Daffodil Season at the Weir Garden!?

 Our last visit to the Weir Garden, a National Trust garden in Herefordshire, was on the 29th January and we were treated to a lovely display of snowdrops.

Snowdrops at the Weir Garden

We had missed a few opportunities to return to see the daffodils including, earlier in the week, when we turned up to find the garden closed for safety reasons. On 9th April we finally made it but unfortunately...

Daffodils past their best at the Weir Garden

...we were too late to see what must have been a glorious display of daffodils.

Never mind, the wild garlic was worth a visit...

Wild garlic at the Weir Garden

...along with other delights.

Scilla italica at the Weir Garden

Primroses at the Weir Garden

Wood anemones at the Weir Garden

Brunnera at the Weir Garden

Clove-smelling currant bush at the Weir Garden

The Weir Garden is adjacent to the River Wye and the waters were clear for a change. Some quite large fish could be clearly seen near the bank - I assume brown trout but then I'm no angler.

Brown Trout(?) in the River Wye

Somebody was flyfishing on the opposite bank but I didn't have the heart to tell him the brown trout were congregating on our side.

One final treat was spotting a Red Kite soaring above the trees near the rookery at the Weir Garden. Some agitated rooks drew my attention skywards where the Red Kite was circling just above the tree canopy. This is probably the closest I've seen a red kite to the city of Hereford. Red kites almost went extinct in the UK; down to just two breeding pairs in mid-Wales. In one of the best conservation stories ever, the kite population in Wales was nurtured and grew sufficiently to allow some birds to be caught and released in England (Chilterns) and Scotland (Black Isle). The red kites from the Chilterns have spread westwards into the Cotswolds while the Welsh kites have spread eastwards into England. I suspect the kites we see in Herefordshire are of the Welsh variety and hopefully they will meet up with their English cousins before too long.