Wow - it is hot today

Today is officially the hottest day of the year so far, and here at Stoke it is 29 degrees Celsius. A good day to live in the garden (in the shade).

The plum tree is quaking with fruit and a small seedling of a few years is also heavily ladened this year.  The mild and warm dry spring has been quite beneficial in this way.

Our gooseberry bushes have a generous crop and we have already used several pounds of their fruit.

The black currants are very early, though they are still quite small and I would like to leave them to develop, but I know the birds will eat them.

We have our first pumpkin showing in the small bed.

The beans have taken a hit from snails and slugs, but I have a reserve crop in the greenhouse.

The tomatoes are doing well this year and should see us through the summer.

This year I have seen the first ever grasshopper in our garden.  It must have flown in from somewhere as there are no grasshopper communities for some miles distant.  Its a common green grasshopper, a bit larger than the field grasshopper - and it looks a bit like a locust!

This is "Theodolite" having his breakfast (the name comes from a common phrase in his song - sounds like).  There are two male blackbirds with territories in our garden and we know them from their different song phrases.  "Theodolite" also has a phrase that sounds like "Emu Emu Emu".  He and his adversary "I'm a Barbie girl" chant at each other across the garden.

And of course the local squirrels are frequently bounding across the garden.  Their only concern is to avoid the cats.

This evening we saw two foxes in the dusk.  They use our garden as a thoroughfare to visit next door for food.  This is one of the few days in the year when I have not been out of the grounds.