Wrens nest

I was potting away at my potting bench the other day and reached in under for a label from a tub kept under my bench, when there was a lot of flapping and it looked like a bird was trapped behind my stacks of pots. I carefully lifted out the pots and the bird flew away, a little wren. While the pots were out I decided it was time for a tidy, so lifted out the crate holding some more pots and there built into one of the pots was the wrens nest with four creamy speckled eggs in. I carefully replaced everything just as it was.  I checked later and mama bird was back sitting on her nest.

The nest is build on top of the black pots in the back left of the white crate.

I'm just going to have to do without anything in that crate for the moment until the chicks have hatched and flown. She found herself a cosy sheltered spot to build her nest.

Herbaceous border

The herbaceous border at Froghollow has suddenly sprung into life. The excessively cold weather has held everything back. But, the brakes are well and truly off now. Everything has burst forth and the border is looking full. The camassia plants are looking really good this week, as are the de Caen Anemonies.  The blues of the camassia, mysotis and anemone and the pink lychnis and lunaria are highlighted by a scattering of pure white tulips and pansies.  The first of the calendula have also started to flower. I've been weeding them out over the last few weeks, but I like to leave a few as they are so pretty and the bees love them. The borage and echiums should be flowering soon, the bees really love both go those.

I found a white everlasting sweet pea called "White Pearl" today it the garden centre at Clonroche, I was delighted to find it, as I already have two different pink everlasting sweet peas.  I've planted it in the middle of the herbaceous border to add height, and balance out all the blue and pink in there.

Robin chicks

Robin chics.

The robin chics have all hatched and have been growing rapidly. The mother has been feeding them non stop.  It was starting to look like the nest couldn't hold them any more.

This evening when I went into the glasshouse to water. I noticed one of the chics fluttering about.
When I peeped into the nest, it was empty.  Back out in the garden I saw the mother feeding the rest of the chics under the hedge. I left the glasshouse door open and the last chic joined the others.

The Art of Nature.

Every morning I take my dog Misty for a walk on the beach, earlier this winter I noticed a large granite stone supported by a very spindly column of clay, the stone was sitting at an angle, almost as if it had been placed there, as a sculpture in a gallery.

Rock on clay pedestal near Ballygrangens Wexford.

Over the course of time, the clay pedestal eroded until I just couldn't imagine how it was supporting this massive rock.  Eventually, on morning it just wasn't there any more, not even lying nearby, but completely gone, washed away by a wild sea.

This got me thinking about the art in nature. One off works of art created and exhibited by nature  that are only on show for a limited time,  never to return. Each piece created from what is at hand.
Whether like my rock, it was there for several weeks, or the ripples in the sand at low tide, only there for a fleeting couple of hours.

Later, I started thinking about the people who manipulate nature to create natural art. For example the great landscape architects of the past like Capability Brown, who reshaped the landscape around the grand estates of England. Even gardeners like me, who arrange a garden just so, or plant a tree in a certain spot.  Or like David Nash who creates living sculpture, such as 'Ash Dome' at a secret location in the woods of Wales.

Whether, designed by man or sculpted by nature, we are surrounded by beauty. Often we are just travelling too fast through our lives to notice it.