News & Updates from Christine Dixon · Page 13
Isn't this just the cutest moment? This is Daisy, my friend's golden retriever, discovering her first baby blackbird, quite recently fledged and not quite flight worthy.
She didn't hurt it, all it got was a good sniffing.
I guess Daisy was just very curious to find a bird that didn't fly away. The bird was so lucky not to get licked to death. Maybe feathers aren't good for licking or maybe that tiny beak was sharp against Daisy's nose. Who can tell...
The most gorgeous display of azalea! These bushes look green and nothing special for most of the year, then for a week or two, they burst into this delight of colour.
To be truthful, I didn't catch them at the height of their display - that was about three days ago when I saw them on my way to the supermarket.
Quite a lot of petals have dropped already, but I just had to go snapping today to share them with you.
I can see some background papers resulting from these photos...
To make my day, they are next to a paddock of chickens, so this chicken-centric girl was a happy bunny (or should that be happy chick?) to see them too.
Look what's burst into life around my pond this week! I just love all kinds of lilies and often use them for sympathy cards. Always the first of my lilies to bloom, these yellow flags really signify the start of summer to me.
Wonderfully vibrant - they attract lots of insects and bees which I need in my garden to pollinate the fruit trees.
I can't wait for my pink and orange day lilies to follow, but I suspect a wait of some weeks before that glorious sight.
Well, chicks have hatched and they are so funny! They are like little black pom-poms and have enormous black feet and bright red and yellow beaks.
When they try to run away from danger, they get all tangled up and fall over themselves and end up rolling like a fluffy ball.
Mrs Moorhen peeps all around the garden to keep them close and has the occasional run at one of our chickens (even though they are quite a lot bigger than her) if they get too close. On the left, here they are just hatched, still wet and a bit gooey, then all dry and fluffed up on the right. There are more to come, but quite a few don't survive.
Mummy abandons them and saves herself at the first sign of real danger (anything more than a chicken).
An adult moorhens seems to be a breed that protects its species by protecting itself, on the grounds that a couple can have three chances to breed in a year, with up to nine eggs each time.
Not the kind of species that goes all out to protect its young because a birth is infrequent, with only a likely chance of one offspring max per year, like humans, elephants, horses...
Well, I may say that... but my husband prefers to call it classic! Only joking, I love it too - really! This is our 1973 Mark 1 Ford Escort RS2000. As you can see it is a gorgeous sunshine orange colour, so heads turn when it drives by.
Or is that the noise of the engine that preceeds it's approach by at least 50 metres? This year it will hopefully be out on an event. Of course, it's almost impossible to photograph anything in my garden without a nosy chicken getting involved.
This time it's the lovely Lily - just showing how much she matches the Escort and helping by cleaning a little bug off the bumper, or is she just admiring her reflection in the chrome?
She's such a poser, if you open car doors or boot, she jumps straight in.