Warm.

Another lovely warm day if hazy with the warm wind that feels so cosy.

No reason not to go to the zoo this week. I took my work sunhat instead of my big yellow jacket and had Factor 50 sunscreen on my neck and shoulders. (Finally have some sense in my advanced years.)

Everything (plant wise) is flourishing including the weeds and if I didn't have so much to do at home I'd be very tempted to put in some extra hours to clear the worst of the weeds. My first stop today was the new flower bed. It would have been easier to weed if I hadn't sprinkled annual seeds around the hardy perennials. I had to carefully weed out one seedling at a time avoiding the sweet alyssum which is popping up everywhere. Either the candytuft hasn't germinated yet or I've weeded it all out, we'll see.

The flower bed done I worked my way along the main paths generally tidying up the place.

The willow tree is covered with seed pods that have exploded into puffs that look just like white fur. They're not so pretty when they end up on the ground where they look more like mini dead white mice. Those went into my weed bucket along with any weeds growing in the narrow pebbled strip on the right-hand side of the path. Violas had been planted in that strip last year and though I'd cleared away the plants that didn't make it though the winter a couple survived and are flowering again. I was pleased to see that there were a lot of self-seeded (UK term for volunteer) seedlings and I was able to replant those along the length of the strip. Even if only half survive they will make a good show.

From there I worked my way round the pens removing the weeds, feeding grass and dandelion leaves to the ducks and saying hello to the ferret who came up to the fence to sniff my hand. That area at least looks a lot tidier now. 

Before driving home I walked down to the River Leri which is looking fresh and spring-like.

At home I sat out for a while watching the surfers catching the waves. Caught a glimpse of our new neighbours but there's no sign of a removal lorry. Update - we saw them on the cliff so went out and had a nice chat, they completed today and plan to live in the house eventually.