Even more Narcissus

While I was searching all over the garden for Dierdre( who by the way I found and is a lot better and has even started to reassert herself as second in command ), I came across two more Daff's both very different to the norm.

This one is tiny but at the standard sort of height, it is about 25%  of the size of a normal Narcissus but very pretty.

These all come off the same stem, mostly they come with three flower heads but some have four or even five.

The flower heads are only slightly smaller than normal but have very vibrant colours.

Another of the mini Narcissus showing the subtle yellows and oranges in its centre with  a pure white outer.
   
I am told that the temperatures will get well into the twenties this weekend so hopefully I will get some nice images to share with you.

What a Day

Well I 've spent all day with the local tourism lot, both the tourist info girls and other hostelry owners. We started at 8.30 with a welcome followed by two hours of swapping brochures etc. with local tourist attractions. We then had to sit through a long presentation because Centre Parcs are opening just up the road in 2015 so will start work next year; unfortunately the French being THE FRENCH, they are unable to see the benefits of them coming to town. After lunch we where shipped off to a couple of local small attractions that should have lasted two hours but took over three; then we were supposed to go to our local Maison de Pays but it was six o'clock by then so I slunk out and came home to feed the menagerie.
It was getting a little dark so toady I have just taken a few photos of the chickens who you will probably get to know very well through the future pages of this blog, so today I will introduce them to you individually.

This is Blanche. She is The Boss, top of the pecking order and will sort out any of the others including chasing away the cats if they get too close; even the dogs are a little cautious of her.  

This is Dierdre, Blanche's sister and second in command, unfortunately she has been ill over the last few days  and I wonder if we might lose her but she seems to be recovering slowly.

This is our only remaining black chicken as the other was taken by a fox or something similar. She is called Naomi and is the only one that will not let me any where near her. She is a little lost without her sister but seems to be getting on with one of the brown ones who has befriended her - even though previously she used to peck her all the time. 

This is Gauri she is named after one of our favourite guests of last year who hopefully we will be seeing again soon;, she is a lovely little thing, full of beans and very friendly - just like her namesake.

This is the last of the bunch My-Ami named after Gauri's brother who also came to see me for a photography holiday and is now going to be working for Google taking pictures for their maps. She, like her sister, is very friendly but tends to lay her eggs all over the place so you have to hunt for them every morning.

Finally the fruits of their labours:- eggs! The very large white ones at the back are goose eggs from a friend; the two white ones at the front are our own ducks' eggs; all the small ones are from the chickens. They started practicing at the beginning of the year (the new laying season) - the dark brown ones in the middle are Naomi's, the brown one to the right is from Gauri and the light one on the left is from Blanche so you can see the colour of the egg almost matches the colour of the Chicken.  

My Mums Birthday

Today is my lovely Mother's eighty ninth birthday ( not that she looks it ) so I am dedicating this one to her:
It has been a weird day weather-wise one minute beautiful sunshine the next it's tipping it down.


Syrah says hi



Beaux says apy bifday

















Pinot says I  miss your gravy























This is a Rose for my Rose

 And finally this is the last of the Snowdrops but above all it is a thing of great beauty just like my Mother........



Blue Tits

Today I got some shots of our resident Blue Tits, I think we have at least four pairs in and around the garden.

I mix my own feed for them with seeds, fruit, nuts and occasionally include some grated cheese that they seem to really enjoy along with all the Finches, Doves and Sparrows that come to the feeder. 



One of last years babies



I have added the photo below because although he does not live in the garden he popped out to say hello the last time I went round to my friends farm to buy some barley for the Chickens, Ducks and wild birds.

Bees

Its been raining almost all day, however this has not stopped our buzzey little friends, the bumble bees have been around although not so many honey bees because sometimes as you walk around the pond the shrubs and willow tees emit a very loud buzzing that can sometimes be quite intimidating.

If you look closely you can see what look like hundreds of ticks on his/her back I am not sure what they are
perhaps pollen only when I enlarged the photo do you notice them because when they are busy going from blossom to blossom you do not really notice them.

The tree being visited is a Reine Blanche plumb tree...............

Some more shots of the blossom in the garden:

Narcissus




Narcissus Double Fashion

 

Whilst cutting the grass today I noticed that there were a lot more types of daffodils (narcissus) than I realised yesterday, some fairly plain whilst others  look like they belong in the Moulin Rouge as the CanCan dancers' skirts........



Unknown Double



These ones have such large heavy heads that the are so bent over you do not realise what attractive little girls they really are.

Unkown I call it Petticoat

Here one has a wonderful peach coloured centre with a white six petal background



Unknown I call it peachy





Narcissus Carlton



So many types in the garden, I never really saw until taking these photographs what an amazing array we  had, with every one a beauty in their own  right.  



Narcissus Little Beauty



Daffodils

Thought I should get a shot or two of the Daffodils before they all go over as most have already gone.

The Kestrels

Our resident Kestrel has recently found himself a girl; she seems to want to nest in my workshop where the holes in the stone walls are ideal for her. I have been using my new 500mm lens hand-held to see what the results are like and so far they are not bad. Unfortunately I missed the shot of her digging into a mouse for lunch but hopefully will get the chance again. The male is the one on the light while she is checking out a potential nest site !
She is only young as she has not yet gained the blue grey feathers on back of her head.