Uber-local

Decided to stay uber-local today and walked from the Lodge to Ferry this morning for a quick walk HERE before the school run and then spent the rest of the day at the Lodge planting out the vegetable beds etc

Cuckoo and Little Egret were the garden highlights. 

Spot Fly, Whinchat and Bee-eaters were seen on the Peninsula today so will get myself out tomorrow a bit further. 

Blackwit (above) and Avocets (below) on Ferry 

This group of waders were out from the Tramway- from the silhouettes looks like 2 Knot, 2 Turnstone and 8 Dunlin and not sure on the bottom two birds- maybe Ringed Plover on the left and another Dunlin?

The moth trap has been quiet again with temperatures dropping to 6 C- Oak Hook-tip above. Now on 130 for the year 

White-point, a possible migrant. Also had Rusty-dot Pearl and 5 Diamond-back moth so a few migrants out there

Getting there with the self-sufficiency beds. Basically after Holly's dad Bryan taught me about food growing I've selected the absolute easiest things to grow (perennials and fruit bushes and trees are the best because you just plant them once and they produce every year without too much fuss). So in the image above there's Leeks, Onions, Cauliflower in the foreground bed, Sweetcorn and pumpkins and peas in the middle bed (three sisters guild) and the fruit bed at the back (Raspberries, Strawberries, Black currants and a Lovage plant in the centre for a bit of layering). Potatoes and Blackberries in the patio pots. All the fruit trees (200 of them! Cherries, Pears and Buckthorns for the birds and honey fungus breaks) are doing well and the ducks are growing incredibly fast- still a good few months before we can expect any eggs.