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.

A new roof

The thatching is going really well and has been an amazing experience.  I am so glad that the birds had all finished breeding - there are a lot of sparrows that nest in the eaves.  The thatching material is water reed, from Hungary.  It would have been wheat straw years ago, and I wonder if cottages here were ever thatched with common rush which grows so well - we have lots of it in various damp spots.  The ridge of the roof will be perfectly plain, following the typical old Devon style.

A moth with a hook on its back

This little moth settled on our door - we could not tell whether the pronounced hook that curved up was an appendage, or the moth's own tail, curled over its back.  Googling didn't help either!  Maybe someone will recognise it.

Living together

This jackdaw will have to look elsewhere for a new home now that our gable end is repaired.  There is new bargeboard and the 'wiggly tin' has all been sorted out and red oxide painted, as is traditional here.  The roof that the jackdaw is standing on will soon be newly thatched.  There are plenty of other places available for these birds, who have finished breeding for this year, and there is a limit to what we are prepared to put up with in the name of wildlife preservation.

Summer's come....and it's all go

What a change in the weather from last week - it's been really hot and it looks as if the fine weather may coincide with our thatching which is just about to start.  The scaffolding's up, which meant Paul could finish a couple of jobs on part of the roof, adding new bargeboard.  I took the opportunity of the temporary hole to throw this huge collection of twigs out of our roofspace.  It's jackdaws that have done this - we have seen it before when they are trying to build a nest.  They find a small hole that they think is suitable but don't understand the necessity for some sort of ledge, immediately inside, for the twigs to land on.  They simply keep on posting sticks through the hole which drop to the floor below (or, as in the case of a chimney, down to our register plate) and they never manage to make their nest.  If there was a ledge, they would stop when there were just s few sticks laid and get on with the egg-laying.

Rain, Ringlets and Rabbits

We had an impromptu barbecue on which the sun shone and the rain fell in equal measures.

The blackbirds that nest in the workshop complained about the activity/not being able to to get in under the door, and we had to decamp to further over in the yard.  It seems a good time was had by all, and we went for a nice ramble during which Darren took this great photograph of a Ringlet butterfly.  There are very many, fluttering out of the grasses as we walk.

  He also got a lovely shot of one of our wild bunnies who are always out on our back lawn.  They've had a scary couple of days with a visiting dog whose sole aim in life seemed to be to eat one of them. Our old dog doesn't bother about them at all.

Roses

We've had a very warm day and all the grass has been cut including the field path, which was very difficult with long sappy growth after all the rain.
This rose on our 9' wall is always spectacular.  It is "Bobbie James", a huge rambler which we have two of, the other one is climbing a couple of small trees at the bottom of the yard.   It has huge trusses of flower; one stem this year with 100 buds on it.  The bright pink rose is a suckering Rugosa which pops up all along just there and even on the other side of the wall.  There is honeysuckle all mixed up with it so the evening scent is lovely.