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Anne's avatar

What I have really noticed as the various trees come into bloom are the scents, while out walking I catch a whiff of something blooming. I just stop and breathe deeply. What a sense of calm and peace. I am grateful to be living in a world of such beauty. Thank you for sharing your journals with us.

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Ali Edwards's avatar

That sounds lovely, Anne - it is amazing how much scent can affect us!

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Juliet Wilson's avatar

Lovely diary of your observations. One thing I've really noticed over the past week or so is that three are loads of Seven-spot Ladybirds everywhere! Yesterday i also saw three Ravens near their nest site!

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Ali Edwards's avatar

Ooh interesting! I've only seen one or two ladybirds so far this year and definitely don't think they were seven-spot...

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Juliet Wilson's avatar

That's interesting! Edinburgh is full of Seven-Spots at the minute!

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ReneeUpNorth's avatar

Thank you for this very interesting article! I am in the US (Wisconsin) and our migratory birds come from central and South America and the southern US. I love reading about your birds that travel all the way from Africa.

I chuckled at the old saying from your mom. We have something similar here in that we never plant annual flowers until after Mother’s Day and no warm weather vegetables like tomatoes until after Memorial Day.

The last two weeks, we have seen the return of the Baltimore Orioles. Their vibrant orange and black feathers absolutely cannot be missed. They only stay around a few weeks so we are grateful when they make their appearance. For flowers, my tulips and daffodils are done blooming and now I patiently await my Dahlias to grow and bloom, usually by late July or August. They just emerged from the ground in the last week or so.

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Ali Edwards's avatar

Thanks Renee - glad you enjoyed it! I'd love to see a Baltimore Oriole - do you have any photos?

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ReneeUpNorth's avatar

Unfortunately I don’t have any good quality photos as usually by the time I see them on the feeder and can grab my ancient iPhone they are gone.

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