During the week Mum found a rat in the compost bin (initially she thought it's tail was a worm !), so the plans today were to attack the compost and see off all the rats into the field, then rebuild the compost bin blocking off any holes.
But before we done that I was introduced to Mum's three new ladies. Jemima, Jessica and Geraldine. They are young females, not yet of laying age and I have fallen in love with them. Sadly they're not Mum's, they belong to her neighbours Terry and June, but there's a hole in the fence now so the ducks can wander between the two gardens.
More about the new ladies later.
Anyway, back to the compost bin. Decked out in thick gardening gloves each, we opened the lid. First thing we could see was indeed a worm like long tail. The front bottom section of the bin was open (we hadn't put the door back on properly after last sifting through the bin). As Mum banged her spade against the bin, one small solo rat shot out through the doorway and into the field. It was a bit of an anti-climax. I think we were both expecting hordes of rats to emerge. The rat, whilst living in the bin, had eaten all of the top layer of fresh veg peel and plant cuttings, and we think he may have also eaten the resident toad, as there was sadly no sign of it today. After putting the door back on securely, I chopped up some more cut down vegetation and thin woody sticks and built back up what the rat had chomped down.
Elsewhere around the garden of Marks Mansions, it's still looking lush......
The shallow clay bowl that I re-planted a few months ago, is looking well established now....
The crimson clover seeds that I had sown around the slab path separating my meadow patch from the Lady of the Manors shade garden, have really taken well.....
I was actually planning on sowing the rest of the slab path with clover seeds today, but with our three ladies pecking at everything and anything, I decided not to.
I really like my clover around the slabs, and it looks as if the ladies do to.....
The view up the garden towards Marks Mansion (spot the duck)...
I must admit I didn't get that much work done today. I was far too preoccupied watching the ladies. They were in and out of Mum's stream, hopping up and down the steps, rooting in and around the soil, drinking from their water bowl and generally being very cute and watchable....
And finally one last photo of them settling down for an afternoon siesta. That area will eventually become Mum's shade garden.
My wild meadow patch is still under cover, but the wild foxglove seeds I sowed have taken well in their pot, and will need thinning out soon.
So a very enjoyable afternoon with the ladies, and the Lady of the Manor of course. I got some pruning done, enjoyed the dry weather, watched the ducks and had a tasty home cooked dinner. I also saw another Muntjac deer in the horses field (but foolishly did not take my camera with me today) plus two Red Kites over, lots of juvenile Goldfinches, Green Woodpecker and several butterflies and hawkers.
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