Now You See It, Now You Don't and Then You Do.

The morning was grey and miserable but all changed in the afternoon when it was warm and gloriously sunny.

Peter is back 'rook watching' as the rooks have begun nesting in the rookery once more. The rookery continues to spread and last week a nest appeared in one of the trees overlooking the scree garden. We kept on taking pot shots at the rooks with the airsoft gun which scares but doesn't harm and by yesterday morning the nest had gone. The tree was clear at 6.00 this morning but by 11.00 a new nest had appeared! So we're back to scaring them off once more. Later in the afternoon I did see a rook come and steal a branch from the nest.

It was such a wonderful afternoon, could it be a sign that warmer weather is on its way? This peacock butterfly seems to think so. (The butterflies 'hibernating' on the window sill did not survive the winter.) I carried on washing slabs and in between I tidied up a flower bed next to the scree garden, weeding and removing dry leaves. All around birds were singing, bees buzzing in the heather and instead of the wind I could hear the water rushing over the stones in the stream. As I gazed idly at the sky wondering when the swallows will return, I began watching a bird flying over the house. Not a swallow but one of the small bats that roost in the loft come out early to feast on midges.

Later in the afternoon I had a break sitting out in the sun with a book and a cup of tea and the inevitable cat. My cats are 13, 14 and 15 and they all enjoy sitting on my lap and find me whenever I stop and sit down. Squeaky generally waits for me to sit down at my pc but yesterday Speedy got here first. Then along came Patch who ignored Speedy and settled down in the crook of my arm. After a while I was able to slide him down so he was half sitting on Speedy but they were both too comfortable to move. 

Before I could bring myself to leave the warmth of the sun I sat by the pond watching the tadpoles. The water was crystal clear and it was like looking into an alien world, a city maybe with a great mass of tadpoles in the shallow warmest water like commuters waiting to get on a train while behind them large and small tadpoles swam through the water busy off on some business.