Waiting for Storm Eunice

On an morning trip round the garden to ensure that any loose objects were safely tucked away in sheltered corners, I spotted this winter-flowering heather, a recent purchase from Notcutt's sale area. I'm not sure why it had been put there - when we purchased it in early January it wasn't in flower, but there were plenty of buds. It's now thriving and is a valuable early nectar source - on mild days it's been visited by our overwintering colony of Buff-tailed Bumblebees.

The storm swept in around midday, and for several hours the winds were quite ferocious, though we got off much more lightly than areas further south. I was very glad that we had our leaning Scot's Pine taken down last spring - I'm not sure it would have survived the south to south-westerly gale, and it was large enough that it would just have hit the house!

PS We found two clumps of frogspawn in our south-facing pond - another early year for them.