Did you spend some time in nature over this past weekend? What did you do? Did you find anything interesting? Experience anything new?

  • I didn’t get a lot further than the garden this weekend but, having moved to a rural spot (East Anglia, UK) only a couple of months back, we are still finding new things in and around the garden.

    One of the most notable is that a Kestrel has recently fledged in the woodland at the end of the garden - so it and parent are quite prominent and vocal on the several suitable perches around and about. We have set up the bins on a tripod in the front window and are getting some great views.

    We also have a red kite passing overhead quite frequently.

    Otherwise, brown hare loping through the garden, plenty of grey squirrel and occasional muntjac, green and occasional great spotted woodpeckers. Most smaller birds are steering clear at the moment due to the predators though. Then a southern hawker made a few passes on Sunday, and a several meadow browns and a red admiral were flitting about. We have burdock growing along the edges in a few places and just noticed a cluster of lords and ladies at the bottom.

    We also noticed a branch had fallen from one of the adjoining ash trees and was hung up on the power line. A call to UKPN brought them out to deal with it surprisingly quickly. Looking at the canopy, I fear that it is succumbing to ash dieback. I expect that we will have more falling branches and that it will need to be felled this winter or next.

      • We moved from a small town most recently, and prior to that we lived (and I worked) on an island nature reserve for several years. I haven’t lived in anything like a large urban area for the last 18 years or so. Even coming back to the mainland and living in a small town was quite a shock!

        However, in many ways this is more rural and quieter than the nature reserve - since there are no visitors. Both my SO and I are loving it. We are planning to create a no-dig veg plot in the garden and get a bit more structure to it - since it is largely just lawn at the moment - but we are here for keeps now (we hope) and we will be taking our time.