The End of the Newts' Pond

After a run of sunny, warm days we were back to normal service today with grey skies and a temperature not above 15C when we walked down to the village to collect the morning's paper. There were no deer to be seen at Roe Corner but, from the far side of the field we....

....spotted a female roe which, obviously irritated at the way we were staring at her, barked and then disappeared into the trees.

Later, on our way home, as we passed Roe Corner, we saw what I'm fairly sure was the same deer, a little further up the field beyond the broken wall and broken gate.

This is another first for the year, a flower which looks very like wood anemone - which we haven't seen yet this year - and wood sorrel, but this is the more unusual chickweed wintergreen, a small group of them growing very happily at one shaded spot in the forestry.

We brought a number of plants with us from our previous house and have been busy planting them out. There's something about Golspie which lupins seem to like as we've had no trouble transplanting them as well as moving several seedings which had rooted themselves. The lupins are now at their best so we were thrilled to find....

....that they were already doing their job - attracting local insects into our, otherwise still rather bare new garden.

Meanwhile, in the forestry above our house, the machines have finished quarrying rock, grinding it up, grading it, and transporting it away, leaving the newts' pond filled in and ready to be turned into a car park.