annetanne's Journal

OK, all my 'old' observation documented with Flickr pics are added now...
What comes will be new observations from today (euh, tomorrow) onwards.

My grandmother used to say: 'Even if winter in February is so harsh, we'll be given two days of spring, at least!'

And today was one of those days...
The little bit of snow that remained melted away in no time, and there they are... all those small signs of the approaching spring:
The common snowdrop is opening it's buds, and suddenly you see the leaves that have unfolded everywhere: Salad burnet, dove's foot cranesbill, hairy bittercress....
The gentle leaves of rough chervil, in the earth under the hawthornhedge that is speckled with the remains of the sunflowerseeds I fed the birds with.

In the flowermeadow I discover the first primrose buds, and I find the first plant of St-Johnswort that came to my garden on its own.

From now on, there will be a rapid progress I guess, since everything is seriously delayed.

Today I published a post on my blog about the negative effects of the Asian lady beetle, introduced as a biological control against aphids.
My suggestion: Maybe the best way to control aphids, is to realize that a few aphids on your roses are a small price to pay to hear birds sing….

Last year, on February 17th, I wrote on my blog:
"Suddenly, it happened… The birds near my bird-feeder realized that spring is in the air!

Until saturday, there was very peaceful coexistence at the feeder. OK, birds of the same species would be fighting sometimes, but quite often we had 10 finches on the ground, and more than a handful of tits hanging on those bird cakes.

But that seems to be all over now.
Since last sunday, an atmosphere of war has come."

And today, (almost) exactly on the same date, I could write the same.
Two male blackbirds are fighting all the time, they barely take the time to eat some seeds.
The great tits seem in state of war, as are the finches, who have more interest in fight than in sunflowerseeds.

But not everyone is dueling: The Long-tailed tits are still flying together like a beautiful 'corps de ballet', and the Wood pigeons, searching for acorn under the big oak tree, are still each others best friends...