Welcome to my Blog

This blog is about my life on this tranquil hillside on the chalk Downs. I am surrounded by wildlife, and not watching it is not an option. It demands my attention. As I write, baby bluetits in the nest box outside my window clamour for food provided by their harassed parents, who flit from the branch of the ash tree in through the hole in the box, believing I don’t see them. A slow worm, like golden rope, basks on the winding front path. Feral cats watch for lizards in the stone walls. Overhead, buzzards circle high on thermals, while below them gangs of herring gulls, jays and jackdaws re-enact West Side Story, guarding their territories in their favourite trees. Blue butterflies skim the slopes, cabbage whites hang furtively around the vegetable patch, peacocks and red admirals flutter above banks of deep pink red valerian, purple honesty and Wedgewood blue love-in-the-mist.
Fruit trees in the orchard are showing generous loads of developing fruits, apples, cherries, plums, damsons, cherries. My newly dug marrow, courgette, squash and pumpkin patch has fresh badger droppings, the badgers having smelled the newly turned and composted soil. Last night’s rain has watered my vegetable plot higher up the garden, saving me some work later. The turnips are at last showing reluctant first leaves, swede, beetroot, everlasting spinach, carrots and parsnips growing around them in neat rows, peas and runner beans not yet showing much enthusiasm for the sticks and trellises provided for them.
Kiwi fruit vines and climbing roses have reached the roofs, drawn by the hot summer sun. The honey bees in the roof are sleepy and inactive. I’m hoping they haven’t fallen victim to the dreaded virus which is killing most untreated bees.
Soon I will go out into the woods and up onto the Downs with my dog. it’s a beautiful day.