birds have been everywhere. Some fledglings are so cute they look like they should be Bambi’s best friend.

This chaffinch obviously agreed as he fed his fledgling assiduously all day.

Much to the sparrow fledgling’s disgust.

Other bird families are less well mannered. They arrive in a rowdy group and the kids trample their parents underfoot to get at the food.

I call this pair Asbo and Yob:

Then there was the blackbird fledgling who sat on top of the food and waited for his father to drop the kibbled peanuts directly into his mouth.

My favourite was this little goldfinch who did the “feed me” wing wiggle so hopefully at every passing sparrow.

Meanwhile the parent bird was stuffing its beak at the feeders muttering, “you’re on your own mate!”

What else?

The bees have been luxuriating in the hawkweed pollen. I’m glad I left it to flower even if it is a weed.

The honeysuckle recovered from its severe pruning last year and attracted a lot of attention from the hoverflies.

I saw a red admiral on the hebe, so brilliant with its wings open,

and so well camouflaged when it sat on this dead flower with its wings closed.

Loadsa tatties,

courgettes and broadbeans.

and Midgefarm an unkempt jungle.

The Mum from Mum

Mum and Dad visited at the weekend. Mum brought this beautiful Mum:

and a box of teasels. I'm going to plant these on the wildflower bank at the top of the garden. "Wildflower/Wildlife area" is the posh way I now refer to any untidy/unkempt parts of the garden.

Dad brought:

If I wasn't such a grateful daughter, I might suggest there was a small glut gloat going on. The artichokes were yum with roast duck and I have enough left to make soup today.

fried green tomatoes

It's September 3rd and I have two plants covered in green marmande tomatoes. Its unlikely they will have a chance to ripen outside now.
Lots of recipes for fried green tomatoes on the web so thought I would give them a go. I cut each tomato into three thick slices, dipped them in egg and coated with flour, seasoned with smoked paprika, cayenne and tumeric, then shallow fried coated slices in veg oil. Verdict: OK, nice texture, but a bit flavourless. Won't repeat, may just lay out all green toms in a dark cupboard and see if I can have a supply slowly ripening through the Winter.

Blight?

Lost a whole truss today, over twenty tomatoes. Very fed up.

The loch was pretty though, with the cloud lifting from the hills for a while.

"mists and mellow fruitfulness"?

Hah, more like "rain and mildewed fustiness", but there are brambles ripening on the top tier. Crumble tonight, yum.

Six solid weeks of rain have even beaten the sea holly into submission. So what is suited to this garden apart from weeds and rhodies?

Well, the Japanese anaemones seem to be thriving at the moment. I'm really taken with this little glade. It was full of woody overgrown heathers when I arrived. (In fact you can see them in the blog heading photo.) Now there are delicate anaemones and some self-seeded nasturtiums in the foreground, pansies peeking through ferns at the back, and calendulas and poppies like patches of dappled sunlight to the side .

And a small glut gloat:

Confused Azalea.

This azalea was covered in crimson flowers in Spring, now here it is again putting out one or two flowers. Is it confused because we've had such a cold wet summer, it thinks it's been through an Argyll winter? Is this normal behaviour for azaleas? I'm worried it won't flower in the Spring if it has a half-hearted try now.

Lots of lovely sungold cherry tomatoes coming on now.

A dry day at last. I heard this grasshopper singing. When I looked, I saw he was seranading his missus. Saw five peacock butterflies fluttering around the garden but they wouldn't settle anywhere. A female sparrowhawk did a low pass by the bird table, giving the spugs conuptions, too quick for a pic unfortunately.