2020

Lockdown

Wednesday 15.04.2020

Our garden – be it ever so small – is heaven sent during the year of the Coronavirus – Covid-19.

We have been advised not to go out and, being in one of the most vulnerable categories are taking that advice very seriously. We started our self-imposed incarceration on St Patrick’s Day March 17th – Suki’s Birthday so, as I write this, we haven’t been out for a month. However, we have already spent more time in our garden than in most years thanks to mild weather.

Osteospermums (African Daisies) flower all year round and survive for years despite apparently being annuals. (The ‘dew’ is actually courtesy of our hose)

There is always something to do and something to see and, given the lack of traffic since lockdown the air really is fresh!

Because we are out there every day and often sitting chatting in the sun the birds have got bolder and come into feed or drink from the pond… just a meter away (not observing the correct ‘social distancing’). Yesterday a Dunnock landed on the fence a meter away and burst into song.

The pond is alive with tadpoles… as Maggie has created a ‘nursery’ for them so that the fish don’t gobble them up. Its hard to take pictures of critters under water, but here goes…

I don’t know if this hoverfly is new in the garden… but it is new to me. It is apparently a widespread denizen of forest and marsh… the closest it could get to that habit here was by the pond.

Eristalis horticola

 

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