Bluebells April 2016.

Every year we go to Kingswood in Sanderstead to look at the Bluebells.

They were beautiful this year and these photos just don't do them justice.

 We did a "Dawn Chorus"walk in this wood on Saturday and walked down this path

 It was dark, obviously so good job we went in the daylight or we'd have missed them wouldn't we??

Spring Walk April 2016

Every Thursday I walk with a lovely bunch of people. We take it in turns to choose the walks and although all the walks have been lovely, I do enjoy some more than others. This walk on Reigate Hill was one of them.

The views were incredible

This structure was donated by the Astronomical Society. There is a way-point marker inside so you can see what you're looking at.  

 A bit further into the walk there is this very noticeable gap in the trees. During WW2 an American Flying Fortress crash on the Hill. No one knows what caused the crash and all on board were killed. They have marked out where the wing tips would be but I couldn't get  a decent enough photo.

 There used to be a military base on the hill. Again,no one is sure what it's purpose was. Maybe a deterrent or more likely a case of giving spare soldiers something to do.

 It was very high up so maybe they thought they would be able to see the enemy approaching.

 The walk went through a place called Gatton Park.

 These are the Millennium Stones. They were commissioned to mark the Centenary and all have a verse on them. Most have weathered too much to read the words though.

 You can just about make these out.

 

 The Gatton Park estate is huge and I think we just walked around the edge. I didn't see a house that was open to the public

 Signs of spring!

We could hear the traffic from the motorway for most of the walk though. We had to walk over it to start the walk.

Time with Madelyn April 2016

We had a lovely couple of days with Jo and Madelyn. Jo went into work so we had little cheeky chops to ourselves. We took her to a place called Mini Meadows ,aka Muddy Meadows! We were totally unprepared for all the mud, no change of footwear or spare clothes for Madelyn or ourselves. It was also packed. The good weather had bought lots of people out. Unlike most farms this place sold buckets of food. There was a grid on the front showing which animals ate what and the little containers inside were colour coded to match. 

You could buy a bottle of milk to feed the very greedy lambs which was lovely as Madelyn got to choose, sort of,which lamb she fed. 

She didn't stop laughing.

When we got home she did a "play" for us. It involved a lot of mermaids and pirates

    

She reminded me of the times when you put on "shows" 

The next day we went to Pisford Reservoir. It was just perfect. The weather was glorious and Madelyn had a wonderful time.

Zip wire was a great favourite

laughing all the way

    

super slide

You can do a circular walk around the reservoir but it's a long way, 7 miles, a bit too far for little legs

Not wanting her photo taken. Nice one of Jo though.

We had a lovely week. I'm going to put a few photos of Tom on here. I'm not sure if Vic send them to you all.

Here are my favourites

Wearing his new cardy.

My absolute fav. How can you not smile back at him.

Little mouse.

 Before we went to Oz Emma bought me some bulbs in a pretty pot. I put them in the shed and knew they would be ready to flower when we came back. When I went to get them it was obvious they had been eaten by a mouse. While it was in the shed it also helped itself to my gardening jumper and a big cushion from a lounger. Mice don't usually bother me but we've got a lot of stuff in the shed, so mousey had to go. I bought some mouse bait and after a few days it wasn't being taken so I knew the mouse had probably gone to that big field in the sky. Ahhh. 

Of course ,the problem with mice is that they always have a nest and rarely are they solitary. So, as the weather was good yesterday I decided to go on a mouse hunt in the shed.

This is what I found

One jumper well and truly nibbled

One chair nibbled and full of bait.

Another chair nibbled and full of bait.

The nest

and just visible,the little culprit.

Here he is, quite dead.

He must have been storing all that bait for leaner times as he certainly wasn't eating it all. 

Anyway, I've now got a super clean shed even if I am missing a cushion or two and hopefully no more mice. 

Frog Gate.

Frog Gate.  February 2016

We have got a tiny pond in the garden but every year frogs arrive from goodness knows where and set about turning my little pond into a hot bed of action. this year they were all queued up on the path waiting for their turn for a bit of froggy action. It took me a while to work out what they were at first. The garden path looked like the M25, only with frogs, not cars. I tried to takes photos but they got spooked and dived under the water so these are not very good as I had to take them from the bedroom window.

 Lots of frogs.

 I'm not sure if he is waiting to get in or exhausted from his efforts!

Waiting for a threesome??

Needless to say, there is loads of frog spawn in the pond. Whether it ever develops into little froggies is another matter