Saturday 31st December 2016

Very mild, misty and overcast.
Day spent clearing ready for the fencers next week. What some rubbish to clear first however.
Difficult working today as woke up with a stinker of a cold. I'm not happy.
            Jays, female woody and the usual array of birds busy today. Wren, dunnocks, goldfinches, greenfinch, chaffinches, blackbirds, robins, starlings, blue and great tits, doves and pigeons.
Foxy also about last night, no sign now of the hedgehogs for ten days so almost for sure have now hibernated.
Looking forward to tomorrow for a day in Poole for a concert by the Bournmouth Philarmonic Orchestra.

Friday December 30th 2016

Foggy & misty all day and much milder.
Doctor this morning, not good news, have the asbestos issue in my right lung. This comes after working with asbestos during the sixties.
Morrisons shop also this morning then rest of the day resting before a final clear up tomorrow of the ivy hedge.
                Good to see a male and female pied wagtail this afternoon, managed a photograph. The jay and female great spotted also about today.
Tried this afternoon to post photographs but sadly desktop having none of it. Configuring updates no doubt.

Thursday 29th December 2016

Blimey today was cold, hard frost, dry and sunny, another good winters day.
Yes, I managed a dawn walk. Was well worth the effort, the sunrise was amazing adding once again to the atmosphere on such a frosty morning. The barges were well fired up and actually moved on during my walk. Managed some fantastic photographs as they entered the lock in an atmosphere of smoke, darkness, misty, frosty then the sunrise. Mornings do not come better than this.
           Rest of the day was spent on the final removal of the ivy hedge fence. Managed it but my goodness what some clearing up to deal with. Fencers due next week so have a couple of days to sort it. Have decided on a skip to deal with the clearance.
No sunset walk today as worked until nearly 5pm. Missing the hedge already.
Rest day tomorrow so will sort some photographs to blog.

Wednesday 28th December 2016

A very cold and frosty day, very sunny adding to the wintery conditions.
Started the day with a dawn walk to Fobney Nature Reserve. What an atmospheric morning, stunning. Not the best sunrise I have experienced but still magical.
               After a welcome breakfast it was time to make a start on removing the ivy hedge/fence and my word, it was bl**dy cold. My fingers suffered frost bite for sure. The fence and hedge was also a lot thicker and heavier than I had envisaged, hard work. Managed 50% removal, now how do I dispose of it as to much to recycle at home.
               Finished the day by enjoying a sunset walk at Fobney late this afternoon. Like this morning it was stunning. With two barges fired up for evening warmth, the smell of burning wood just added to the atmosphere.
With a hard frost forecast for the morning again I wonder if I can manage another dawn walk?

Tuesday 27th December 2016

A colder day but still dry with sunny periods.
Met Sis and the family (12 of us) at Henry Street for breakfast. Always good to meet and catch up, children growing up so fast, youngest now 9. How did that happen.
              Just as we were leaving for Henry Street I checked the back door and whoa, a beautiful fox sitting there facing me just wanting its photograph taken. A stunning moment and lucky I had the camera with me. Pity about the glass reflection.
This afternoon lit the fire, poured a glass of whiskey and relaxed as tomorrow I start on the replacement fence project. Sadly the ivy hedge has to go due to the partial collapse from the shear weight of the ivy. Hate the idea of removing it but do still have the ivy hedge around the hide area.

Boxing Day Monday 26th December 2016

A day like yesterday, warm, dry and sunny.
Drove over to Rotten Green this morning to pick up Lulu and Clive. With a taxi booked for the return trip it meant we could all enjoy a few drinks and a few more!
Opened more pressies before dinner and my word, did my daughter do well or what. A fantastic pressy of a cctv hd colour camera for outside use. It is Handykam's latest product introduced a month ago. Lulu and Lorna apparently had a very interesting chat with the boys at Handykam before deciding on the swift box and cctv camera for me. I am one lucky chap.
After dinner we laughed our socks off playing the sock game. Now the Turners are known to be against games of any type but this one was something else.
It was soon 4pm and the arrival of the taxi. Another good day.

Christmas Day Sunday 25th December 2016

Warmest Christmas Day that I can remember. Temperature outside reached a high of 13c this afternoon. Also a dry day with limited sunny periods, like a Summer day then?
A lazy quiet day, a marvellous Christmas dinner, goose this year cooked to perfection by Mrs.T.
During the afternoon we found time to open a few pressies before falling asleep but thankfully was awake to hear the Queen's speech.
A great selection of pressies, a swift box, butterfly net, Handykam voucher, book on looking after hedgehogs and a selection of drinks.
Looking forward to receiving my pressy from Lulu tomorrow.

Christmas Eve Saturday 24th December 2016

Blustery overnight but day was mostly dry and overcast. Was a cracking sunset however.
Not much doing today as so excited about tomorrow. Chimney swept and cleared ready for Santa's decent.
Checked out two days worth of trail camera footage. No sign of hedgehogs so think they have now hibernated?
Must end blog now as need time to prepare sack, sherry and carrots...

Friday 23rd December 2016

On the dull side today and a little windy this afternoon.
Something not done before, walked into Caversham and back from the town using the new Christchurch Meadows footbridge. Enjoyed the walk, shame however it was so overcast and windy.
This afternoon spent time on desktop uploading the Kew Gardens photographs. Fair few to delete but still loads to enjoy. With lasers and flickering lights the poor camera was somewhat confused.
             As reported earlier this week I was pretty chuffed to see a pied wagtail after an absence of many years. Well today a second arrived and were happy to feed together, a pair perhaps?
Looking forward to an evening out with Sarah and Neil at the New Inn.

Thursday 22nd December 2016

Cold, dry a fair amount of sun today.
Enjoyed my second visit of the week to Lavers. Was invited by the manager today for a coffee. Five years today I retired, can't believe it. Do miss the the folks I worked with but hey, retirement is better.
Think I have caught up with all the gossip now to keep me going for a while.
              Enjoyed a fantastic afternoon and evening at the Festival of Light show at Kew Gardens. An amazing show covering a mile of walkways through the wood. The hive is an amazing piece of engineering and with the light show it was just magical. Despite the crowds you could clearly hear the humming. During the walk there was the opportunity to enjoy mulled wine and Minch pies, very Christmassy.
It was a wonderful evening, loved it.

Wednesday 21st December 2016

Another mild, dull and overcast day. Not at all seasonal.
Busy day, first thing my annual visit to Lavers admin' to see the girlies, weekly shop, collecting a music system from Janet and Colin and tonight looking forward to an evening at the Mullens.
What a boring blog....

Tuesday 20th December 2016

Mild, dull and overcast most of the day but what a cracking sunset.
Into town this morning for some last minute shopping. Mad what we buy at Christmas, I try and be rational and like to think I spend wisely but boy what some gimmicky stuff out there that shoppers are buying.
                  Back from town and a quality afternoon walking the reserve at Fobney. An amazing sunset, managed a cracking shot of the weir showing the mood of the afternoon with cracking reflection images. Posted tonight on 'Old Reading' site, what a response, most for a photograph I have posted on social media.
                    Before the walk I was chuffed to see a pied wagtail in the garden. A fair few in the area but first time in the garden for years.
Think perhaps hogs are now hibernating, second night of no action and very little food eaten. What food was eaten I think birds are the source.

Monday 19th December 2016

Dull all day with rain late afternoon into the evening.
Morning spent in the garden sweeping up oak leaves. Last tree to shed its leaves.
          At least one hedgehog was out last night at the bottom end of the garden.
On the bird feeder today were long tailed tits and the male great spotted.
Very surprised to see a dove taking twigs and flying over to a site a few doors down. Spent most of the morning on this task. Strange?
            Savitri and Ian popped in for afternoon tea, good to catch up and an excuse for me to switch on the tree lights!

Sunday 18th December 2016

Very mild, overcast most of the day. Stunning sunset however.
Day spent in the garden. Cut all this years hellebores leaves as next years growth already showing.
Loads of bulbs showing now, a little worrying especially if we encounter a hard winter now.
            Only one hedgehog out last night, will continue to monitor as will stop feeding once hibernating.
Male Sparrowhawk turned up at breakfast, no hit although a blue tit must be thanking its lucky stars.
Lunchtime I saw a strange happening in the dovecote. Spotted a tail sticking out, not a squirrel, it was a cat. Never seen that before, such a small opening, how did it manage to enter and how many times has it carried out this adventure before?
              This afternoon I enjoyed another walk at Fobney. The reflections and sunset were sublime, loved it. Lack of wildlife however, not even the heron.

Saturday 17th December 2016

Overcast but a very mild day. Warm actually.
Spent morning sorting through hundreds of trail camera images. The images confirmed both hedgehogs out feeding as was the fox.
Jays busy feeding on monkey nuts, male great spotted also feeding today.
                Enjoyed a walk this afternoon at Fobney. Reflections were magnificent. Never seen so many geese before on the reserve, the lake was packed with them. Hopefully they will move on as leave such a mess.

Friday 16th December 2016

Another mild but overcast day. Not like winter at all.
Daffodil bulbs are already showing and my alpine plants are making good growth. To early.
This afternoon paid our last visit of 2016 to Henry Street. Was packed, pleased actually as not many private garden centres about now. Visit was for nothing in particular but did purchase another ton of mealworms as hedgehogs still out each night.
Started to check my trail cameras today as not checked for a few days. At least two hedgehogs are about each night as is a fox.
Hopefully over the weekend I can upload these sd cards and start posting some photographs on this blog.

Thursday 15th December 2016

Very mild but dull and overcast all day.
Day spent at Salisbury. What a wonderful city. Just loved the medieval architecture, not spoilt in modern times as you see in so many towns. The cathedral was outstanding, had no idea it was so old. 10th century and the tradesmen worked wonders with so few tools at hand. I was totally in ore of this magnificent building.
Only just had enough time to walk around the Christmas Market, was good but found the medieval city much more interesting.