Rising ..

12 degrees celsius today on the shortest afternoon of the year. Sunset at 15:47.

After our lunchtime sandwich we watched as a buff-tailed bumblebee queen lumbered about in the winter honeysuckle carrying big leg-baskets of pollen.

On the cameras are two pairs of mallards enjoying the frog ‘beach’ we recreated. A female muntjac stepping, ever-cautious, in the Cedar Walk and in the meadow.

Again on the cameras we have evidence of at least two adult foxes. One has a black-tipped tail and a vixen without a black tip. A third, much smaller fox has also been recorded on our cameras in a feisty face-off with the vixen. The fox breeding season is imminent and we long for cubs again but foxes are ‘controlled’ locally and so we can only hope.

‘Rjenfeldt’s Early Sensation’ narcissus

Buds!

In the grass beneath the limes ‘Rjenfeldt’s Early Sensation’ narcissus leaf tips have emerged. A strong bulb. With buds too!

Today we harvest hawthorn seedlings to fill hedge gaps and remove epicormic growth from limes. The major winter tidy-up continues in the fragrant garden with all arisings going onto one of our dead hedges.

Narcissus ‘Angel’s Whisper’ emerging in the Woodland Garden..

The slender, grass-like stalks of our ‘Angel’s Whisper’ narcissus are up. Striking tiny trumpets of minimalist flowers to be enjoyed soon.

Winter aconites and snowdrops are no-doubt pushing through as well but are currently concealed by the blanket of autumn leaves that thickly cloaks the Woodland Garden and drive edge beds.

Gratification delayed.