The Crab in Blossom

There's a thunderstorm in the afternoon leaving puddles covering half the road at the bottom end of the lane and pink blossom scattered like (can't help using the simile) confetti in the gutter but our golden hornet crab apple has come into full blossom only in the last few days and it's managed to hang onto its petals for the time being.

Despite the rain the cock pheasant is still looking at his best, with red wattles almost covering his head and prominent ear tufts. He'll surprise us while we're eating dinner by swaggering up on to the patio, just the other side of the patio window, drawing himself to full height, puffing himself up and emitting a few loud explosive 'grockles'. He's generally got his harem of one, two, three, sometimes more females vaguely in attendance and, to judge by the number of mating attempts, we're going to have a lot of pheasant chicks around by the summer.

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk