Wild life

I thought I would say something about the wild life round the lottie. Well there is a lot of it. When we first started on the site slugs and snails were the main incumbents. There might have been other things there but they could not be seen. I regularly see Kestrels and Buzzards. When I was growing up seeing a Kestrel was a big deal. Recently seeing Buzzards was a big deal but now they are almost common place. It is still surprising when you see a Buzzard sitting on a fence post. They are surprisingly large. We get Red leg Partridge wandering about and the fattest Wood Pigeons you have ever seen. No wonder really with all the greens they have scoffed.

Recently the "gold medal" wild life is the Grass Snakes. We have seen the odd one dead about the plots or the sloughed off skins of the snakes. Over the passed two weeks a couple of Grass Snakes have take up residence in my muck bin. I lift the lid and found them staring, unblinkingly, back at me before making a break for their holes. I will leave the bin for the summer just in case they are incubating eggs. The Toad population seems to be building up. I have dug up a few and found them in cool corners of the plot. My neighbour more or less tripped over a few of them the size of tennis balls, that is big for a common Toad. There are the usual furry critters, mice mainly but the odd shrew. They come in different shapes and colours. This year there are fewer slugs about especially on my plot. I have few places for them to hide.

I have lots of birds popping in; the ubiquitous Robin and Wren, tits of all description, Blue, Coal, Long tailed, then what I think are more exotic, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer and Goldfinches. Then there are the residents, Blackbird and Dunnock. The wider area supports Magpies, Jackdaw and Cuckoo. The Cuckoo song, whilst the harbinger of the summer, becomes a bit wearing. It is nice at first but it unchanging. I have heard many but never seen one. In the winter we see Redwings in the fields and in the spring and summer Lapwings. All year round we have the song of Green Woodpecker and I regularly see them in the rolling flight. In the evenings Small and Tawny Owls float about on the hunt. There are bats too but I have not idea what sort.

When I trundling round the wider country park I saw a pair of ears sticking up from the blanket of grass and white clover. These were not the ears of the local Rabbit population. The white spots gave him away. I did not have to waiting long for a large Hare to break cover a lope off down the meadow. I see quite few Hares but more often on the farmland near the apiary. I got within a dozen feet of this one before he decided enough was enough. This weekend I was following the River Mease near the apiary. I was surveying the scene when a small bird flew across the field essentially cutting out he meander of the river. As the sun hit the bird it's feathers shone iridescent. It was a Kingfisher. I watched it zoom across the field like a blue dart until it disappeared in to the trees by the river.

There is lots to see if only you keep your eyes open.