The Day is Perfect

Beautiful summer skies, the cock crowing over the road and the birds singing outside in the garden. More swallows have arrived, to nest under the church roof, and the wild plants are burgeoning. Orange tips and yellow brimstone butterflies are fluttering around, 'Jack by the Hedge' a crucifera does what it says and stands tall and upright by the hawthorn hedges, a favourite by the way of  the orange tip butterfly.

There were bluebells in the little copse by the old orchard, happy in the dappled shade, the odd white one around.  The Guardian is doing a bluebell survey of this country, it will be interesting to see the map, we have them in the lawn, could be that this house, built on an old field, still keeps these plants, they linger on the grass verges, remnants reminding us that once the land was heavily forested.

What else, the ransom are now flowering edging the river with a flowing white scarf, they are also wood flowers but escape into the grass verges....

You can just about see the little blue flowers of ground ivy in the above photo, it was a medicinal herb but was used as Alehoof, before the advent of hops into our beer. The Anglo-Saxons called it eorthifig.  And, according to Grigson in his time, people in the cottages would drink it as a tea, Gill-tea.

The field next to Lucy has been freshly ploughed

A quince on the other side of the church 

Irene who lives nearby looked after the hens whilst we were away, but unfortunately let them out and could not get them back into the run, she had to enlist Nigel over the road, he bought some food and they soon went back in.