Nature Walk

We're loving the 'nature' we are finding all around the place, all be it slightly frustrated by the identification books being (that old chestnut) "in the packing" so Dad is unable to check what some of this unfamiliar stuff is. We will get there, we promise and identify stuff and let you know, assuming you haven't already shouted out the names! 1) In the '2nd' drive way we have a lovely old bank on which grow a profusion of primroses but also this nice little blue flower which we do not (yet) know the name of. They're very common and make a nice contrast to the yellow. 2) We can't wait to get the tree books out and identify the huge fir trees growing all around the property, mainly of this one type shown here with the long cones and the foliage being a glaucous blue when newly emerged. They are enormous and we reckon over 100 years old. 3) The front hedge after its trim. It was a rather run away privet hedge and we will gradually wean it off privet, favouring more wildlife friendly species. We will also try to get some of the locally common 'species' fuchsia hedging going amongst it. That's why it looks like we've 'missed bits' in the trimming. What we've done is to hammer the privet and leave the more interesting stuff (hawthorn, blackthorn, some kind of maple, honeysuckle etc.) to consolidate their advantage. 4)We love that the lichens here enjoy the unpolluted air and grow in great frizzy bunches, here coating the branches of a larch which is pushing new needles out between the frizz. Larch, you'll presumably know, is one of the few deciduous fir trees, being bare-branches all winter and growing new tufty rosettes of needles each year. 5)Out hunting for interesting pics of the lichen and cones Dad came across this finch nest. Dad thinks she's a gold finch but didn't hang around for fear of disturbing her. She's in a low hanging branch behind the milking shed. 6)A dog capable of finding the warmest spot in the cattle yard for her rest.