Nature Friday

Sunshine.

Strangely it turned into one of those days when small but important jobs get done - like fixing leaking downspouts, which lead to cleaning gutters, ..... mowing the bit of grass that dried in the sun, sweeping up leaves trying to block back yard drains....

And so it goes.

When I planted these (about a decade ago) they were purchased as 'Sword Lilies'. They look like some kind of gladioli, and don't seem to flower most years.  I suspect they are flowering later than they ought this year.

I love them and wish they were more prolific.

Cyclamen are spectacular this year and have popped up all over the place on roadside, under trees, even out in the middle of grassy parks!

Orange seems to be the colour du jour (colour of the month in fact), so I have added these iris seeds - bright in the sun

From floral to fauna - Meredith was caught raiding the fox food last night. The bar snacks in the hedgehog diner had already been polished off!

This morning I couldn't find the bowl anywhere. Fortunately a foggy early morning had dewed the grass and I could make out several sets of tracks meandering about the lawn. A few converged on a gap in the shrubbery through which I spied the missing bowl; empty except for a rather loose skat.

Perhaps Meredith left the calling card and an indignant fox dragged the bowl away.  Who knows. I do know that hedgehogs aren't fussy about where they relieve themselves and I have to scrub out their diner most mornings.

Foxes have been screeching through the night - it's the season. There was a huge gathering of blue flashing lights outside our house two nights ago - 2 police cars, 3 fire and rescue appliances (fancy word for big well equipped trucks) and loads of people with search lights scouring the stream. One of the neighbours sauntered into the melee and mentioned foxes and I noticed foxes became the topic of conversation among the first responders. It made me wonder whether someone had reported screaming coming from the green space by the stream.

Surely anyone could tell the difference between the sound of a happy fox and the scream of an anguished human - couldn't they?

Now had it been peacocks I wouldn't be so dismissive. Peacocks do 'anguished human' particularly well.