Another winters day. Very cold with temperature reaching a high of 7c again. Only good news was the lack of rain. Yellow warning was lifted at lunchtime for the area.
With no rain it allowed me to get the gravel laid and levelled. Looking good. Require a few large rocks now to finish the project.
Sparrows busy feeding all day, exciting times. Hope they breed and we get the numbers up like we experienced some years ago.
Female pied wagtail still busy feeding young, no sign of the male however.
A bird I thought was a chiffchaff, that apparently is not appeared today on a few occasions. As yet still not identified.
Chiffchaff that isn't is a female house sparrow. How good is that.
Image 1 - Female pied wagtail.
" 2 - Male sparrow.
" 3 - Female sparrow.
" 4 - Starling all fluffed up and nowhere to go.
" 5 - Project pond, gravel now laid.
Winter conditions, very cold. Temperature 7c at its warmest this afternoon.
Day spent on project pond. Scalpings laid and levelled now so all ready for the gravel. Yellow warning for Reading tomorrow so not sure when this will get done.
Female pied wagtail busy collecting food for young so hopefully will see the young appear on the lawn before long.
A couple of sparrows were clearly mating this morning, really good news this. Never seen so many goldfinches in the garden as I have this year.
Image 1 - Scalpings laid - project pond.
" 2 - Goldfinches.
Heavy overnight rain but thankfully stayed dry during the day. Temperature back into single figures.
Scalpings and gravel was delivered early this morning so was able to put in a full days work. 75% of the scalpings are spread, should finish this part of the job tomorrow. Almost gave up as clearly unable to push a barra like what I used to.
Surprise of the day was a yellow flower emerging from the pond yellow allium lily. First time it has flowered in seven years.
On my final walk of the night last night I came across two hedgehogs on the decking, luckily I had a torch and camera so was able to capture the moment.
Image 1 - 3 - Hedgehogs on the decking last night.
" 4 - Scalpings and gravel delivered.
" 5 - A start on the scalpings - pond project.
" 6 - Yellow pond lily.
What a bloody miserable day. Wet more or less all day. Snow is even forecast for this weekend. Give us a break please.
Day with family for Joan's funeral.
Very warm day.
Day spent working on project gravel. All level so ready for the hard work of shifting gravel from front garden to site. Gravel and scalping due for delivery over the weekend ready for a start next week.
Managed a stunning photograph of an orange tip butterfly. It landed on my thumb and stayed for ages. Camera was around my neck so managed a photograph left handed.
A male great spotted woodpecker appeared tonight on the fat feeder, again I was very close to the feeder and again had the camera around my neck!
Image 1 - Orange tip butterfly.
" 2 - Male great spotted woodpecker.
" 3 - Project pond - ground levelled and steps fixed.
Mild day.
Made a start on levelling out the ground ready for project gravel in the pond area.
Cut the lawns this afternoon as rain is due by the end of the week.
Nothing really to report re wildlife. Still the fox and three hedgehogs out each night. Not a single nest box being used. No signs of nesting elsewhere, no moths in the moth trap. Strange year?
Mild day. Brightened up by this afternoon.
No garden wildlife reporting today, out most of the day.
Spent a few hours looking around the newly refurbished MERL. Hard to believe my hard work from my time working at MERL in the sixties are all still on display. Although decades ago that I worked there it felt at times I was still working in my workshop. It was actually an emotional day visiting the museum.
Relaxing in the observatory tonight I was aware of a weird noise outside. It was three microlight machines flying overhead. On noticing I was taking photographs two of the pilots flew down as low as they could waved and proceeded to give me an aerial display. Was brilliant to watch.
Image 1 - 4 - Microlight display.
" 5 - 9 - MERL.
Much cooler today and rather breezy.
Day with Ian and Savitri with lunch at the Pack Horse.
Good day for garden wildlife with one exception. I have an infestation of lily beetles this year. Removed sixteen today, the most in a day. On average two or three per day.
Image 1 - Lily beetles.
" 2 - Bug hotel completed with cut sunflower stems that had dried over winter.
" 3 - Blackbird collecting lunch for the young.
" 4 - Pied wagtail collecting food for the young.
" 5 - Spiders hatched this morning on the back door frame. Been nurturing all over winter.
" 6 - A stand off between a cat and hedgehog.
" 7 - Foxy enjoying some hedgehog food.
" 8 - Goodnight spike.
" 9 - A touch of hedgehog romancing.
Hot day, superb.
Day spent working on project decking, replacing the steps to the bridge. As I may have mentioned I have now changed the design of this project. Rather than replace with further decking this area will now be gravelled down to the waters edge. With the pond handrails now removed it lends itself now for gravel and large stones.
Another very warm day.
Visited the Reading Cheese Festival at Forbury Gardens. I did nothing but moan, proper 'cheesed' off Lorna.
A cheese festival and advertised as a cheese festival but no, what they meant to advertise was an event to purchase cheese from just one cheese outlet (meaning not a lot of choice) and dozens of fast food outlets and a bar. Not even a coffee stall. Back by popular demand it advertised, yea right.
Was glad to get back home to enjoy the garden in such delightful weather.
Very warm day, hot actually.
Day spent with cousin June, sitting in their delightful garden and a lunch at Mapledurham Golf Course.
What a glorious day for visiting Kent. Pretty hot this afternoon with temperature reaching a high of 30c, hottest day of the year apparently.
Enjoyed lunch at Hever Hotel before visiting Ightham Mote, a thirteenth medieval manor house. Absolutely magnificent surrounded by the most stunning woodlands and gardens.
Was just a tad hot for walking about, sad we have to complain about the sun after weeks of cold and wet weather?
Before leaving this morning I checked the moth trap, one moth. Will identify tomorrow, not one I have seen before.
Image 1 - Moth (not identified).
" 2 - Hever Hotel.
" 3 - 8 - Ightham Mote.
Very warm and sunny all day.
Day spent working on the project decking. Hot work. All remains of the rotten decking now removed and placed on the wood pile. Made a start on the steps that will be required before the final levelling.
That is it for a few days now as have a lot going on from family visits to two funerals. Not a good month.
Really good news re butterflies today. A peacock, brimstone, orange spot and a small blue butterfly were in the garden most of the day. Sadly no photographs.
Have set the moth trap tonight, first time this year. Fingers crossed for a good result.
Warm and sunny day.
Hospital appointments today, nothing to worry about, just follow ups.
Hopefully tomorrow I can spend a little time in the garden working on the project decking.
Warm and sunny most of the day.
A day catching up after the holiday, shopping, unpacking cases and checking out thousands of SD images. 5933 trail camera images and 807 holiday images, no great surprises with garden wildlife. A pair of hedgehogs are still romancing and the one fox which is a female was out every night.
Will be a couple of days I think before I am back to normal blogging, have hospital appointments and a day out in Kent during this week.
A very warm day again turning hot by this afternoon.
After breakfast it was a final goodbye as we departed by coach to the city of Bruges giving us plenty of time to explore the canals, cobbled streets, chocolate and lace shops. A stunning city and again as weather so good the city was buzzing with tourists. I fell in love with Bruges, will return someday I think. Stopped for a coffee and fruit waffle before boarding the coach for the 90 minute drive to to Calais and the real world.
Images 1 - 11 - Bruges.
" 12 - The real world.
