Doing a story I haven’t done for a while this afternoon at Wick Court it is a Swahili story. This was after talking to one of the children on Tuesday’s Bird Watch about stories. Need to go over it a couple of times so I am not too rusty!

We had a couple of firsts at Wick Court on Tuesday with a school; we saw an Oystercatcher on the River and some Linnets. I aim to update the bird records for the farm over the next few weeks.

Enjoying the bike in this lovely weather and have started to clock up a few hills.

DNB stands for Did Not Bat!!! I played two games of cricket this week once for Gloucestershire Old Men and a game for my club where apart from me no one is over 35! As a batsman you usually expect to get a knock but we won comfortably against Worcestershire on Tuesday chasing a low score and yesterday we got off to a super start so the hitters were promoted above me. Possibly opening the batting next week.

Lovely Story Telling session on Thursday where I did King of the Birds especially for our lovely visitors from Ashmead School. Currently researching for some new stories to tell.

Of course we should of been in the Hebrides now but sadly we had to pull the plug on the holiday because Clare has been struggling with a real sore hip and knee for the past three weeks. She is slowly progressing but can’t walk very far.

No not the Two Severn Bores although we have another gig on our Severn Songs and Stories Tour at the end of June at Quedegely Library. No it refers to a splendid morning by the River this morning doing the Bird Survey. Highlights included a dust up between a Peregrine and a Marsh Harrier, Greenshank, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Common Crane as well as many smaller birds. To add icing to the cake I’ve just seen Black Terns on the lake by home. Amazing birds but much too quick to photograph!

Just off to do my Story Telling slot at Wick Court. Another blog hopefully tomorrow with a bit more detail.

The old Kinks song seems appropriate for the title! Yesterday at Wick Court we did  teas and cakes for cyclists and walkers as a fund raiser. I even made vegetarian sausage rolls which went down surprisingly well! The weather was superb. We currently have our old friends from Ashmead School staying at Wick Court; I visited the school with Brian earlier in the year.

I was lucky to see a Cuckoo flying as I was cycling back along the canal after a meeting.

Looking forward to playing cricket tomorrow.

Another bird related blog! Watched one of my favourite birds today. The wonderful Hobby. Really acrobatic birds and watching them take insects and eating them on the wing is a real marvel. our only bird of prey that migrates South in Winter.

Spent quite a bit of yesterday tidying up the story I mentioned this week-still quite a bit to do on this.

Not sure if I have had this title before-apologies if I am repeating myself (I’ll put it down to old age!) Once again I got a soaking cycling back from Story Telling at Wick Court-last week it was torrential, today was just unpleasant!

Lovely session with the delightful young people from St. Swithun’s School Portsmouth. They were a lovely audience participating fully in the stories.

I saw an Arctic Tern today with Common Terns on the lake close to home but no Black Terns that I was hoping for. I did give the children the task of finding out which bird undertakes the longest migration I told them I saw it today.

Yet again a wonderful Book Club meal last night where our usual high catering standards were once more maintained. Well done chaps!

Those people who are getting sick of football posts this is a short blog but a different topic. I had a super ride yesterday through the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside and it’s many contrasts. The Vale to start with gradually climbing up through the woods where the smell from the wild garlic was intoxicating. Buzzards floating on thermals and Kestrels hovering were a pleasing accompaniment. Shimmering carpets of Bluebells one of my favourite flowers were seen frequently. The views on the tops were clear so jagged Malvern was easily visible. What a wonderful county to live in!   It was cold for May had my coat on!

Just finished one of my stories I am hoping to put into an anthology connected with Christmas and World Book Day.

Thank you Queen for today’s title!

Sorry if you want Story Telling stuff today today’s blog it is totally self-indulgent on my part about football! Had a wonderful day yesterday bedecked in orange and wearing my Boater at one of my spiritual homes the home of the mighty Hatters. Luton are called the Hatters because the Town was important for making hats. So the Boater comes out for special occasions! Yesterday if we won we would be champions. The boys duly delivered!

It has been a roller coaster of a ride and we have now excorcised the dark years following our shameful treatment by the football authorities. It has been a fantastic season and we have played some great football. Also incredibly proud of the club for its strong ethical stance. First club to pay the Living Wage to all it’s employees, not having a gambling company for sponsorship, working hard to be inclusive to all communities. So it is refreshing in the cut throat world of professional sport to see. Not only that when the new ground is built it will significantly regenerate the whole town.

So when I went to bed eventually I went to sleep grinning from cheek to cheek!

You can guess by the title what quite a bit of today’s blog will be about but I will start with Story Telling after all that is what this web site and blog should be all about!

The Two Severn Bores finished our mini run of Severn Stories and Songs last night as part of the Wotton Arts Festival. We were pleased how well it went, we have certainly improved our all round performance since we started this doing this act last January. We were much smoother on our links. Dan’s songs were excellent, he is a superb musician.  I was pleased how my Stories have developed over this time. We are hoping to write an another act in the near future.

Had a lovely day Bird Watching before the gig with children from Granard Primary School Putney at Wick Court. Good view of a Chiffchaff and Woodpeckers.

Finally my wonderful football team achieved promotion last night without playing! So we now are back in Division 2 (it is called the Championship these days) after a roller coaster of ride. Felt quite emotional reading so many congratulatory tweets and listening to club legend Mick Harford our interim manager. Next season will be different I think!

I’m sure Spring is here now, heard my first Cuckoo tonight and the Terns have returned to the sailing lake near home. I do enjoy watching Terns swoop and dive, now hearing their screams regularly. Now looking forward to the arrival of the Swifts.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the final performance of this sequence of Severn Songs and Stories by the The Two Severn Bores at Wotton Arts Festival 7.30 at the Star Inn. Friday’s gig went well and we were much more polished in our links. We are doing another gig in June.

Notice I have avoided mentioning football. I was really depressed to see my team the mighty Hatters come up short on Saturday, sadly it was probably our poorest performance of the season. So it is definitely fingers, toes and anything else crossed for Saturday!