I’ve been out and about with the camera again today as the sunshine was back. I wanted to take some photos of some spring flowers. It’s a pity they’re all so short-lived – I’d love to have them blooming all year round.

First some of my tulips. I’ve planted them everywhere we’ve lived (and that’s a lot of places). However, they never did well in Ireland where the wet, windy springs destroyed them the moment they flowered.

Here is a wild orchid. We have a lot growing on the bank of the small lake.

I think these yellow plants are marsh marigolds. They grow close to our streams and are so bright and cheerful.

We were intrigued by these unusual purple flowers for a long while. But I’ve finally found out what they are. They are purple toothwort, and they’re fascinating. They’re parasitic and live on the roots of other plants, often alder trees which is the case with ours. They don’t have any chlorophyll, so no green leaves. And what’s more, they’re protocarnivorous. They have hairs which, when an insect touches them, send out filaments to trap and digest the unfortunate prey.

Here’s our next big spring job! At last Denis will get his new field, and we’ll build a few ready for the sheep and pigs we want to get in the very near future.

There's 200 here!

Finally we’ve invested in a postslammer to help with the fencing. It was too soul-destroying using the heavy mallet to bash posts in.

One more spring thing. Windy is laying down a lot these days, which means her baby won’t be long now. It’s nice and warm so it’s a good time of year for a baby llama to be born. I’ll keep you up to date.

If you like wildflowers, here’s a [I’ve been out and about with the camera again today as the sunshine was back. I wanted to take some photos of some spring flowers. It’s a pity they’re all so short-lived – I’d love to have them blooming all year round.

First some of my tulips. I’ve planted them everywhere we’ve lived (and that’s a lot of places). However, they never did well in Ireland where the wet, windy springs destroyed them the moment they flowered.

Here is a wild orchid. We have a lot growing on the bank of the small lake.

I think these yellow plants are marsh marigolds. They grow close to our streams and are so bright and cheerful.

We were intrigued by these unusual purple flowers for a long while. But I’ve finally found out what they are. They are purple toothwort, and they’re fascinating. They’re parasitic and live on the roots of other plants, often alder trees which is the case with ours. They don’t have any chlorophyll, so no green leaves. And what’s more, they’re protocarnivorous. They have hairs which, when an insect touches them, send out filaments to trap and digest the unfortunate prey.

Here’s our next big spring job! At last Denis will get his new field, and we’ll build a few ready for the sheep and pigs we want to get in the very near future.

There's 200 here!

Finally we’ve invested in a postslammer to help with the fencing. It was too soul-destroying using the heavy mallet to bash posts in.

One more spring thing. Windy is laying down a lot these days, which means her baby won’t be long now. It’s nice and warm so it’s a good time of year for a baby llama to be born. I’ll keep you up to date.

If you like wildflowers, here’s a]6 about French ones.