Gardens and Birds

I spent all yesterday afternoon in the garden, a rare luxury.  But I was attacking the grass, which in the warm damp weather we had here whilst we were in France has grown rampant.  The paths around the veg beds are now usable and I managed to cut as far as the snail gate leading to the lane, i.e. to the top of the garden.  A great sense of achievement, especially as I was badly stung by nettles.  I also trimmed edges and tidied the chard and the broccoli, both badly attacked by snails/slugs.  My habit of using empty snail shells as caps for poles is clearly not working as a deterrent.  

And walking through the garden in the early evening, tidying the woodpile, I saw a peregrine flying very low and very fast into the house martins feeding around the church.  It swooped across the cemetery from the woods on the hill, but didn't catch anything.  We watched it fly back into the trees.  Then this morning I saw a great spotted woodpecker on the tree over by the old hearse house in the churchyard.  I stood and watched it through the binoculars for several minutes.  A lovely morning, warm and sunny.