Saturday 30th June 2018

Very hot and sunny.
Day spent making a new door for the shed store. Job done, looks good. Also secured the hide door, was not happy with my first attempt.
Not able to report on wildlife due to me working at bottom end of the garden.

Friday 29th June 2018

Very hot and sunny.
Visit to B&Q this morning for a drill so I could start with dealing with the door repairs and door re-building. A bit hot for this type of work.
An issue this afternoon when trying to repair the shed door, bumble bees have taken over the shed and would not leave me alone. Scary. Will have another arrempt tomorrow. Cabin shed door and hide door frame repaired and now functional.
           Good to see a black clock beetle in the garden, not seen one before. Not much else to report today as spent time mostly in sheds!
              

Thursday 28th June 2018

Very hot and sunny.
Trip to Henry Street this afternoon to price up garden tools, wheelbarrow and sack truck.
Police gave me the ok to enter my outbuildings to assess damage and to record missing items.
            Great to see a young mistle thrush in the garden, spent a fair while in the bird bath. Plenty of butterflies about today but sadly no photographs. Hover flies are loving the thistles now they are in flower. 

Wednesday 27th June 2018

Hot and sunny day.
Missing the trail camera recordings. Still trying to work out what has been taken. Noticed my sash cramps have gone along with a box of scissors.
This is going to take a while to sort.
           Managed a half decent photograph of a comma butterfly this morning. Red tailed bees still attracted to the moth trap. Nest is definitely in last years foxes den, very active during the day.
This morning spotted a wasp taking out a dragonfly as it emerged from the pond. Landed on the gravel path. Cut the body in two dragging the pieces away at speed. Just the head and wings left of the dragonfly. I was absolutely bob smacked.

Tuesday 26th June 2018

Very hot, 35c showing today.
Most of the day spent at the community centre, it was the re-opening after a major refurbishment to now include the library, children's centre, playgroup, cafe, museum, well being church and meeting rooms.
There was a ribbon cutting ceremony following a speech by the Mayor of Reading.
After the opening ceremony there was a guided tour of the complex before a sandwich lunch on the house.
                   Police are moving on with our burglary, have informed me there are two witnesses but sadly they didn't think to dial 999. A waiting game at the moment. Still unable to access the outbuildings.

Monday 25th June 2018

Hot and sunny. Temperature showing 35c this afternoon.
Not the best of days, in the early hours of the morning my complete garden wildlife camera monitoring system was stolen along with numerous other items. As you can imagine there is a lot for me to sort out before I am up and running again.
                 Not much to report today but can confirm another day of butterfly activity, birds are feeling the heat with blackbirds and dunnocks particularly feeling it. Surprisingly no action in the pond.

Thanks for your call tonight Boyo, much appreciated.

Sunday 24th June 2018

Hot day, sunny all day and right into the evening. A most stunning sunset.
Didn't do a lot today. A day of relaxation except for some watering.
Plenty of butterflies about but not much success in photographing them. Loads of bees in the moth trap, also a fair few moths.
Two foxes and two hedgehogs out last night. Great spotted woodpecker feeding young today in the silver birch tree. Jays also being fed in the said tree.
No dragonfly/damselfly action today, a little surprising.
Busy week ahead, hope I will manage a few hours enjoying the garden.

Saturday 23rd June 2018

Very warm day, bit cooler tonight.
Day in the garden and what a day. A year ago to the day dragonflies started emerging from the pond and what happens today? Southern hawker dragonflies started emerging today. Four that I witnessed.
Managed to almost time lapse a series of images of one of the dragonflies as it emerged from the pond and subsequently its casing. Amazing to watch again. A right time waster but I loved it.

Friday 22nd June 2018

Very warm day and well into the evening.
Kerry here for the day, last time here about 30 years ago. Wildlife came out to welcome her, the two young squirrels, the Jays, woodpeckers, dunnocks and pied wagtail.
On call over the weekend now as Kerry enjoys visits to friends and family.
           Enjoyed an evening of theatre at Sonning Mill with Sue and Jorge.  The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie.

Thursday 21st June 2018

Very warm and sunny all day and well into the evening.
A visit to Henry Street this morning for gravel and alpine plants compost.
Relaxed this afternoon, entertained by the wildlife. Jay and jackdaw eyeball to eyeball, damselflies, scarlet tiger moth flying about this afternoon, red tailed bees busy with their colony and the great spotted woodpecker.

Wednesday 20th June 2018

Very warm and sunny day.

Day spent with Lulu at their Toll House. Planted four hydrangea shrubs brought on by cuttings I raised over the winter/spring.

Just love their home in the wood. So much wildlife, just in the field opposite as many hares as you can count. The views of the rolling Hampshire Countryside just beautiful on such a lovely day/evening.

Once Clive arrived home we enjoyed an evening dinner at The Red Brick, their local pub.

Will have to rely on the trail cameras for today's wildlife.

Tuesday 19th June 2018

Very warm and sunny day and well into the evening.
Strengthened the steps to the hide that were falling apart. Made a start the other day, job now complete.
Lunchtime a swarm of honey bees arrived in my neighbors magnolia tree. The noise as they flew in was incredible. Not being an expert in such matters I rang the local bee association who responded promptly. The swarm was deep inside the tree so was difficult to deal with. The only way was to cut out some branches. The swarm was placed in a large box, the queen bee was among the swarm so the box was pretty active as stray bees attempted to access the box. It soon became apparent a second queen bee was about as another swarm was soon to appear, bees were appearing from the direction of our garden. This second swarm was quickly dealt with.
The chaps were here almost three hours, very interesting afternoon. 
I took the opportunity of asking about the red tailed bees that have taken over the moth trap. It was suggested there was a colony close by and the warmth and light of the trap was causing confusion. Was advised to place a large flower pot over the entrance to last years fox den which is close to the trap.
After clearing the conservatory of bees that were clearly part of the swarm I proceeded to place a large clay pot over the said entrance. In doing so I was aware of being surrounded by red tailed bees, they were in fact using a hole under a branch close to the den. Indeed there is clearly a colony. 
I still have the bumblebees being very active in the lawn, think I should invest in a bee keepers outfit?

Monday 18th June 2018

Very warm and sunny day.
A day out with John and Hillary, enjoyed a lunch at the Pack Saddle. First time of using this pub and certainly one to recommend.
On the way home we experienced the nearest you can get to an accident, very scary.

Back home to some good wildlife. A yellow brimstone, four Jays so think this must be young, pied wagtail, young dunnocks, young goldfinches, young blue tits and the great spotted woodpecker.

Sunday 17th June 2018

Warm day but not so sunny.
Two projects completed today. A job to describe, upused an arched piece of trellis in the alpine garden and used some branches to create a framework for an old mirror. This mirror was ordinarily in the house some 40 years ago, now hanging on the fence overlooking the pond. Works well.
            Wildlife today was all about young dunnocks. What a thrill to watch, very funny at times as the little darlings were so confused by their reflections in the observatory door. One also fell off the chair when trying to strengthen its wings. Good to see dunnocks breeding here, hope the sparrows do likewise.
The mouse rescued by the girls sadly died this afternoon, it was across the doorway to its house so clearly was trying to leave. Camera still set to monitor any further activity.
Moth trap had even more red tailed bees, really puzzled by this. Next step to contact the bee association I think.

Saturday 16th June 2018

Very warm and sunny.
Busy day, this morning attended the re-opening ceremony of Reading Abbey after a closure of nine years. I last visited in 1164 at the actual opening of the Abbey! A great job has been carried out in the preservation of the Abbey along with up to date information signage boards. Very impressive. Absolutely packed with visitors so will visit again soonish to study the info' boards.
This afternoon visited the annual Water Festival, a flotilla of narrowboats and stalls along chestnut walk promoting and selling all things local. Once again this festival delivered and with such perfect weather as a bonus.
           Arrived home pretty exhausted, what a welcome home however. Looked out the kitchen window to see a parakeet and a jackdaw on the feeder. Have never ever seen a jackdaw here before. What a day.

Image 1 & 2 - Jackdaw.
    "             3 - Small magpie moth in a hydrangea shrub.
    "             4 - Parakeet and a great spotted woodpecker on the feeder.
    "             5 - Parakeet.
    "     6 - 12 - Reading Abbey.
    "   13 - 18 - Water Festival.
    "   19 - 20 - Reading Abbey.