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).