And they make excellent, free, liquid fertilizer: fill a bucket with shoots, chop up, add half a bucket of water, leave for 2 weeks and then use diluted 1/10. Smelly so hide bucket somewhere (and peeing in it occasionally also helps IMHO)

Two weeks later

Progress with the planting

The cat was too startled to chase them as they appeare
d, and they are remarkably good at hiding in tall grass. Another reason for ‘No Mow May’? 😆

This is the worst year for swallows in the 6 years we have been in Normandy; only seen three and none looking at our old nests. However, Merlin heard Golden Oriole this morning, an early migrant from Africa, a rare but increasing nester here.

Dandelions - we have a few! Last year I watched a pair goldfinches in the garden, eating the closed, developing seed-heads, when the seeds are softer than when they open with parachutes. What a plant! Oddly, not much seems to eat its leaves.

I do hope swallows nest in our tall, open garage this year, they have not done so in the last two years. At least they have some warm, dry weather to finish their migration this year.

We saw our first barn swallow yesterday, and the Merlin app heard them at the equinox, here in southern Normandy FR. This morning Merlin heard 20 spp including yellowhammer, linnet, chichaff, greenfinch, mistle thrush and hawfinch. Not rare but not common (here).

I hadn’t thought about ants. I thought the bees might be looking near the ground. I will raise it. The other pot is a metre above ground. Taa

We have a pair nesting in the top of our birch tree. They are shy but are often bouncing around in the garden when we are inside looking out. They do scare the small birds, though.

After watching the Dave Goulson video I bought some air-drying modelling clay and made two nests, using plant pots rather than making timber boxes. Quick and easy. We will see if our HFFBs like them!

I have tried yellow rattle, in the UK and here in Normandy, with little/no effect. Maybe re-seeding it every year might help it get a grip but it’s not cheap.

Pond year 2: This winter I removed all plastic pots and baskets from the pond - eventually plastic gets everywhere. The marginal plant rootballs should root into the felt covering the waterproof layer.

Putting aside practicalities, timing the cut of tall grass is a problem. This yr I was going to scythe in July, hoping forbs have seeded but before coarse grasses smothers them. And leave some small patches uncut until spring, but I don’t want a scrubland developing (many tree seedlings).

Deciding when to cut grass can be tricky, probably before this, which was full of insects. It was lovely to walk the path and peer in. Patches of different heights are best IMHO

Gulf of America now appears in brackets after Gulf of Mexico on my Google maps. I deleted the Google maps app. I never use Google search, preferring DuckDuckgo. Big tech only has wealth and influence if we use it. (Apple maps is unchanged.)

and when we stop cutting our lawns frequently … nature returns

“google has already changed the name of the gulf” - not on my copy of google maps

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