A walk in the woods.

Last week we managed to play hooky again, away from the daily work load of maintaining our life style.

This time it was a trip to the Bluebell Woods in Knockvicar. The correct name for this woodland is Derreen Woods but is always referred to as the Bluebell Woods, reputed to be the most photographed woods in the area.

Although it was midweek there were over a dozen cars parked up, all with local registrations.

A convenient natural seat.

 It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny and dry which is somewhat a miracle, this month we seemed to have rain just about every day so far.
The woodlands covers a large area which leads down to a lake. It was a carpet of blue, and the perfume was fantastic.

Ferns are beginning to unfurl.

Ferns were just coming into leaf and the forest floor is covered with Beech seedlings, enough to start a dozen new woodlands. There were also primroses which seem to be having an extended season, violets

Wild Arum.

and wild Arum was just making an appearance.

Garlic Ramsons.

It is also a good place to see wild garlic and earlier in the spring, wood anemones.
We had hoped that we might see Red Squirrels as we have in the past, this area has a good population of them, but we failed on this occasion. The only sound was that of bird song and the fresh green leafs rustling in a light breeze. It was a lovely afternoons trip, people clearly respect this woodland, they keep to the forest pathways, they do not pick the flowers and leave no litter behind them. Everyone we met was armed with a camera.

One of our lemons, so juicy and sweet. 

Despite the unseasonable weather the garden and tunnel are producing well,

Todays pickings.

dinner seems to be based around what ever is ready for picking. We are now harvesting a pound of Strawberries every other day, the rhubarb is growing like a weed and the spinach keeps on coming, along with masses of lettuce and watercress.

Polemonium, bees love this plant

The first Papaver.

The early summer flowers are just starting to bloom, soon the garden will be full of colour again, even the roses are trying to bloom.

A double flowered Campion.

Euphorbia, Fireglow.

Hardy Geranium, Mourning Widow.

An Alpine Aquilegia.

Japanese Quince. 

Calendula, this has been blooming outside all winter.

The Hubbard  chicks are now nearly four weeks old and are now outside in a safe run.

They have grown well and now weigh 1.5 lb average. When they are six weeks they will have a large ranging area and will no longer require heat at night, at the moment they still need a little heat, this is provided by a  60watt bulb in their house. Hubbard birds are a slow growing table bird, they will reach the desired weight at around eighty four days, unlike the quick grown birds which fill the supermarkets, these birds are slaughtered at less than forty days old, fed exclusively on high protein ration and never see the light of day, never mind having a chance to graze on grass. No wonder they taste of nothing, but they are cheap and that is what the supermarkets demand, the profit does not go to the farmer, they are lucky to see a return of 8cents a bird, this seems totally wrong to me when they take all the risks and if something does go wrong and they lose a flock they receive not a cent in compensation.