Birds.... I cannot believe I have added black guillemots to my garden birds list!! Or maybe I should say, birds seen from the house list! Yes, four black guillemots flying towards the Lough on Tuesday, means I now have 40 birds on the list. Who would have thought I would end up living in such a brilliant place?? Even as I type this, the only sounds I can hear are the birds in my back garden. I must post some photos one day, so you can see where I am.
black guillemots
Buns..... Well, have I already mentioned that April is the busiest month I have for relatives and friends birthdays? Even the two girls next door have April birthdays, so I've been baking buns again!
fairy cakes
Butterflies... The temperature went up a couple of degrees today and the wind has dropped which means butterflies on the wing. I saw a few blues, possibly holly blues, and some orange tips.
This is St. Patrick's Church at Saul, just outside Downpatrick in County Down. The site is said to be the oldest associated with Christianity in Ireland, for here St. Patrick consecrated his 'barn' soon after his landing in 432 AD. St. Patricks, is a Church of Ireland (Anglican) church. They seem to have some of the prettiest churches on the Island, including this one, which is a favourite of mine. The deep blue is Strangford Lough in the distance.
I was in the garden today, sowing seeds, mostly vegetables and a few flowers. I'm not much of a gardener but every now and then I take the urge to grow something. This year I wanted to grow some potatoes and a marrow, so fingers crossed they turn out ok.. One year I grew some orange dahlias, which I thought were beautiful, then the next year I tired to grow some more, and they were a complete disaster. So I never know what to expect, when I plant something..
While I was working in the garden, I noticed a bird flying over the fields and as it got closer I could see it was a swallow. That's the first swallow I have seen this year. It also means I have now seen 39 types of birds from this house!
This is the Legannany Dolmen which has given Legananny townland its name. Liagan Aine means pillar stone of Anya. She was the mythological mother goddess loved by the warrior Finn McCool.
The Dolmen sits on the south-west slope of Slieve Croob, in County Down, Northern Ireland. In the distance are the Mourne Mountains, an area I know well. Many a day when I lived in England, I would long to be back here... in and around the Mournes, my favourite place in the whole wide world!
Don't you just love this time of year. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the central heating is turned off and life feels good again. I'm so happy to be living where I live. From the windows of this house, I have seen thirty-eight different types of bird. That's a pretty good bird count and a lot more than I ever dared to expect.
One morning, I counted five Song Thrushes in the garden at the same time! Another day, two Redwings were on the front path, and a flock of Fieldfares were in the fields beside the house. Back in December I spotted three Redpolls in the back garden and they have been coming to the feeders ever since. The list goes on and on........
redpoll - a regular at the birdfeeder here.
this house sparrow has chosen the roof verge to make a home.
a blue tit at the peanut feeder.
The birds I've seen from my window (so far).
blackbird blue tit buzzard brent geese bullfinch chaffinch coal tit collared dove curlew dunnock fieldfare goldcrest goldfinch great tit greenfich grey wagtail heron hooded crow house sparrow jackdaw long tailed tit magpie mallard meadow pipit mistle thrush mute swan oystercatcher pied wagtail redpoll redshank redwing robin rook song thrush starling stonechat woodpigeon wren
We did have a few spring like days here last week, but no sooner had the clocks changed to British Summer Time when winter returned with a vengence.. Tuesday was a day of heavy persistant rain and high winds. There was also a very high tide and the fields next to the house flooded. That has happened before but the ditches next to us were full to the brim and I hadn't seen that before. Add to that high winds, the house lights flickering on an off most of the evening and my internet connection going down and it was a pretty awful night. Next morning we had a brief fall of snow and then thankfully everything went back to normal. Except in other counties which were hit harder than us leaving some people with no electric for a few days. I felt sorry for those elderly people who couldn't heat their homes or cook hot meals in such arctic conditions.
On a plus note the flooded fields brought a couple of redshanks a grey wagtail and a meadow pipit right outside the house. They must have thought it was just another part of the Lough, which is what it looked like! So maybe every cloud does have a silver lining.........
