A good soaking

We had a full day of rain yesterday so the garden should explode in the next few days.. we seem to be surrounded by foxgloves at the moment that were not there last year.. I will post some more photos asap.

Budby Plants

The garden and Forrest are starting to come to life with new additions everyday... I will try and keep you up to date with any new additions in the garden and the Forrest... if you would like photos of anything specific then please let me know and I will be happy to oblige.  I am also hoping to add some video later when I have mastered the camcorder.  In the meantime I hope you enjoy the photos.

Scruffy

Just had to share this one!! is this the Scruffiest woodpecker you have ever seen... he will now officially be known as "Scruffy Woody"

A very windy day yesterday which managed to blow over some quite heavy pots and bring down a few branches from the trees, this will now mean a couple of unplanned jobs at the weekend, re potting and fire log chopping oh Joy.  All this was overshadowed by the very acrobatic skills of Cyril the squirrel. I wouldn't mind but I put food on the ground for the squirrels, Cyril obviously enjoys a more inverted lunch...

The Budby Bird Feeder

These photos are taken from my desk, which I have to say is not "deadline Friendly" when you are really busy with work, I have never been that interested in birds before moving here but you get completely absorbed by watching the wonderful wildlife we have.  Also everything has its own characters and identity to the point of me naming them, which has quite surprised me.  It is very windy here today and the bees are still flying about,  albeit not always in the intended direction.

Where does all this stuff come from?

Having moved over a year ago yesterday we decided to empty the last of the boxes... the question here is, what possesed us to pack it in the first place??  The car is full to bursting this morning with "essential buys" headed for the charity shops (not sure

The Rain has arrived... at last

After nearly two months without any serious rain, last night the garden got a good soaking and this morning everything seems to have perked up (as you can see from the photo) This photo is taken from my desk in the study and I have to say is quite distracting when you are trying to work, as there is always something happening on the lawn or the bird feeders from acrobatic squirrels to cute, but very destructive rabbits and of course the moles, which turn you into a completely irrational gibbering OCD victim, but that story is for another day.
 It is quite interesting how your values change when moving to the country, having lived in a city for the majority of my life, I was a typical "Townie" where rabbits were little fluffy things that lived in a luxury timber maisonette and moles where admired, from a distance for their engineering and earth moving capabilities. Your opinions start to change when, having returned from the garden centre with a boot full of plants and a hole in you wallet that not even Mr Mole could fill.  You have spent the whole of your Sunday planting and creating a beautiful, colourful and aesthetically pleasing landscape, only to be confronted on Monday morning with total destruction from the terrorist organisation better known as RFFFF (Rabbit Free Food Fighting Force) these guys will eat anything!! So from going from a hunting conscientious objector I know find myself trawling the Internet for "Rabbit Control" which always ends in looking at pictures of the latest anti RFFFF deterrents.... more commonly known as guns.

Photos of the Bee Hive

These really are busy bees....

This is the 1st post for the Budby Castle blog, Budby has been our home now for just 1 year and is a magical place to live.  I dont know if anyone will be intrested in this blog but I will try and keep it going if on a weekly basis with updates on what is happening here with regards to the garden, wildlife, the forrest and hope to post photos so people can see for themselves.  Todays find is a wild honey bee nest in one of the turrets which seems very active so we may be having some Budby Honey in the not to distsnt future.