Monday 28th - Happy Birthday for yesterday, Val and Renate!

We had our afternoon cup of tea in the garden today, it was so nice after the frosty start this morning with solid ice on the water buckets.  While we were sitting there enjoying the evening sunshine we watched duck TV - our ducks and just one mallard drake with TWO females in tow - and two magnificent specimens of cock pheasants having a prolonged fight.  I wished I'd had the camera with me to take a little video of it, the two were very close to our feet and I'd never heard the constant trilling sounds they were making all through the fight.

I did take quite a few photos earlier in the day to illustrate the latest happenings in White Gables, WAR has broken out again between the two factions.  It started sometime last week, as I noticed the top group of 9 hanging around the house much more than they used to.  Captain is defending his realm and his women again and I've started to fear for Circle's eyes once more - Captain has managed to capture her a few times and then the other two drakes come running up and they all hack away at each other and the poor duck underneath, I've had to break up the rumpus a few times.

So the separation of the two sleeping groups has happened again, I can only hope it doesn't go on until September!

Our top 9 have adopted the frog pond as their new headquarters and also spend a lot of time in the orchard around the big blue bowl.  Since the separation of the groups this lot now gather around the little pond and their hut when it gets near their bedtime, but last night I had to shoo them out of there and up the hill.  Fanny was hanging back and she got me worried as her feathers looked ruffled and something was trailing out of her rear end.  Oh no, I thought, I hope she's not ill ................ and then an egg popped out as she was running to keep up with the others!

We were blessed with eggs again this morning, 6 in the top hut but still only 1 in the bottom hut.  Makes me wonder if neither Anabelle nor Candida have started laying or if they're hiding them outside somewhere.

Both John and I have been very busy in the garden recently.  After servicing both mowers last week John took out the tractor mower today for a first cut in the field:

I've been spending a lot of time weeding and cutting down dead stalks, always with duck accompaniment and always the groups have been keeping separate apart from Anabelle .... and the three Welsh girls, or the three noodles as John calls them.  Their beaks go right in next to my fork, it's a wonder they haven't been skewered yet.  Funny thing happens with Taffy, quite often she takes a stab at my glove as if in retribution when my fork has touched her or not always then - surely she can't think the threads hanging from my glove are worms!  Neither of the other two 'noodles' do that.     Although all three are ignoring the fact that war has broken out they've been made to feel the consequences.  At bedtime last night just Captain and his three girls were in the big pond and Morf and Taffy came running up, as they do, to see if I'd brought anything nice.  As I hadn't, they both jumped in the water. Captain moved like lightning, chased out Taffy at a shallow spot, but Morf tried too steep a place to get out and was captured  -  no, it didn't look like normal mating but like a vicious attempt to keep her under water.  I know ducks can drown if held too long under water so I chased Captain off and Morf got out at the normal spot.   And it was Morf again who was got this evening when we were having our cups of tea, Blob and BBD came rushing down like bats out of hell and Morf got away while the boys were fighting.  So not even extra girls have made this time of the year any easier!

In the garden things are growing well and we've seen bumble bees for some weeks now.  My pictures of the same bee on a Mahonia are very fuzzy, I'll try for better ones another time:

 

The blossom of my purple-leafed plum has been showing up well for several days now:

The flowering currant near the frog pond is doing well, too,

 as are friend Petra's gifts, the day lily and Heuchera
either side of the blue polyanthus:

This one of Gerd's presents [he's grown several conifers, euonymus and bay from cuttings] is beginning to show the spiral shape I've been cutting it into,
                                                                                      

and the roses friends Micha and Pine sent me for my birthday are bursting into life in this bed,

but especially the one called "Elfe" [fairy] near the little pond: