Appropriate title for today! It was the monthly Bird Survey in Frampton. We start as soon as it gets light and what a start! I spotted a Ring-Tailed Hen Harrier near the sea wall. Hen Harriers are probably the most persecuted bird in England by game keepers etc. so it was a special moment!

It was a lovely morning and plenty of Curlew, Snipe and Redwings to view as well as Stonechat and Reed Buntings in a couple of places. The River Severn looked great in the morning sun but sadly there was more evidence of significant erosion by the river.

Seasonal football song title  for today. Sorry to any Coventry fans reading this . I got a complete soaking walking back to the car on Saturday the weather was foul but what a fantastic footballing performance by the Hatters. Feel a nose bleed coming on if this continues!

Now finished with Story Telling till just into the New Year when I have a Gig with the local W.I. Need to start writing for Dan and I’s as “Two Severn Bores” Spring Tour on the River Severn. I have one modern day story to write based on the Saxons drowning in the River following the Battle of Dyrham in 577 as well as learning two other stories for this Tour. Dan has already written a couple of songs.

Had a super ride today with plenty of climbing. I decided to make the most of the decent weather.

Not quite an up to date song title-it is from Mumford and Sons 2009. I thought as it was a chilly wind today it was appropriate!

It was a busy spell up to my last blog and now things have calmed down but of course Christmas is looming-we finally acknowledged that today by doing some Christmas Shopping. Will think about decorations at the weekend. Last week was the last school at Wick Court and I finished with my Christmas Angels Story in the Roundhouse. I mentioned my lovely day in Swindon on Monday telling a few old favourites half of them my own stories. Hoping to settle to some writing over the next three weeks.

Great Book Club meal last night. It was Dutch themed as a precursor to next month’s book “The Last Painting of Sara De Vos” by Dominic Smith. As usual all the boys excelled in their cooking.

Finally I mentioned I played cricket on Monday night, wait for it I played football on Tuesday night. Not bad for an old un.

What a great song for today’s blog. You may of noticed my friend Gordon’s wonderful photo of a triple rainbow last week it featured on the national weather forecast. Apparently they were only really recognised scientifically  in 2011.

Anyway a busy spell since last week’s gig in the pub. That went really well and all our performers excelled on a delightful and certainly diverse evening. On Thursday we travelled up the valleys to the Workers Gallery to see one of their regular Wham nights-it was a marvellous mixture of poetry, art and classic comedy.

Today I went to a lovely school in Swindon to do a full day’s Story Telling. That was followed with a game of indoor cricket, a close game but we came second! So I am tired tonight!

Don’t forget tonight in the Shoes! Beer and Books providing an entertaining and fun evening. Starts at 8!

Another clue to the story I am telling tonight. We will be going to frightening awful places, will we survive! 

A cryptic clue in today’s title from the Jam to the story I will be telling on Wednesday night in the Three Horseshoes Frampton. Does anyone  want to have a guess? A clue it is a well -known story that has had several versions! I am going away from what I usually do in the pub; normally I tell a story nobody has heard before. I do have musical accompaniment for the story which will be interesting, that could be another clue because music is a prominent part of the story!  So  all will be revealed on Wednesday. It is our Book Club entertainment and we have songs, poems, music and a story! So we have magical music from Dan Everett, poems that will make you laugh and cry from Mike Church, we have Brian Dimmock playing the mandolin and singing about the pub, a reading from Aussie Terry and a story from me.  All for free although there will be a collection for Farms for City Children (Wick Court) if you want to contribute. We start at 8 p.m.

Absolutely soaked yesterday at Wick Court doing the Bird Watching with the children. Really hard keeping the binoculars dry! Children were cheerful and enthusiastic throughout. Still drying out the telescope! Forecast doesn’t look great for tomorrow so may get wet cycling to my Story Telling!

Another great win last night for the Mighty Hatters. We splashed our way there and it did stop raining when we got there.

My last blog I posted just before going to Story Tell at Wick Court to old friends from Old Oak. I did visit their school a couple of years ago and have taken them bird watching and told stories to them for a number of years. Imagine all our surprise when I bumped into them on Friday morning at Reading Services; not sure who was stalking who!

Clare and I spent the weekend in deepest Kent. It included some lovely walks and bird watching. Also saw the Hatters win at Gillingham in a physical encounter and it stopped us playing our free flowing football.

Now in back in Gloucestershire so managed to fix a puncture, do quite a bit of leaf clearing and 23 miles on the bike today. Now learning my story for next Wednesday’s Beer and Books gig in the Three Horseshoes. Feel free to join us for our now traditional old fashioned pub entertainment-we start at 8 p.m.

I was surprised I didn’t mention any sport in my last blog. I went to watch one of the most complete performances by a football team (I know Barcelona supporters probably see them regularly) last Saturday. My football team the mighty Hatters played sublime free flowing football. I had to pinch myself that this was third division football it was so good! The other sporting note was a brilliant Test Match in Sri Lanka that ebbed and flowed with highs and lows and England have now won the series. There was also a good one between New Zealand and Pakistan at the same time. This weekend we are watching the Town play away!

Had a lovely day in Stonehouse on Monday working on writing with Year 5 children. Off to Story Tell at Wick Court this afternoon.

Birds and the bike have dominated this week. On Thursday I did the monthly bird survey out by the Severn. For a pleasant change it was a lovely November morning. My highlight was a pair of Stonechats by the reed bed. Clare and I also had to do two map squares for the BTO November survey, so we had to do this on different days and involved quite a bit of cycling as well! Two contrasting areas and very different results. Plenty of winter migrants on the first day but today in beautiful woodland and sunshine we didn’t see that much.

We managed to see the wonderful Show of Hands give a superb musical show earlier in the week. Brilliant!

Busy week ahead on the Story Telling front.