Bee Swarm, Birdsong & Spring Glory

'A swarm in May is worth a load of hay.'
At just afer 7'o'clock this morning I was woken (yes, shamefully,I was still in bed!) by a phone call from Younger Son to say the bees were swarming in the garden. I immediately donned wellies and a coat over my nightie and went to find the Farmer who, fortunately, was not too far away. He promptly changed into his bee-keepers overalls and went to place a collecting hive near the swarm. The swarm had not travelled more than a few yards from their original hive and so were easy enough to catch. The Farmer is very pleased as he is trying to build up our bee stocks especially since he discovered that one of our hives had been taken over by mice during the winter and had killed the colony. The photo shows the Farmer standing back to view the collecting box and to make sure the bees were going into it. He will keep an eye on it throughout the day and when they are settled he will move it to a more conveneint place and build up a new hive.

The silage season has started with the Sons working bringing in silage for farms in the district through their contracting work. Our own silage harvest will take place in few days time I think. The grass is growing well & is as high as a labrador's eye especially since we had those several days of rain last week. The view over the valley is a real patchwork of colours once fields are mown varying in shades of green, yellow where the grass has been cut and rich brown where ploughing has already taken place.
The hedges are thicker in outline now that they are in full leaf and are full of flowers and busy with the little birds nesting and darting in and out of the tangle of twigs feeding their young. There is constant squabbling chatter from the sparrows and frequent placid cooing of the wood pigeons, then a raucous clatter from the jackdaws who are nesting in the eaves of one of the barns & the swallows keep up their chittering as they swoop in & out of the farm buildings. It is all wonderful. The oak trees are very beautiful at the moment with their fresh golden green young leaves and the may blossom is out all around the farm and there are hints of bright gold appearing in the laburnum hedges that surround our top fields.