We have a Mahonia just outside our five bar gate, a common hardy garden shrub with hollylike leaves and sprays of scented yellow flowers, it is humming, literally! I was attracted by the noise and found many honey bees and a couple of bumble bees. Certainly the Bumbles were there the other day because every time i go out i see them. So brave because it is still fairly chilly, but the flowers do put out a most wonderful smell and there isnt much else to attract at this time of year. Spring is here! Our bird feeder has at least fourteen gold finches, lots of starlings, sparrows, blackbirds, blue tits and there is a wren in the woodpile, a cock pheasant that visits regularly and a brace of partridges. Pigeons come, naturally, and a pair of collar doves. More later.