Dear Readers, what, you may ask, is that white thing dangling on the flowering currant? Well, it’s my thermometer (of course it is!) so that I can measure the temperature as close to the plant as possible for my bee experiment. You might remember that I’m looking at hairy-footed flower bees, who very conveniently have jet black females and stripy males. My hypothesis is that, as black absorbs heat better than any other colour, the females should be able to tolerate cold conditions better than the males. It certainly seems that there are more bees when it’s warmer (and that the little furry peeps really don’t like it when it’s cold and windy) but I have more data collection to do before I can come to any conclusions. The weather has been very varied, from warmish and dryish to blustery and wet, but it’s all good stuff.

And while I’m sitting on the patio I notice all sorts of things. Look at the leaves on the whitebeam, just waiting to burst!

And the marsh marigold has gone from a few small buds to a whole mass of flowers…

And the goldfinches are very chatty…

And so are the blue tits, even on a cold, miserable day like today.

Plus, a pair of feral pigeons have just arrived. This one is extremely tame – s/he didn’t fly off when I arrived, but looked at me with cocked head, as if appraising whether I was a food source or not. What lovely perfect red feet the bird had, none of the gnarly, knotted, diseased-looking toes that so many city pigeons have. They really are quite lovely birds, whose only problem is our attitude to them.