It's north westerlies this week which is about the safest time in the autumn (if based in the south UK) to get on with collecting tokens from the matrix. The night temperatures have dropped to 6 C so I'm not even bothering putting the moth lights out every night.
I did a bit of birding around the garden today- a steady stream of hirundines moving over (about 150 in an hour) and there was a Reed Warbler, two or three Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler in the lane and garden. There's still a few Yellow Wagtails going over and 3 Mipits flew over too. So despite the north westerlies the migrants are still pushing through (there's been a few chats and other migrants across the Peninsula too). Someone has let the Red-legged Partridges out too as I've been hearing them calling over the last few days from nearby fields.
So while there's been less than ideal winds it's been a good opportunity to catch up with work and get on with stuff around the new house and garden. This week I've ordered the 200 hedgerow trees for the garden boundary (a mix of Hawthorn, Wild Cherry, Wild Plum, Blackthorn and Rowan for the back and Privet and Dog Rose for the front) and Matt and I completed filling up the raised beds with top soil yesterday. Might plant up some autumn Spinach and Garlic as not much else to plant this time of year. Jimmy is back later to extend the useable space in the loft and fit a loft ladder and Skinners are coming later on today to erect a shed next to the garden office. Holly's finished painting the garden office and I've more or less moved all the books and mini zoo in now too.
I'm still trying to order the pond liner for the wildlife pond in Bulgaria but no joy so far- was planning on a working week there in early October but not sure what's happening now.
It was a pretty quiet week at work in London so I got a chance to catch up with some birding writing- finished editing a couple of articles for Dutch Birding and also done a first round of commenting on the draft of an exciting new book about American vagrants in the WP.
Looking forward to some more exciting birding weather- southerlies are returning on Saturday which could get moth migration going again but can't see much on the horizon of disruptive conditions for birds but as always you never know.
Before it got too cold there were still a few moth migrants on Sunday night (a nice little selection in about 175 moths of 41 species)- unfortunately I didn't pick up any Small Mottled Willows that I was hoping might find their way here from the east coast.
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