Hairy-footed flower bee (male)

Dear Readers, this little white face is a sure sign that spring is finally on its way – this is a male hairy-footed flower bee, and they have a great fondness for the flowering currant in my back garden. There are lots of males about, and also some females, who are jet-black, furry and extremely difficult to photograph, as they spend a lot of time trying to evade the males who hang around the flowers.

I have two flowering currants, the ‘mother’ plant above, and her daughter, who grew from a seedling and is absolutely magnificent, and a much paler colour.

The grape hyacinths, fritillaria and wood anemones are starting to show their faces too.

And I suspect we’re in for a bumper ‘crop’ of flowers on the climbing hydrangea too.

The tadpoles haven’t emerged yet, but the frogspawn has gone from looking very plump to rather more diffuse, a sure sign that the taddies will soon be emerging.

And there has been much excitement in the magpie nest. Late last week it was a very wet, blustery night and we were sitting in the living room watching a CD of the TV series ‘Raffles’ with Antony Valentine at his reptilian best when I heard the magpie calling in a very agitated fashion. Out I went into the rain with a torch and my binoculars, and I could see the bird scrambling about but couldn’t see what all the fuss was about – I suspect maybe a squirrel was trying to break in to what was originally a drey that has been commandeered by the magpies. Anyhow, the stramash went on for about twenty minutes, with me getting wetter and wetter, until eventually I admitted defeat and went indoors. The next day things looked much as normal, and both magpies are still around, so hopefully nothing untoward has happened. Only time will tell.

And in the meantime, the buds are appearing on the whitebeam, the sun is shining and all is well.