Library Ticket

Clear blue sky, brilliant sunshine, snow drops and crocuses out. Saw my first lambs of the year yesterday so what's the problem - the forecast for next weekend is snow.

This is the first day of the year we've ventured into the conservatory for longer than 10 seconds, so far we've only used it for keeping the beer cold and cooling cooked food quickly. Oh and I did dismantle the Christmas tree that was in there but only after having the heater on for 4 hours beforehand.

Just put up a new bird feeder in the garden, it's one of those squirrel proof things, we don't have a problem with squirrels but I'm hoping it will keep the starlings away from the suet and give the smaller birds a chance to feed.

What can we expect in the way of flowers in mid February when we get to Spain? Bil says the hillsides in his area are covered in wild flowers and Rosemary has mentioned almond blossom. Can anyone tell me what else there is growing wild in the coastal regions between Gandia and the Mar Menor?

I'm trawling through property sites but don't ever see bird feeders in the photos of the gardens. Anything to do with the majority of houses being painted white by any chance?

bil

Dunno. Never gave bird feeders a thought.

The first spring flowers are the vinagretas, that last for months and months, and a couple of the fields are white with wild flowers.

The claret and blues will be out ere long, and once March is here, to me that's spring and we can look forward to the roadsides coming alive. Next up will be the suegras.

I ******' love it.

megmet

At the moment as Bill said the hills are covered in vinagretas, a pretty little yellow flower.
Before long we will have white and pink ones too covering the hills, closely followed by great numbers of poppies which are my favourite.
I simply adore spring here....and the best thing is that we get a second one after the first rain of the autumn.

Can't say I've seen any bird feeders in gardens, though I've seen them for sale in the shops. Around here at least they are not needed, the birds just help themselves to the olives and other fruit on the trees!

mikelincs

Lack of bird feeders is more due to the garden size, especially in the southern coastal urbanisations, but you can get them, and put them up, plenty of garden centres sell them, and the food.

Library Ticket

Oh poppies in Spring, we don't get them until June or even July in Yorkshire. I'm going to love living in Spain.

bil

There are lots of really attractive wildflowers. In addition to those already mentioned, the thistles make a great show. At the moment the small, fluffy lilac ones are showing, but later there are the really big, electric blue ones.

art spirit

Yes poppies are my favourite too - if you lie down and take photos of them level with snow covered mountains in the background, it makes a stunning image!
It seems to have been a longer winter here in spain with all the rain we had in Dec. - really looking forward to spring - art

bil

So far winter down here has been mild and dry. There has only been one real downpour that filled the arroyos and cut us off for the morning. In fact, if the promised rain isn't forthcoming in the next few days, I will have to start watering.

Library Ticket

I did wonder if bird feeders were discouraged and even possibly prohibited on urbanisations where the houses are painted white in order to minimise the amount of cleaning and repainting needed.

megmet

The poppies will be in bloom here at the end of this month.
There are lots more wildflowers to look forward to over the coming weeks, including wild iris and wild orchids too!
Here is a photo for you of the Vinagretas that are carpeting the hillsides at the moment, they look very pretty with the sun shining on them.

bob_bob

Before I retired from nursing last year the Trust stopped staff putting nuts in the bird feeders in the hospital garden in case the nuts attracted rats The elderly patients could see the feeders which attracted birds and squirrels.

We've had horrendous winds and rain here in South Wales but the snow drops are out and the daffs will be with us in no time, spring is here I suppose.

mikelincs

The white painting is done to reflect the sun and keep the house cooler, not to minimise repainting, if you live on the costa Blanca, you need to clean all paintwork etc after any short rain shower due to the amount of red sand deposited, which really shows up on the white.. No uirbanisation I lived on had rules against feeding birds, just that the gardens were small, and usually tiled.