A day at the beach

We went to Putsborough on a rather cloudy but mild September day. Beautiful - quiet, unspoilt, safe - perfect for children, and the child in me took my lovely old spade and made a sandcastle. The rock formations and sand pools are amazing and I poked about in the strand line, picking up driftwood and strangely patterned stones.

Our Spotted Flycatchers

They're here every year - late in building the nest, compared to other birds. It all starts in July, but the speed with which they complete the nest, lay the eggs and raise their babies is astonishing!! I took these pictures today of the last youngster to fledge - it just sat on the edge of the nest, looking at me. I think there were four or five there yesterday. The nests are always built about 6 - 7 feet from the ground, on the sheltered and shaded side of a wall or building. Just as well; this year the parent was sitting on the eggs in record breaking temperatures. We had some rain last week, just enough to fill up the water butts and now we're right back in the heatwave.

Brown Hare

I'm thrilled to have seen a hare - not only seen, but was able to watch her for ten minutes whilst she grazed along the open field, about 15 yards away from me. I was standing on the step-ladder in my 'hide' when she just appeared on the right. She would walk a step with her front legs and then the back legs would catch up with a hop. She had the most amazing ears; huge, with black tips and dark inside, and they were almost constantly moving, scanning around, and she frequently put her head up, making the most of her almost 360 degree vision.

The time was 9.50pm - quite late, but still bright out in the field. Didn't have my camera with me!

I filled in a sightings form for the Hare Preservation people, and had a couple of friendly and informative emails from them.
(...and, by the way, it is still SO hot...!)

Amadeus - our red rose

I've tried on and off for years to identify this rose. I grew it from a cutting which I cheekily took from a public park in Denmark, about 25 years ago. Yesterday, looking again on the internet I decided it must be 'Amadeus'.

Anyway, it is the reddest-ever floribunda climber, sweetly scented, which has absolutely thrived against the east wall of our old house.  It's a strong climber but the flower trusses are so heavy that some of them hang down, giving us such a good view of the rich red, velvety, regal flowers. It positively glows.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker

We heard him just outside; he was hammering on the bird table. I started to take pictures with the ipad and was very surprised when he hopped onto this delphinium spike and started to probe between and in the flowers - maybe he thought the central black markings in the flowers were insects. These woodpeckers spend quite a lot of time drilling holes in our old house but we still love to see them, and are amazed that he came so close. (think I may have done something wrong as this bit of film doesn't want to play for me on here; however if you enlarge it you can see the bird on the flower spike quite well)
...and we are still getting this wonderful summer weather, with such beautiful evenings; I have been out late often, and seen the roe deer and the barn owl.

Bats

There was a bat in our bedroom at 11pm last night - it made me jump, though I've never minded them. I always put the light on as I walk into the room, and the bat was fluttering round and round at about my eye level; I quickly put the light out, closed the door and went down again for assistance. Paul went to put the outside yard lights on and I went back to open the window wide - it was already open about 6". The bat circled again, but as soon as I moved away from the window it flew out. It was big, I wonder what sort it was.
That's the third time in 21 years that we have had a bat indoors. There was one on the hall ceiling once, which went out on its own, and one that was settled on the bathroom washbasin; it looked like a crumpled piece of black velvet. I picked it up in a duster and launched it from the door (because they are supposed not to be able to take off from the ground - I suppose that's why it was stuck, having landed on the basin).

Proper hot

Nothing dramatic to write about, except the recent very warm weather, which culminated in a swelteringly hot day yesterday. We had a lovely afternoon with friends, enjoying some lovely food and making music. As we left their village a hare crossed the road in front of us - we very rarely see one - he hurried along the opposite verge and then jumped into the hedge. It must have been the hottest day for many years. Today, we noticed that our industrial-standard garden hose had blistered in the heat.
A few days ago I positioned a couple of paving slabs to catch the sun, in the hope that I may see a slow worm or grasssnake sunbathing. I've put them both next to long grass, in places that will not be disturbed.  Haven't seen anything yet, though I know we have both species.

Here's one of the slabs -

The drama outside

A sunny spring day - almost warm, so the kitchen door stood open this morning. I heard the sudden panic-stricken screeching of a caught bird and rushed out, clapping and shouting as I ran. I knew it was a sparrowhawk attack - I know they have to eat but I can't bear to hear them killing something.There were feathers floating high in the air above the ivy covered wall, and I picked up the clothes-prop,  rattling it in the ivy to scare off the hawk, which I couldn't see and supected was on our neightbour's side of the wall. I couldn't leave to go round there knowing that it would only take a quiet couple of seconds for the job to be finished. I yelled for Paul to come, and he wielded the prop so that I could run next door. In a moment he called me back " it's here!" - a female blackbird, on the ground on our side of the wall, and he had seen the sparrowhawk fly off. She squeezed behind a flower tub; I carefully sought her out; her heart was beating so hard. I put her back down; it seemed cold down there in the shade and I went to get a warm hot water bottle to help revive her. When I picked her up again her head drooped, and she was gone. There was a wound on her side.  I laid her on the earth of the flower tub and went back indoors.
A short time later Paul went to see, asking me what I had done with her. We both went to look - she'd gone.  Did the sparrowhawk come back for her? or did she recover?

The Beast from the East

Thus was the expected weather styled; very dramatically, and we took the warnings to heart. Logs were chopped over the days before, and we brought enough indoors so that we could even avoid a trip down the yard. Online shopping arrived the day before the snow, the bird feeders were topped up and I brought the yard broom and shovel into the kitchen.
The north east wind howled around us, sporadically bringing snow before settling into several hours of blizzard.
Jeff braved it, but hurried back in. The Rayburn temperature drops when the wind's in the East but the woodburner was going flat out and we kept an eye on the news. The next morning there seemed no more snow; I shovelled away a small drift outside the back door and cautiously tested the glazed tarmac that was bare from the wind coming round the corner. It was treacherously slippery. Jeff wanted to go out; although he has 4 legs but he went straight over. He's too old to raise himself up from spreadeagled - I crawled to him (didn't dare to stand up) and pulled him back to the snow, where he managed to get up.  The wind was as icy and strong as ever. The snow had a thick crunchy crust on top. We had more snow during the day; I developed a technique with Jeff; put his harness on and only walked him on crusted snow - I could control where he went, and if he did fall I could more easily haul him to better footing and get him back up.
The birds flocked to the feeders; they were blown this way and that, slipping over on the ice; I watched them from the window. The blackbird crouched every time she stopped; to keep her legs warm or to prevent being blown over?  There was far less arguing; they were all desperate to eat.
We've had a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers coming - they are so smart.

Very blurry picture of the G S Woodpecker

I made a snowman but he only lasted a day before the thaw

Aha, that must be the Beast from the East

I'm back...

It's not the right way to do things; start a blog or diary and then stop, or leave huge gaps..... over a year since the last entry.... that's a bit extreme. But I only ever did it for myself, so what? Far from increasing the amount that I recorded, the blog had the effect of finishing it off altogether. I used to write notes in a little book but haven't even managed that recently because of feeling that it should be on the blog, and then never managing either.

As I sit here drinking my morning cup of tea and watching the birds coming to the feeders and being so glad that it's a bit warmer, I suddenly managed to log in again and write this.  I wonder if I'll keep it up.