Birds & Bees…

Spring weather has all but disappeared with the onslaught of constant drizzling rain and chilly temperatures. Cold enough, we fear, to hamper the development of some fruit like cherries, whose lovely blooms were struck by frost for a few nights. So too our newly planted espaliered pears and perhaps the plums. The rain also stopped progress on planting grass and our flowered prairie because the earth is completely waterlogged. But we must be grateful for the rain as the whole region has been suffering drought.

One pleasure has been the return of birds, now flitting about while building nests, chirping madly from dawn to dusk. Some like doves, sparrows, woodpeckers, and owls are familiar but some species are new to us and we have taken to the Internet to learn their names. Especially cute are the tiny Blue Tits that appear kin to colorful canaries, with their turquoise and yellow feathers, small crested heads, and eyes lined like a good dose of Cleopatra’s mascara. Ominous overhead are the circling eagles – graceful and beautiful to behold but a danger for small creatures on the ground.

Coming in droves are honey bees, busily humming round fruit blossoms, and their less welcome cousins – yellow jackets, wasps, and dreaded Asian hornets. The last are enormous insects, newcomers to Europe thanks to the container ship trade, which attack and destroy beehives and can prove lethal to humans with a single sting. To ward them off we’ve hung homemade hornet traps here and there, filled with beer and apricot juice as recommended by regional authorities. The only good thing about the deadly bugs is that they lumber slowly about and are keen on the beer in the traps – we fish a few dead ones out every day.