Early bird

Gardening can be labour intensive and it's hard enough to get the staff. So when they knock off and nick your camera to take snaps of the local bird life you really have to accept it as a perk of the job. Gill took this one.

The robins wouldn't leave us alone this afternoon, hanging around the turned earth, picking up anything that moved and flying back with it to their nest. They're both looking pretty thin and ragged, as if they need to eat some of the worms and grubs they're giving their offspring. But these are a dedicated couple. I know exactly where their nest is but it's well concealed and I can't see it, even though it's only a few feet from the back door.

It was breezy but quite warm today in the sunshine, one of those staying-at-home working-in-the-garden days that give me so much pleasure. I don't concentrate on one thing, but flit about, weeding a bit here, shifting a plant there, potting the odd cutting, dividing, clipping, cutting, digging, forking, trimming, edging - all the stuff that goes in to shaping a patch of land the way you want to see it. I love it.