Category: spring

countryside · general stuff · spring

A spring walk

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)82 Comments

It’s been a perfect Spring day here today and as I spent most of last week inside it has been lovely to get out and let the cool March breezes blow away my cobwebs. I started my walk in the small and very pretty village of Westmill in East Hertfordshire. Ambling up the single main street, I passed the medieval church of St Mary the Virgin, its rough flint and stonework contrasting with the softly blushed blossoms of a beautiful old magnolia tree. There are some very pretty cottages in Westmill and all of the gardens were full of daffodils, primroses, chionodoxa and muscari, the best of the early spring flowers.

But the main reason I headed for Westmill is because I know that it’s a good place to spot spring lambs and I wasn’t disappointed. There were lots of them gamboling about in the spring sunshine and I was laughing out loud at their antics. They seemed to form into little gangs, frisking up and down the field and leaping and bucking with excitement and exuberant energy. A small straw bale seemed to be of particular interest to them and was the stage for lots of ‘king of the castle’ competitions.

I’ve come home to knit up some lambs of my own and I’ll pop back soon and show you what else I’ve been knitting here. ‘Til then I hope the change of seasons is bring you pleasure – if you have time please leave me a comment and share what you’re enjoying in your little patch of the world at the moment.

crafts & knitting · garden stuff · general stuff · spring · wildlife

Late May

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)18 Comments


The days seem to be whizzing by at the moment and all of our schedules are up in the air here. Toby had his annual school play last week, which always throws our comfortable routines out of whack as he’s off timetable and his school is open in the evening rather than the daytime for a couple of days. And this week is school half term break, so our days are continuing to have a slightly chaotic feel. Amy is deep in revision for her A levels and is on study leave. In 3 weeks time she’ll have sat all of her exams and then she’s done with her school years – it’s almost incomprehensible how quickly those 14 years have passed, I still clearly remember her first day of school and it’s got me feeling more nostalgic than usual.

Time has passed quickly for our robin family too. The chicks spent 3 weeks hanging around in our garden being fed mostly by their dad and now they’ve flown on and their mum is sitting on a new clutch of eggs in her nest in our garage. I did get a couple of pictures of them flitting about before they departed, they seem so unprepared for the world and I really hope that they do well and survive long enough to have chicks of their own.

As always, knitting is my constant and I’ve cast on too many new projects – most of them in blues. Do you find yourself drawn to certain colours at different times? It’s definitely blue that is most appealing to me at the moment. These socks are coming along nicely and I’m hoping to keep my focus long enough to finish the pair and avoid the temptation to start something else new. The yarn is Eden cottage Hayton in ‘Tarn’ and Madeline Tosh twist light in ‘paper’ and the pattern is a free one – Fair Isle Flower sock by Candice DeWitt.

And I’m working these beautiful gradient mini skeins of Julie Asselin’s Leizu 4ply into a shawl that reminds me of breaking waves, going as they do from deep sea blue to a foamy sea-spray light grey. This colourway set is called ‘Oresund’ and the shawl pattern is Pebble Beach by Helen Stewart.

There’s also another blue yarned project that I’m working on at the moment but that needs some concentration, so I’ve had to put it on the back burner until after half term break when I’m able to call my time my own again. I look forward to showing you then 🙂

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Lastly, I’m sure you’ve been bombarded with emails about the new GDPR regulations brought into force by the EU on May 25th and so are aware that these govern how your information may be used and stored by others. In line with that I have written some new privacy policies that detail what information I collect, how I use it and what rights you have regarding that. I have not sent out an email to my mailing list as everyone on there is only there because they have requested to be and all of the emails that I do send (all 3 or 4 of them a year) have an easy way for you to manage your preferences and unsubscribe.

Any questions please get in touch.

 

 

garden stuff · spring · wildlife

Fledglings

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)21 Comments

The robin chicks fledged the nest in our garage on Sunday morning. It’s all happened so fast – just around a month from the eggs being laid to the chicks flying and I’m so pleased I managed to get one grainy photo of the five of them before they departed. I also made a video of the adults taking wax worms to and from the nest last Saturday.

When I opened the garage back door to get the chicken food early on Sunday there was a tiny fluffball perched on the floor just inside. And when I looked in the nest there were still two chicks there but the other three had made the big jump, so I came straight back inside and made a ‘No Entry’ sign for the door. The door was kept shut as it was important that the chicks made their own way out once their wings were strong enough for them to fly through the open windows. Human access to the garage was strictly on an ‘essentials only’ basis, so did not include getting ice-creams from the freezer –  I was not popular as it was so hot here!  I checked this morning and it looks like they’ve all made it out, so for now we have our garage back, although Mrs Robin has been sighted carrying in new beak-fulls of moss so is obviously getting ready for a second brood – apparently they can have up to 4 broods in a year if the conditions are right.

I’m struggling to find the words to convey just how incredible and special the experience has been. Nest building, egg laying, chicks hatching and flying the nest to disappear out into the undergrowth of the big wide world – it has been a true privilege to watch it all happen and to be so trusted by the adult birds. The best moment for me was early on Sunday morning when the male flew down and perched on my big toe as I was sitting on the deck having coffee – quite an awesome moment.

Now I’m on magpie alert, we have a lot around here and their favourite food is small bird fledglings, chicks and eggs. I’ve got to know the alarm whistle that the adult robins make when there is a threat nearby and then go out to wave my arms around and be a human scarecrow – probably amusing any neighbours watching!

Thanks so much for your kind comments on my previous post – I am in the process of replying to them all and they’ve helped enormously – I am feeling a lot more upbeat. Hope you’re having a good week where you are, see you again soon x