Really pleased to see this this evening, Hilary told me that one had appeared yesterday but I couldn't find it. We used to have quite a few clumps of this gorgeous little woodland flower here at the Cottage until last year when for some unknown reason they all but vanished. Perhaps this is the only survivor....?
This morning I spotted a young drakes guarding one of the ducks who had made herself a nest in the scrub on the bank above the meadow.
This evening when I went to check the nest for eggs, not only were there two large duck eggs but also a newly laid and still warm, pheasant egg beside them. I wonder if it was one of the pheasants the we hatched last summer.....?
Our Muscovy ducks are growing now, the ducks should start laying soon and the young drakes will soon be trying to assert themselves. For the time being this young drake was just enjoying a break in the orchard this afternoon.