Garden visitor...

I'm really pleased it looks like our green woodpecker might be nesting in our poplar tree again this year. He/she's just scouting around at the moment I think but last year raised three chicks. I don't know much about woodpeckers but do they use the same nest year after year? It was great watching the young birds leave the nest last year. They just took a day of teetering and flapping in the treetops in our garden before flying away for good.

The goose that FINALLY laid the golden egg.....

We were promised that Lucy, the youngest of our three adopted geese - and the recent star of the church pantomime (live - on stage - dressed in a pillowcase) - would start laying on Valentines Day.

Not previously being aware of her romantic inclinations we duly fetched some straw for her to make a nest, and extra food to fortify her for the task - but to no avail. Each day we looked in the goose-house and hunted around the garden to see if she had found a more suitable spot.

We eventually gave up all hope of reproduction and went on holiday leaving her and her companions in the care of our good friends. No sooner did we turn our backs than these arrived..... (not the brown one - that one was laid by Peggy the hen and acts as a comparison for size purposes)!

To us at least, the arrival of the golden egg/s was a moment of triumph. And much celebration - including the cooking of them at the Sunday Night Poached Egg Club. (Ian & me and my parents). Enormous. Eggy. Gloopy. And not altogether pleasant. Still, they are apparently very good in cakes.