Sunday 15th May 2016

A very warm and sunny day.
St.Andrews Botanical Gardens were just wonderful today in such marvellous weather. Sat by the alpine rockery and stream just loving the surroundings. The glasshouses were a little hot but just had to venture into the butterfly house, some amazing specimens with breeding and research gaining good results.
In the plant shop there was a yellow rockery plant called Pumpkin, had to be bought.
Day at St.Andrews would not be complete without a visit to The Links. Venison burger and a pint of St.Andrews Ale, nice.
Once home I was straight back out for my nightly walk along the coast. What a sunset and what a sight watching a heron on the beach catching fish, amazing. Not seen such a sight so close up before.
Pictures 1 - 14 - St.Andrews Butterfly House and Botanical Gardens.
      "    15 - 18 - The Links, St. Andrews.
      "    19 - 26 - Crail by sunset.

Saturday 14th May 2016

Very warm and sunny all day.
Final leg of the trip to Scotland was a nightmare. Left Kendal at 10am and arrived in Crail at 5.30pm. Roadworks between Glasgow and Edinburgh brought traffic to a standstill for ages at a time. Stopped at Queensferry for a break and to admire the engineering of the rail bridge and the new road bridge. Amazing to see at close quarters.
Soon after arriving in Crail I was out for a short walk to the beach and the coastal path to the harbour. A fabulous end to a very stressful day. Looking forward to the St.Andrews Botanical Gardens and Butterfly house tomorrow. Weather looking good.
Pictures are of Crail beach tonight.

Friday 13th May 2016

A mild day from Reading to Kendal. Some areas pretty sunny, some areas overcast. Ideal driving conditions.
Left Reading at 10am and arrived in Kendal at 16.30 en route to Scotland. Hopefully my blog becomes more interesting as we start the holiday proper.

Thursday 12th May 2016

Back to some decent weather again. Very warm and sunny all day.
Today was all about getting ready for the holiday. Lawns cut, bird feeders topped up and watering of a few plants, car checked over and full tank of fuel. Ready to go, long time since I ventured on such a long car journey.
           No swifts again today despite the swift call on all day, surely not a one day wonder again this year?
First sighting and photographed of a mint moth this morning. Orange tip, small white and a small blue butterfly busy again today, wish they would land for a photograph.
Well folks, that is it for a week. Not sure what internet access I will have butbe rest assured I will be taking loads of photographs.

Wednesday 11th May 2016

Blimey, what a change in weather. Mild but very wet all day. Never seen so many snails about, hundreds of them.
Despite the wet weather I spent all day outside finishing the alpine glass bottled wall. Apart from the path the alpine house project is now complete.
Darned lilie beetles have now taken a liking for the fritillary plants. Six removed today. Only ever seen one in the garden before.
Jays have returned and the male great spotted also seen on the feeder. Tufty appeared with friends this afternoon, pretty sure they are younguns. Don't hold out much hope of keeping plants in the pots this year if today is anything to go by.
That is more or less it now for a while, tomorrow must start getting ready for the impending Scotland holiday. Looking forward to the holiday but will miss the garden particularly the activity of the swifts.

Tuesday 10th May 2016

Still very warm but today overcast and showers most of the day.
Not much to report today as this morning was taken up with the hairdresser and a trip into town.
This afternoon just pottered about in the garden doing nothing much.
Mice have taken over the bird food store, I'm not stopping them so must not complain. Rather interested in fact on their antics. Camera has caught them in some strange places, including chewing into plastic drawers, chewed into a propagator, decimated a seed tray of thistles and a pot of melon seed. Think I will set up a monitor camera.
No swifts today, in fact not much activity at all.

Monday 9th May 2016

Very warm but more overcast today with showers late this afternoon.
Today refixed the woodland decking path to the alpine house that was damaged when the fencers were working last week. All ship shape now so can move on. Not been a good experience having the fence replaced.
Pottered this afternoon and spotted lily beetles on the lilies. Not good this, drowned the buggers. Will have to check each day now.
Swifts about for only a short time today, so no real excitement.
Really am disappointed that there is no nest building this year. So unpredictable wildlife.
Picture of lilie beetles.