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Diary – 2021 April
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 April
This reshaped bit beside the pond will be covered in these sedums when they start growing. They don't mind any conditions and can put up with dry or wet. They will hang down to the path and cover the stones.
4 April
The fish all like to hang out under the foam leaves, wherever they float about in the pond. On a sunny day some of the fish line up in the weedy bit where the water gets a lot warmer.
My favourite at the moment is the forsythia. These are windflowers in the daffodil pot.
7 April
We went to Kelsey Park. Just in time to catch the daffodils. The spring trees and bedding were doing very well despite the frosty nights.
This Mallard was having a snooze sitting in the middle of the stream. This is a Mandarin duck and there were more out on the lake.
We like the mottley pigeons as they look very smart. These pidgies were having a very spacious bath sitting on old branches.
Giant wire kingfisher with a tiny metal fish in its mouth.
We sat here at the end of the top lake to have our sandwiches. This one pigeon came walking along so he got a handful of nuts as a treat, all to himself.
8 April
We went for a walk in the woodland. The fallen trees are left on the ground and slowly get covered in moss, until they fall apart. Brown Teddy's favourite places are the walkways that cross the little streams. They dry up in summer.
13 April
We went to Nunhead Cemetery, which is now mainly a wildlife park. The gravestones are very old and many of them are leaning and breaking up. This one has been tied to the tree that has grown up behind it.
The woodland part is full of birdsong and tall trees. This fallen trunk is covered in ivy roots, and most of the stones have ivy around them.
Down on the main path, this huge tree has fallen over the path. I think maybe the keepers saw it was dangerous and pulled it down before it fell.
This is the chapel, now semi derelict. Some of the monuments are tall and grand looking.
14 April
We like to sit in the greenhouse when it is sunny. The plastic fly screen has become brittle and is breaking up, so we are making a new one in yarn, long crochet strings hanging from a rod over the door. We put little leaves on the bottom but they are getting tangled, so it is time for a different idea.
The Woodies don't notice us so much with the screen there, although I think they would probably come for the food anyway, as long as we kept very still. I have cut off the crochet leaves.
15 April
This is one of the ancient trees in Greenwich Park, many are hundreds of years old. There are always lots of very colourful circles of bedding.
Fritillaria Imperialis and Camellia.
These winding paths amongst the trees lead to the deer enclosure.
Here they are making the most of the long grass at the base of another ancient tree. I don't think they know they are in King Henry The Eighth's old hunting park.
Here is the bandstand that has been here for ages. We walked up the steps to One Tree Hill and found a seat to have our snack.
16 April
These birds were having a paddle and bath on the stone water feature near London Bridge Station.
We went by train to Lesnes Abbey, which is now just ruins.
We walked up the hill into the woodland, to see all the bluebells, which are just starting to come out.
There are lots of old decaying tree stumps and trunks. This standing one has been carved, the face has oak leaves all round.
A nice little hideaway for a some creature when it is raining.
The ring neck parakeets are quite noisy. They like to nest in the holes left when big branches fall off. I am sure they do some woodworking inside the holes to make the space bigger.
This is the small fossil digging area, where we saw a crow working on a piece of food he had found. This old upside down tree root looks like a triceratops dinosaur .
Back down in the park part, the ornamental garden was very colourful, with plants the Abbey monks might have grown. Pink almond blossom is one of my top favourites.
19 April
We are on another river walk, further from home than usual. The water is very clear and pebbly and you can walk right alongside it, although a few bits were muddy.
They do this in all the woods, piling up the branches into wigwams. Sometimes they edge the paths with it, to prevent trampling. Old and cut wood is always left for the insect life to live in. These are not worms but tree catkins in the puddly river edge.
Here is the back view of a goose who was preening. Brown Teddy and I just love the mossy logs with all their tiny plants making a miniature garden or forest.
Last of all we took a footpath to the village, which was quite a long way over several fields. Halfway across we were very glad we had our drinks and bananas with us!
22 April
We went back to Lesney Abbey. Just a few bits of the building are left standing. Brown Teddy is by the serving hatch, where the monks would have passed out food, probably to passing travellers and the poor folk who they helped.
Before going up the hill, we went under this lovely cherry tree in full fluffy bloom.
The bluebells were even bluer and more of them open. This time we had our snack on a seat facing all these bluebells.
We went as far as the back half of the woods, on the other side of the hill, and decided to save exploring that for another sunny day. Brown Teddy found lots more mossy logs with holes under the roots.
23 April
Today we went to Fulham Palace which is on the River Thames opposite Putney. I really like the old dolphin shapes that they used to make on ornaments long ago, before they really knew what sea creatures looked like.
The spring flowering trees were all out. At the edge of the vegetable garden is an absolutely huge and thick-trunked wisteria lying along the ground, definitely one to come and visit again when the flowers are out.
The ornamental herb garden and a door leading to the outside of the walled garden. We stayed inside and looked for a bench.
We sat here for our sandwiches. I am sure the rows of plants will be very neat when they are planted in this string grid. The pot is to catch earwigs who go up into it for protection.
Further along is the lake. Lots of families and children were having a good time in the play area.
Shady part at the far end and a lovely Mandarin duck.
We walked back to Putney Bridge under the ancient plane trees which have branches right out over the river.
24 April
These are our collared doves who have taken to the trellis as their favourite place to sit and snooze in the warm, with a good view all around themselves for safety.
27 April
We went to Richmond Park to see the azaleas. Mainly it was the big rhododendrons that were out, and this one has enormous flower heads.
My favourite part is the little streams between the azaleas, with gently running water, and these stepping logs over the water.
I just managed to get a picture of this Peacock Butterfly resting in the warm. This is the heather garden, a rather quietly colourful area.
We left the central ornamental plantation and went back into the main open park. This deer was grazing on his own and I was able to get the picture on maximum camera zoom.
Here is a panorama shot of the main park, fairly plain but loads of very old trees everywhere.
29 April
I put these marginal plants along where my little hedge screen will be, to cover the view from the edge of the pond, as that is where the fish tend to lounge in the sun.
30 April
We went to Morden Park Hall and walked around the woodland. There are lots of little streams, as well as the main one, with these plank walkways over. Then we went into the garden centre which has another stream leading to the woodland part.
Right by the bridge were lots of dark grey large fish and I had to edit the very grey photo to bring out the shapes. Someone came with a bag full of pellets, it was quite a sight to see them splashing around for it.
The fish in the aquarium shop have a very different life.
You can use the space on your 404 page to help find missing people by embedding info from notfound.org See Yellow Teddy's 404 page
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https://www.facebook.com/LostboxTeddyBears
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