Thursday 28th December 2017

Hard overnight frost. Very cold and sunny today. Lovely day.
A day not doing much. Did catch up on looking at all the trail cam SD cards, reformatting and resetting ready for the period we are away over New Year.
Just a fox and mammals running about the decking.
Funny how days go, no sign today of magpies, jays, woodpeckers or the pied wagtail. Plenty of activity from all the other more regular birds.
Giving some serious thought now on my 2017 Garden Wildlife book. Thinking of creating two books. One on Garden Wildlife covering 2017and one on the Fox family and dragonflies which were the highlight of this years wildlife. Can't wait to get started.

Wednesday 27th December 2017

Sprinkling of snow on awaking this morning. Day cold, windy and wet.
Met the family for breakfast at Henry Street this morning. Good to catch up and to learn what young teens received from 🎅.
Looked around the store for end of year bargains but nothing of interest for me, it was all predictably Christmas stuff.
On arriving home I cleaned out the fire and relayed for an afternoon by the fire. Was also an excuse for another glass of whisky or two.
                 Did not check the SD cards today so unsure what was about last night. Was good however to see a pied wagtail in the garden this morning. Stayed for some while ground feeding. Interestingly it was December 2016 it last first arrived. Stayed into the Spring this year bringing young to feed. Already looking good for 2018.

Boxing Day Tuesday 26th December 2017

Mild but overcast day, wet this afternoon and evening.
Enjoyed Lulu and Clive's company today, whisky disappearing at an alarming rate. On the Aberfeldy whisky today.
Tomorrow meet up with Jill's (sister) lot at Henry Street for breakfast.

Christmas Day Monday 25th December 2017

Very mild but overcast and very windy and wet tonight.
Enjoyed dinner at the Pack Horse, great service and atmosphere. Back home and settled by the fire with a glass of whisky ready to see what gifts were left by Santa last night.
Two top pressies, a book listing over 3000 photographs of U.K. Moths. Most comprehensive moth book I have seen. No excuse now for not identifying any moths photographed in the garden.
A top notch cedar birdbox set up with a colour camera was the second top pressy. Will fix this up once back from our New Year break.
Was a good relaxing day, look forward to seeing Lulu and Clive tomorrow.

Christmas Eve Sunday 24th December 2017

Mild and overcast day.
The Leaping Frog 🐸 decorated and open. Day spent relaxing and reflecting and enjoying the odd whisky.
             Good to see the male great spotted woodpecker this afternoon, that is the pair seen this week so good news.
I build a new drey box complete with camera and what happens, tufty is spotted climbing out from under the dovecote roof. How on earth did it manage that?
              Surprise visit tonight from Leilani and Celie, lovely to see them and catching up on University news, boyfriend gossip like!
Happy Christmas.

Saturday 23rd December 2017

Very mild but overcast day. Not at all seasonal.
A day not doing a lot, bit of tidying both inside and out. Last minute wrapping of presents then a glass of whiskey to kick start the Christmas Festivities.
Did enjoy an evening with the neighbours for drink and nibbles. 
               Trail cameras once again showed the one fox and mouse out last night. Would not surprise me if the hedgehogs woke up with the weather so mild?

Friday 22nd December 2017

Even milder today, temperature reached 14c this afternoon.
Installed  uplighting to the robinia tree this morning so with this and the uplighting to the silver birch tree, snow machine and bandstand lights the garden certainly now competes with Kew!?
Pretty pleased with the result.
On checking out the trail camera SD cards for the past week nothing unusual occurred just confirming the fox and mouse were out every night.
               Late this afternoon I went into town to photograph the towns Christmas lights. Not much to speak of, same decorations for last five years at least. No winter wonderland this year, no Christmas market just the odd log cabin in Broad Street selling food. Reflections looked good along the Kennet however.

Image 1 - Thanks for that Foxy.
     "    2 - Tufty confused by the tripod structure?
     "    3 - Foxy with an egg.
"  4 & 5 - Look for the eyes.
"   6 - 9 - Reading Town Christmas Lights.
10 & 11 - Garden Christmas Lights.

Thursday 21st December 2017

Another very mild day with temperature again this afternoon reaching 13c.
A trip to Henry Street this morning stocking up on coal anticipating some cold weather this coming winter.
           Lunchtime met at the University Statistical Services Centre for a final goodbye. Very emotional as been part of our lives for over thirty years. Made some really good friends over this period and felt it a privilege to be invited back for the 'goodbye'. The University closed the department today making the current staff redundant. It was goodbye University but not goodbye statistics as the redundant staff have regrouped and set up their own statistical services company. After group photographs we moved on to Savitri and Ian's home for a well prepared lunch. It was an afternoon of reminiscing big time.

Wednesday 20th December 2017

Unseasonably warm, temperature this afternoon 13c.
Day doing Christmasy things like erecting and decorating the Christmas tree.
Met Lulu and Clive tonight for the annual Christmas get together. Enjoyed a meal at the Rising Sun pub in Dummer. A good night.

Tuesday 19th December 2017

A very hard overnight frost giving way to a superb winters day.
A day visiting/delivering and final trip of the year to Henry Street for bags of coal.
Being out most of the day means not much to report on Garden Wildlife. Lunchtime was somewhat exciting watching a pair of magpies, a pair of jays and a pair of squirrels fighting over a few monkey nuts. All were desperate to clinch what was left. Just not able to take photographs due to the rapid movement, strong low sun and me behind glass in the conservatory. May set up a trail camera?

Monday 18th December 2017

Cold and sunny, a beautiful day.
A day doing Christmas things, wrapping etc.
Some good photographs today of a blue tit and female great spotted woodpecker feeding together from the peanut feeder.
Very surprised at the number of dunnocks in the garden. Overtaken sparrows now for sure. A wren was busy feeding/drinking from the conservatory guttering this afternoon. Trail cameras once again showed a fox and mouse out last night.

Image 1 - Female great spotted woodpecker and blue tit.
    "     2 - A wren in the guttering.
    "     3 - One of many dunnocks.
    "     4 - Blue Tit.

Sunday 17th December 2017

Not a bad morning. Woke to a hard frost and beautiful sunrise. This afternoon a different matter however, very wet.
A day indoors wrapping family presents. Can't wait for the onset of Spring. I do enjoy the Christmas period actually, the Pantomime with Julie, Darren and the girls, the London Christmas Lights, the Kew Gardens Music & Light Festival and the pre Christmas pub dinner with Lulu and Clive all make for memorable occasions.

Saturday 16th December 2017

Cold and sunny day.
Day spent installing tree uplighting and snowfall lighting. Was inspired by the Kew Gardens light display last year. Amazing help from the Internet! A great success, will add further lights for next year.

Friday 15th December 2017

Cold and sunny day, nice.
No more health bulletins for fear of boring you!?
Day indoors checking out holiday photographs. Say it myself, some stunning coastline images in the collection of images. With strong winds, sun and bright blue sky it was ideal conditions for photography.
The light festival at Eden and the food festival at Padstow also an opportunity for some good photographs.

Thursday 14th December 2017

Much better day. Cold and dry.
This morning unpacked and made a start on checking out the hundreds of trail camera images.
One bit of interest was a pair of foxes eating from the same bowl on just one evening.
            Decided to visit Kew Gardens tonight despite not being well. Pre-booked tickets, have lost enough money this year on me cancelling events. Pleased we visited, think the cold actually helped. The light and music mile walk around Kew was superb. Thought last year was good. An annual event for us now I think?

Wednesday 13th December 2017

Wet and miserable from Cornwall to Reading.
Despite being so unwell I managed to drive home today. Took all day but thought best we got home.
Just hope I do not end up back in hospital again, desperate to avoid.

Tuesday 12th December 2017

Dry and mild with a fair amount of sun.
Driving home today did not happen. Have not felt so unwell for years.

Monday 11th December 2017

Cold and rather blustery with sun most of the day.
Bedruthan Steps and coastline today. So dramatically brilliant. Never seen surf conditions like it and with a pure blue sky backdrop it made for some stunning photographs.
A bit of fine dining tonight, eating at the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow. As usual and what you would expect it was a superb evening. Finished the evening with a walk around the harbour, holiday now at an end, home tomorrow.
Am suffering one of the worst colds for a long time so driving home could be difficult. Will just take my time however long it takes.

Images 1 & 2 - Bedruthan Steps.
     "             3 - Fine Dining at the Seafood Restaurant.
     "       4 - 6 - Padstow Harbour.

Sunday 10th December 2017

A beautiful day. Sunny, reasonably mild but gale force wind made it difficult to walk.
A visit to Port Isaac today after a roast dinner at a gem of a pub at St.Issey. The pub also had a farm in the village and all meat is from the farm, does not get better than that.
Last visited Port Isaac in 2015, it was so foggy I didn't realise it had a harbour! Today could see the Harbour in such clear conditions but was forced to walk at 45 degrees due to the strong winds. Really enjoyed the brazing conditions however, am sure there will be a return visit.

Images 1 & 2 - Ring o Bells at St. Issy.
      "       3 - 8 - Port Isaac.

Friday 8th December 2017

My word, that was cold today. Sorry I meant freezing. First lot of snow this season this afternoon, walking in a blizzard not good but at the end of the long walk/climb to reach the Eden Project it proved to be well worth it.
What a night, difficult for me to put into words but the music and light festival was so incredibly brilliant. At times rather emotional as reminded me of the years I attended WOMAD Festivals.
Finished the night with a welcome meal at the Cornish Arms which is our local when staying in Padstow.
               Before driving to Eden this afternoon we called into Handykam where I presented them with my two latest garden wildlife books. Mike visits schools in the area and thought the books would help in explaining to children what can be seen in ones garden if you look closely and what can be seen at night by modern camera technology.
Another good day. Padstow Food Festival tomorrow.

Images 1 - 9 - Eden Project music and light festival.
     "          10 - Presenting Mike (Handykam) with my two latest garden wildlife books.