Today is the first day of Spring. Hooray. It's a lovely sunny spring day just as it ought to be. With the clocks going forward next weekend it'll be goodbye winter blues. Well hopefully.
The lawn has had its first cut of the season today. The edges have been neatly trimmed. With all the spring flowers in the garden it 's looking quite pretty. More and more are emerging. I've spotted little blue cillia and mauve drumstick primulas today.
We don't seem to have had any frogs in the pond this spring. The last two springs they've arrived early, spawned then the eggs had been decimated by a severe late frost. The two grass snakes roaming the garden during the summer may also be responsible for scaring them away. They swallow them head first. It's quite bizare to see a snake with its mouth stretched around the body of a poor frog and its webbed feet sticking out.
Daisy our tortoise has finally emerged from her winter hibernation. We're not sure how long she's been awake. I haven't heard her scratching about her box trying to get out but she was wide awake when we lifted her out this afternoon.
After her annual luke warm bath, her shell is given a coat of oil to set her up for a summer of rooting around the garden and squashing the newly emerging plants. She had a turn in the garden and soaked up some of the afternoon sunshine. We always weigh and measure her before she hibernated and when she comes out. This spring she weighs 5 kgs about the same as when she went to sleep so she hasn't lost any weight over winter. Her shell from neck to tail measures 40 cms and her girth is 57.5 cms. She's getting to be a big girl and she plays havoc in my garden.
After her annual luke warm bath, her shell is given a coat of oil to set her up for a summer of rooting around the garden and squashing the newly emerging plants. She had a turn in the garden and soaked up some of the afternoon sunshine. We always weigh and measure her before she hibernated and when she comes out. This spring she weighs 5 kgs about the same as when she went to sleep so she hasn't lost any weight over winter. Her shell from neck to tail measures 40 cms and her girth is 57.5 cms. She's getting to be a big girl and she plays havoc in my garden.
Many tortoise are anorexia for a while when they come out of winter hibernation. I tried tempting her with her favorite food of grapes and some little gem lettuce leaves but she wasn't interested yet. Here she is all spruced up and ignoring the treats in front of her.
We had some visitors this afternoon. Little Caity my great grand daughter with her Dad, Michael and her Nan and Grandad. Caity is two and a half and is fascinated by Daisy and the fish in the pond. Shes very chatty and speaks in clear sentences. Her favorite word at the moment is 'Why'
Poor Dave's taking a rest in the sunshine. He's exhausted after doing a spot of appliance moving this morning and lawn cutting this afternoon!
1 comment:
That Daisy is still as ferocious as I remember her...and once she gets her appetite back, I'm sure she'll be just as fast, chasing unsuspecting visitors around the house and garden.
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