June In The North Country

The fantail pigeons have not successfully raised any babies yet, but they are happy and healthy - and plentiful enough that I don't really need any more birds:

 They do, however, keep going through the motions of courtship, nest building, egg laying, etc:

 The lady on the right with the demure look on her face has a particularly nice nest, but nothing yet has come of it:

 The chickens are old enough that their egg laying is much reduced. In all honesty, that's a blessing for me. I simply can't use any more eggs than I'm getting:

Their eggs are pretty though, mostly green, pink or off-white:

 The lilacs began to fade so I took one last photo before those flowers became just a memory:

 The last and perhaps most spectacular bloomer was the Prairie Rose flowering crab. It was in full flower when everything else had quit for the year:

 And I couldn't resist one more close-up of this, its most floriferous year:

Our weather finally turned warm and sunny, so my neighbor came to begin cutting hay. He'd barely begun when he had to return to the gate to replace a broken shear pin. A few hours later, he went over a stump and had to replace a knife. This may look scenic and peaceful, but it's work which is not for the faint of heart:

 The field had already(!) grown to two feet high or more, and was so dense that cutting it was slow:

 But it was a beautiful day in a beautiful location. Life is good:

 And this hay looked like it will be spectacular:

Plants And Birds

Wild Blackberries burst into bloom everywhere I was unable to mow - or were they Black Raspberries? I went to the internet for some ID pointers, but found them scarce and difficult to use. Then I found a website which was wonderfully helpful and easy to use. It confirmed that I have Blackberries, not Black Raspberries. I highly recommend this site:

My north field was getting very tall and my neighbor decided it was time for its first cutting:

 It was so thick and heavy that it was slow and difficult to mow:

 This was some seriously tall, thick, lush, heavy hay! As of this writing, the first part of the field has been cut and will be turned over to dry (tedded) today. About 3/4 of the field remains to be cut:

 My Rugosa Roses suffered badly from a fungus last year, along with the apple trees and one of the Ninebark bushes. But this year they continued blooming faithfully:

 So far, I see no fungus except on the one Ninebark which was affected last year:

 The Variegated Weigela was a dead looking stick a few weeks ago. Now it is blooming!

 The white Peonies (and one new red one) are building up to a flowering frenzy:

 And the Snowball bushes are doing extraordinarily well:

 I had no Cliff Swallow nests under the milk room eaves this year - until now. I found two adjacent mud nests, filled with birds. As soon as I snapped this photo, 6 to 8 birds burst from those holes and flew around, scolding me. I hope they keep the biting flies in check. The cows and horses (and I) will be grateful:

 In the lawn and pasture are many of these tiny white flowers, each petal split into two. They are Lesser Stitchwort, a kind of Chickweed. The grass head is Redtop:

 And of course the big, beautiful Red Clover. 'Tis the season: