Raptors

Two Kestrels seen in roadside bushes this morning on the way to work and a Sparrowhawk flew over the road in Tun Wells heading into some roadside woodland.

The foxes were fairly vocal last night - lots of squeals and grunts.

Wimbledon Wind

A blow around Wimbledon Park, dodging the flying debris, turned up 2 Lesser-black Backed Gulls, 4 Great-crested Grebes with the usual Cormorants and Tufted Ducks on the Lake. Meanwhile a pair of Egyptian Geese fed on the main golf course and another pair roosted on the crazy golf. On the playing fields some of the Black-headed Gulls had got there summer hoods and there was also 2 Common Gulls present.

In the wood, sheltered from the wind, there was lots of bird activity and snatches of song from Robins and Dunnocks but the highlight was a Great-spotted Woodpecker that showed well on a bare branch.

Garden Flowers

The Hellebores are starting to look good and bulbs are coming up everywhere - once we get through this stormy week the garden is going to look bloomin' marvellous.

Trampoline Balloons

At the weekend, the kids had a great time bouncing around on the trampoline with balloons trying not to burst them.

Storm Force

The terrific rain and wind that swept through on Monday morning managed to only bring down one fence panel so we count ourselves lucky - I've now got 4 to replace after doing 9 at Xmas - great.

Met a substantial tree across the road on my journey to work going over the North Downs but other than that it was pretty uneventful.

Fence Failure

The recent gales brought down 3 fence panels (not my new ones fortunately), so looks like I'll be visiting Wickes again to put in another order.

Weekend Gardening

A dry sunny and cool weekend allowed me to continue with digging the pond and Helen to prepare the front plot for vegetables. We added about 10 bags of rotted manure to prepare the soil. Found this juicy looking caterpillar - probably a moth caterpillar.

Whilst digging the pond a fairly fresh half eaten dove carcass was uncovered - it looked like it had been buried there recently by foxes.

Birds seen of note: 2 Mistle Thrushes, 3+ Long-tailed Tits and 2 Goldcrests.