10th April 2017 Nesting mayhem!

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Monday 10th 47F, 8C, breezy and dark grey with possible rain. There is a threat of sunshine in the forecast. Blowing a gale with the sky rushing over as I walked up to the woods and back along the marsh. Heard a Chiffchaff and the terrifying bellows and deep "barks" of a deer. [?] I keep watching YouTube videos claiming to be deer noises but none of them sound anything like the noises I hear so regularly. Loud, almost dog-like but often deeper and much softer edged sounds than any dog bark I have ever heard. Lots of variations too and it can go on for some time, almost as if they were talking. YT recordings of Roe and Red deer just don't sound remotely like this. Not a wolf, fox or badger noise either. A 7 mile shopping trip. Cruising fairly effortlessly at 17mph going like the wind. 7-10mph coming back home against it.

Tuesday 11th 38-45F, 3-7C, bright and breezy.

How difficult can it be to persuade lorry drivers to lock their vehicles in the name of security surrounding a weapon of mass destruction? Or, are lorries like so many roaring and stinking, diesel cars? Which must be left running outside supermarkets because they will never start again?

Those who would kill innocent people for a cause, have no cause. They have only their shared lunacy and criminality for company. There is no defense, no empty excuses, nor petty justification for such actions. The victims can have absolutely nothing in common, except for their involuntarily shared [human] DNA. However you care to label it, your crime is always the mass murder of innocents. Always while the balance of your mind was severely disturbed. Get a real life! Not take them from others, far more deserving than you. Who would carelessly discard yours, in exchange for a carefully fabricated delusion of bloated, ephemeral, self-importance.   

I had a three mile walk around the block in bright sunshine and a cold wind. The traffic seems lighter than usual. Perhaps it is extended Easter holidays for some. A large, brown bird of prey rose from beside a field pond and disappeared into the nearby woods. Spent the morning and afternoon  trimming overhanging trees.

Wednesday 12th 46F, breezy, dark grey and raining. No walk today. It cleared up a bit after lunch so I risked a ride to the shops. Just as I was loading the bags outside the last supermarket it started raining quite hard. Then kept it up all the way home until I turned into the drive. Only 7 miles.

It's getting like Piccadilly Circus out in the garden. Birds are nesting all over the place. Including a Wren just above the front door. My wife even had to break up a scrap between territorial Magpies and a male Kestrel this afternoon. There is a large and amazingly perfect nest in the hedge beside the shed. We think it's a blackbird but nobody is willing to admit to it so far. There are so many blackbirds it is difficult to keep an eye on all of them. We even have one male with a white, lance corporal's stripe on its wing.

Thursday 13th 45F, grey and breezy. Just a brisk walk to the village and back. There were lots of Fieldfares sharing a large lawn with Starlings, Blackbirds and a solitary Ring ouzel. Meanwhile, the wren is in dire need of an intensive training course in micro-nesting. It keeps bringing leaves larger than itself and dropping them all over the front doormat. Its nest is becoming quite palatial for a tiny squatter without formal planning permission! Too busy in the garden for a ride.

Friday 14th 41-45F, 5-7C, bright and clear with light winds. I can confirm a female blackbird is sitting in the large and perfect nest by the shed. I just hope the nest's size and position does not attract predators.

My aches and pains seem to be responding to repeated exercise. So I might be allowed out for a ride before it turns wet and windy. Tomorrow's forecast is wetter and windier so I had better take my chance while I can.  My walk was interrupted by spraying. I did a swift about-turn and beat a hasty retreat. Once the machine had moved to other end end of the field I could return home. Several birds of prey around.

I detoured to the shops in empty lanes under bright but cloudy skies. Several small groups and individual cyclists out training. By sheer luck I was doing 22mph on the flat when I was overtaken by three, fast, young blokes. Which warranted a greeting as they steamed past. Still only 12 miles with a headwind coming home, while putting lots of distance on a much younger chap. Spent several hours attacking a tree stump. The chainsaw is a pain which will not start. So I was swinging an axe cum sledgehammer for most of the time. 

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