It has been a difficult week which now sounds like it might be getting better so I have not felt like blogging!

I did have a lovely day at Wick Court yesterday with young people bird watching and we saw a good mix of birds. I was with them again tonight story telling.

I was involved in a BTO gull count for two hours till dusk last night. The number of gulls going over was disappointing I only spotted 300+ birds I was expecting thousands! However, I saw plenty of other birds while there including the kestrel in the picture below. Also had 50+ swallows on their way! I did manage to see our osprey (well the one in Frampton) earlier in the week as well! Some pictures of the sunset below.

Good to see some old friends this morning one of whom is a regular reader of this blog!!!!

Apologies for not posting for a few days! I had a lovely story telling with Eleanor Palmer Primary School on Thursday night. Picture below is me at Cheltenham Care Home last Monday!

Friday was a pedal before driving to watch the Mighty Hatters at Plymouth with my friend Dave. Wish I hadn’t ! A poor laboured performance from my team and they came second!

We had a good day on Saturday getting some work done in the garden. We saw Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings in the evening. A super gig with six highly talented and versatile musicians. Picture below!

Today has been a delight spending all day with our super grandsons! Good for the soul!!!

Yesterday we had a good positive day with young people from Camden and saw 23 species. The highlight was a stonechat. We got absolutely soaked in the afternoon session and my cycle home added to my drenching!

This morning was our monthly bird survey by the River Severn. It started with the drama of a peregrine chasing 200+ starlings, it was all action and despite several passes it was unsuccessful. We saw hobbies, herons, great white egret, and many more species. Also disturbed a hare.

Short blog tonight! Just got back from Cheltenham Film Society (we are new members) having watched Rose (a Danish Film) a beautiful sensitive film about two sisters with the brilliant Sophie Grabol playing Inger one of the sisters who is suffering from  schizophrenia. A really enjoyable evening!

My goodness it has rained and rained and rained and rained all day!!! Much standing water around everywhere- thankfully no flooding in our village. I had to go to Cheltenham for story telling and the M5 was closed because of an accident and had too go round the lanes – it was flooded by Stonebench (right by the Severn). I still managed to get there on time! It was a delightful gig at the Care Home – I hope to get a photo at some time.

I am story telling in Cheltenham tomorrow at a care home. I was doing quite a few before covid hit but this is the first time I’ve been invited in to one since the epidemic. From what I understand my audience will be mixed so I am currently planning my stories to tell!

Now trying to put together a simple book for my granddaughter Ellen’s third birthday!

I went to football yesterday and got a soaking walking up to the ground. It was a dismal game and the Mighty Hatters struggled to get any sort of rhythm. The referee didn’t help – he was incompetent! However, a more urgent approach after falling behind saw us scrape home. It is ironic the two games we have won have been our poorest for football! Off to Plymouth on Friday night hoping we can get a third win on the bounce.

It has been a Yo-yo sort of day! Went out this morning with Clare ( her first decent cycle since her recent op) on our bikes and stopped for coffee where we unexpectedly met some old friends.

After a quick lunch I cycled to Wick Court for a one off bird watching session that was being filmed as part of a promotion for the farm. I managed to get the scope on a kestrel for the young people with me. I came home for about 70 minutes before cycling back for my regular story telling session! Feeling tired now!

No not Story Telling! Tomorrow we have someone coming to Wick Court (Farms for City Children) where I volunteer to do some filming for promo. They want to see me with the youngsters bird watching. Not sure if I should get my hair done! I will be story telling there as well in the early evening!

I am going into a school next month to do the Boudicca Revolt- it involves me wearing a red wig, painting my face with blue paint and waving a sword threateningly at the Pride of Rome! Those of you who may of worked with me or at schools I visited might recall me yelling “Stuff the Romans” and winding up my audience! (There are some posed pictures of me doing Boudicca on the Historical section on my web site – I have upgraded the wig!)

Wonderful evening at the Seth Lakeman concert in Stroud. This time it was a trio playing not the full band. The grainy pictures below is Seth has just finished the atmospheric Kitty Jay (he always does this one on his own). The bottom picture is the trio. Always good to hear live music!