First peep: April 6!! This is the earliest date yet for the peepers in our back yard — what’s more, friends have been hearing them along the Fauxburg Rd and in the Valley for more than a week already. Today’s temperature reached +13° C and that came after a very wet few days — perfect … Continue reading
Filed under Home & garden …
Summer Highlights 2020
With COVID restricting travel throughout most of 2020, we stayed within Nova Scotia for our summer hols. We explored Wentzell Woods almost daily in May and June as lock-down continued. At the end of June we booked a weekend in North Cabin at Milford House (made friends with a flying squirrel who was sharing Lily’s … Continue reading
The iNaturalist app
At the beginning of April we downloaded the iNaturalist app on my phone and have been slowly but steadily uploading our nature observations. (The website is much easier to browse through: iNaturalist.ca) So far, we’ve uploaded 57 plants and animals. Our “finds” include salamanders and spiders, lichen and fungi, trees and shrubs, beetles and bees… … Continue reading
Bird Nest Bonanza!
During COVID-19 lockdown we’ve spotted more bird nests in the garden than at any time in the previous 10 years. Here they are — in order of discovery (all spotted within a month from mid-April to mid-May, 2020): Cardinal nest on the way into the wood was the first nest of the year. She laid … Continue reading
Spring Peepers 2020
We’ve had a mild, sunny few weeks (give or take a few showery days) and we listened for peepers for a few nights before we heard them on April 13: a very average date for the last 10 years after a pretty middle-of-the-road winter. I need to do some more research on average daily temperature … Continue reading
Mild Winter of 2019/2020 & Seals in February
It’s only February 23 but temperatures are close to 10° C today and the sun is shining. The robins were out in full force yesterday — around 15 of them — grazing on the lawn. And today we watched a pair of nuthatches on the suet bird feeder outside the kitchen window. It feels like … Continue reading
A Mild Autumn and First snow!
October was glorious this year — warm and sunny and golden. This was Thanksgiving at Milford House: The good weather continued into late October and November. This view of the window box outside the back door was taken on November 5th! We don’t normally have flowers still in bloom in November. Dandelions were even sprouting … Continue reading
A soggy spring
It was a cold, wet spring on the whole (and an especially wet May) and everything was a week or two late as a result. April 21, 2019, saw the first few pink blooms open on the magnolia, the first lilac buds and the rhubarb shoots just poking through. May 8 we spotted our first … Continue reading
Spring Peepers 2019
The first peep of 2019 was April 14. It was a glorious warm and sunny day 15 degree day today following a mild, rainy day yesterday. No surprise at all that the peepers were out tonight. Today was also the day the daffodils unfurled and the crocuses bloomed on the front lawn. But no … Continue reading
Winter 2018/19
We spent August to early December travelling in the Yukon and Europe and arrived home to very cold temperatures in December — unseasonably cold temperatures and it took us a few weeks to get used to it. It set the tone for the whole winter — cold and icy and not much snow. We had … Continue reading
