March around the Pear tree !

 21st March officially the first day of spring, although the 'met office' are implying that most people now consider the 1st  March as the beginning of spring.

21st is good for me.

The flowering blackcurrant in the garden is nearly at full bloom, the Bumblebee's are starting to visit, the first Bumblebee to visit was an Early Bumblebee worker  (Bombus Pratorum) closely followed by a queen Buff Tailed Bumblebee fresh out of hibernation.

Early Bumblebee worker

Buff Tailed Bumblebee queen

Not much has changed on the Birds around the garden, Goldfinches  are visiting in good numbers throughout the day and appear to become more tolerant of human activity. Chaffinchs have become very common, although their numbers seem to fade as the summer months draw near. The occasional Greenfinch is always a nice surprise as they are rarely seen in our garden.

Greenfinch

The Blackcap that has been with us  through the winter months still visits the garden, it has become less territorial and totally ignores the other birds on the feeders much to their relief I suspect.

Blackcap

We now appear to have a pair of Robins that have adopted our garden, hopefully they will find somewhere to nest,  a pair of Blackbirds have been seen gathering nesting material in the garden not sure if they are nesting within the garden. Other birds  have included Blue Tits , Great Tits and the occasional Long Tailed Tit.

Blue Tit

The male Sparrowhawk still trying its luck at ambushing the birds around the garden, fortunately unsuccessfully at the moment

Activity around the fish pond is increasing, several Common Newts have been seen, along with a mass of Frog spawn, which I must disguise, before my wife realises what she is looking at.

Looking forward to some proper spring sunshine.