A poignant day as we mark the anniversary of D-Day and the pictures from Normandy were very moving. I was sent the following poem today.

Queuing for an Ice Cream

although he didn’t smoke grandad never went anywhere without the old tobacco tin in his pocket one day me and my brother asked him what he kept in it                      some sand, grandad said

why do you keep some sand in a tobacco tin, we asked                                              where else would I keep it, he said

but why keep sand at all we asked  it’s special sand, grandad said it’s come all the way from France

we peered into his tin and stared  for a while      French sand didn’t look very special, it looked like ordinary sand to us

why’s it so special, we asked                                                                                             each grain represents an old friend of mine, he said

grandad must of have had a lot of friends, we thought                                                        did you go to the beach with them when you were a boy, we asked

yes, something like that, grandad said, snapping the lit shut,                                             asking the man for three 99s, two with red sauce

by Brian Bilston

I led my intrepid team to Somerset yesterday to play what is usually a keenly contested cricket match- sadly this one wasn’t1 I won the toss and inserted them on a green pitch and then watched them amass over 300 runs- several dropped catches of the highest scoring batsmen didn’t help! We didn’t get anywhere near! Still I have Friday’s game against the Aussies to look forward to.

I returned to Wick Court today to take young people from Southwark bird watching. Nothing out of the ordinary but they were fascinated when I told them about swifts  ( we saw a few) staying in the air for two or three years! I am Story Telling there tomorrow night and again at the open day on Sunday. Wick Court is a Farm for City Children and children spend a week on the farm- poster below and all are welcome!

I am performing at another open day the following Saturday for GL11.

I mentioned I was jealous that the house martins were building a nest next door-see above! It didn’t take long to build it. Don’t think she has laid any eggs yet. A slightly fussy picture of a linnet below.

It has been a frustrating day here – been suffering with hay fever all day so have felt pretty washed out! Hoping I will be ok for tomorrow’s cricket we are away to Somerset. I am also captaining a Senior’s side against an Australian touring team on Friday.

Saw this fish (Don’t tell him your name Pike!) on our walk this morning. I was looking for Hobbies but despite there being plenty of dragonflies there were none over the lake. Lots of goslings on the grass!

The Ross’s Goose still near Court Lake!

Final picture I took a couple of days ago of the song thrush!

A lovely Gloucestershire  morning. I pedalled up Frocester Hill to meet Clare and her friends for a wild flower walk on the top. Some pictures from this morning below. Also managed to see a lesser whitethroat.

I was miffed to see house martins building a nest on my neighbours house- I have had a house martin nest box on almost exactly the same place on our house for a few years and the martin’s have never shown any interest! So I am jealous!

Our walk was rounded off with a splendid pub lunch!

Last Thursday of the month is the time of our bird survey out by the river. We saw plenty of different species although nothing unexpected. We thought the lapwings and the redshank had young the way they kept flying up when other birds were over. We didn’t want to disturb the birds and steered well clear of that area. A couple of swifts flew low over our heads. The skylarks were busy and again we thought we had located a nest. I think skylarks trilling epitomise spring and summer.  The pictures below apart from the swift are what I took this morning all a bit distant- a reed bunting, greenfinch, a goldfinch, and a deer!

A busy day here in Frampton. The day started with four Great Tits at the feeders while eating breakfast. Two youngsters being fed by two diligent parents. Positive news on our weekly bird count we have already had 15 different species since Sunday.

A lovely ride with Clare down to beyond Arlingham to the river. We had a profitable time in the garden afterwards.

Well my travel plans for cricket ended in a damp squid! Thank goodness we didn’t set off for Carmarthen in all that rain! A group us went down to Bristol to play padel a racket game. It was a first for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience! I am now absolutely tired out tonight there was a lot of running about (I was the oldest player!) It would be good to have a spell of decent weather and we can play cricket on decent pitches!

Just had a super weekend with our Exeter family. On the way down we stopped off at RSPB Ham Walls. A fantastic reserve with several booming bitterns– never heard so many booms! Only managed to catch sight of one briefly. We saw a large grass snake sunning itself, marsh harriers aplenty and several great white egrets. A few pictures below.

My cricket tomorrow was called off when Staffordshire were unable to raise a team. I nearly went with the 4th team to Essex but I am now going even further with the 2nds to Carmarthen! Weather looks dodgy so may not get far!

I even managed a ride this afternoon without getting wet!!! Hoping to get some rides in this week but forecast isn’t great.

You probably wondered where I have been! My week started with the Story Telling on Monday and has finished with another Story Telling tonight at Wick Court. In between it has been cricket and DIY! I told a couple of old favourites tonight.

I played against Wales on Tuesday and sadly the game was decided by the toss – the only time batting became easy was when it started to rain and we had to bowl with a wet ball- we had been slightly ahead at this point.

I managed my only ride of the week this morning.

We are hoping to do some birdwatching in Somerset= so watch this space!