my foxy friend

May 10, 2019April 29, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)18 Comments

Earlier in the year I posted a picture of the fox peeking through our garden fence and she’s been a fairly regular garden visitor ever since. When I first got a good look at her she seemed quite sleek and almost plump but more recently has seemed thinner, and thinking perhaps that food might be a bit scarce I’ve been offering her a meal whenever she turns up – she seems particularly fond of leerdammer cheese 🙂

She mostly visits after dark, but for the last few weeks she has been arriving earlier in the evening and sometimes in the early morning too (much to the disgust of the chickens). When she arrives in the garden I open the back door and throw a little food then stand very still and as a result she has come to tolerate me being there, only a few feet away – though always with a watchful and suspicious eye on me as she eats and tensed like a coiled spring ready to run if I make any sudden moves. I’ve no wish to tame or inhibit that wild instinct, it is a well honed survival mechanism and she needs it, but I will offer a small meal now and then to share the privilege of her company.

This morning she visited early and was content for me to take some pictures and while editing them on the computer just now I had a light-bulb moment. Can you see what was spotted in the last blurry picture there? The outline of swollen teats on her belly is a giveaway sign that she’s was fatter and then thinner because she’s just had a litter of cubs!

I’m under no illusion though about why she visits – she’s very clearly focused on the plump and juicy feathered meals strutting up and down my chicken run. But if she’s thrown a little food she graciously leaves them alone for the rest of the day and the chickens remain safe, though unsettled. They only get to forage under supervision now and the rest of the time are safely enclosed in the brilliant chicken run that H built – still predator proof after 10 years. There are definite signs though that the chickens are not happy about the interloper – I’d call this a protest wouldn’t you? …

We also have a lot of small garden birds visiting our little patch at the moment and on occasion larger ones too – I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this heron ungainly balanced on the roof opposite – I think one of my neighbours has a pond that he’s eyeing up. It is such a privilege to have wild creatures as a regular garden visitors and I’m hoping that in a month or so that the fox might bring her little ones along to frolic on the grass – I’ll try and have my camera ready if she does 🙂

Well, I have had a nature filled week and am off to fill my weekend with knitting. Hope you have something nice in store for your weekend x

countryside · in the woods · spring

A time of greening

May 7, 2019April 29, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)23 Comments

It’s amazing how quickly the countryside changes as Spring takes hold. A slight rise in temperature, a sprinkling of spring rain and suddenly there are bright green leaves everywhere. It is a time of blossoming too – Spring brings many beautiful floral colours but my favourites are the frothy white blossoms that so many plants both big and small have at this time of year; hawthorn (May blossom), horse chestnut, wild cherry, apples and pears, white nettle, cow parsley, daisies and ramsons all are looking their beautiful best right now.

I headed to Hobby horse wood near Hertford Heath in search of woodland anemones, but was too late to see them at their best – I shall have to visit earlier next year. But at the orchard nature reserve in nearby Tewin the woods were carpeted with wild garlic and the fruit trees were in full blossom and buzzing with bees and trilling with bird song – I managed to get a picture of the elusive tree-creeper, though his head is out of focus because he never seems to keep still as he spirals up trunks in search of small insects.

Spring is in full glory out there and as I’ve been wandering and enjoying the white blossoms on my walks, I’ve been hearing the words of this poem and appreciating its sentiment,

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,

Twenty will not come again,

And take from seventy springs a score,

It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom

Fifty springs are little room,

About the woodlands I will go

To see the cherry hung with snow.

A. E. Houseman, A Shropshire Lad 2

crafts & knitting

Catching up

May 2, 2019November 5, 2025 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)19 Comments

Hello and sorry to have been absent for so long.

The school break times are a little bit of a challenge in our household – as always Toby finds the change in routine very unsettling and having him around 24/7, though lovely, is demanding, so not much else gets done. For most of April Amy was back from uni too, so I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible and we went off for a couple of lovely country walks together, just like the old days 🙂

I’ve got lots of beautiful blossomy pictures from our walks, but I’ll show you those another time. Today I just wanted to pop in briefly, say hello, and post the pictures that I had planned to post a few weeks ago in order to wish you all a happy Easter. I had also planned to let you know that I’ve updated my free pattern for the Easter eggs to include an extra flower design and also to provide the pattern in a new pdf file. I know it’s now too late for this year, but if you fancy knitting some Easter eggs for next year then you can download the free pattern here.

Because I liked the new spring flower design so much I’ve also popped it on a free dress supplement. You can download a free copy here. Please note that you’ll need use it with one of my animal patterns that has a dress included or the seasonal dresses pattern, in order to have the instructions for the cast on and bodice (my entire range of patterns are here) – I like to share the free pattern supplements as a little thank you to those who are kind enough to support my work.

Well, I’m off to quietly knit a little this afternoon. I’m working on a batch of blue dressed animals (the first 3 of them are in the picture at the top of this post) which I hope to have ready to sell before the summer arrives properly. I’ll share some progress updates here as the rest of them start coming together.

Hope to pop back again more regularly now that the school break is over and I have time to call my own again, see you soon x