Almost taken out by a Wood Pigeon today on my bike. It flew out from a tree as I reached it and we were within inches of each other- not sure who was most shocked! Earlier a Sparrowhawk flew across the road in front of me but this wasn’t so close.

I will make a comment on the news , I suppose I am not surprised the Prime Minister doesn’t have the integrity to resign after the long awaited report came out. Those of us who had leadership roles in public service wouldn’t of hesitated to resign if there was such rule breaking.

I know many of you will have tackled the RSPB Birdwatch this weekend. We record the birds in our garden weekly for the BTO but today was slightly different because we focused for a whole hour rather than recording incidentally. We were pleased to record 15 different species, one surprise for us was a House Sparrow although a common garden bird we only see them infrequently in our garden even though there are plenty just around the corner from our house. Talking of watching birds I took part in our monthly survey on the Severn last week – we had a good morning one special highlight was seeing three Hares, this is the third month running we have seen a Hare on our patch after years of seeing none.

Football yesterday was an entertaining hard fought game ending goalless but it was not one for the purist as a strong wind stopped both teams playing fluent football. Still reassuring the Mighty Hatters can hold their own against the top sides.

Today I went for a rehearsal for my friend Brian’s play Between Severn Tides I missed last week. (the play is inspired By Under Milk Wood). It a darkly comic tale and will be performed in April (details in future blogs).

I have just made another payment to Alzheimer’s Society for Pig the Legend sales. We are almost at £500 and I know more books will be sold in the next week or so. So many thanks for all of you who have purchased a book. Hoping with the up and coming gigs I will sell a few more. I have been encouraged by the positive feedback on those that have read the story.

Bookings have been coming in and encouragingly from places I have visited before- so must be doing something right! I also will be doing Story sessions at Wick Court again this term.

Off to catch up with some old teaching friends over a pint later (I cycle to it).

Nothing on an ornithological theme in today’s blog you might be relieved to hear!  I had a busy Tuesday- dentist and jobs that finally culminated in me travelling to watch the Mighty Hatters. It was a poor game and the Hatters were certainly second best but still managed to win (phew) – it does make the late night journey home bearable when you have three points in the bag! I also came home with a special shirt with my name on it (well there are about thousand or so other names). This shirt is one of the club’s away shirts and our names are on it because we are all “Luton Legends” because we didn’t claim a refund on our season ticket when Covid hit. I am lucky that my name is right in the middle of the shirt front!

Had a lovely walk this afternoon with a friend and her son’s lively dog. So no writing done since last week or even story learning. Hoping to get some work done on Friday.

Where have I been for the last few days? We were away in deepest Dorset celebrating my David’s significant birthday. Notice I haven’t revealed his age as it makes me feel incredibly old to have a son of that old!!!! We had a delightful weekend and fully enjoyed having our three families together. Our two grandchildren Ellen (almost 4 months old) and Owen (almost 14 months) totally enchanted us.

On Saturday David and I and his dog Tully went on for a lovely walk at Durlston – the cliffs along from  Swanage. We heard the distinctive call of the Peregrine Falcon and were then treated to an acrobatic display really close to us. We were both buzzing and imagine our further surprise when we saw the bird perched on the cliff about 25 metres below us ( we were amused to see the word peregrine was written on the sea wall directly above the bird!)

The two pictures I took are below- sadly by the time I got the camera out the flying bird was almost out of sight!

Bad day yesterday so sorry there was no blog.

Following on from Tuesday’s dramatic spot of a Hen Harrier I’ve put a couple of bird pictures from Frampton I took recently !!!

No today’s title is nothing to do with the drama of Saturday’s football but my bird watching this afternoon! I have been going regularly over the last few days to Splatt Bridge hoping to see Owls.

A Marsh Harrier was visible and I soon spotted another. I was joined by another couple of birders. All three of us noticed another bird and we were amazed to identify it as a male Hen Harrier a really rare bird mainly because it is the most persecuted bird in England. I have only ever seen two juvenile birds in Gloucestershire over the years. The picture below of a magnificent male Hen Harrier isn’t mine but thought it worth sharing!

I think the Waterboys classic is appropriate for today’s title. A wonderful full moon tonight.

The pictures above I took tonight while bird watching. I had hoped to see some owls apparently there were two Short Eared Owls around although I didn’t see them. However I did see three Marsh Harriers the most I’ve seen together in Gloucestershire.

Fabulous bike ride this morning- a lovely cold morning.

I have to start with football today after yesterday. It was an early start because the game was being televised- I normally think televised lunch time kick offs are devoid of atmosphere – how wrong I was yesterday! The Mighty Hatters were up against Bournemouth top of the league and a club with money their striker cost more than our whole team put together. The opening exchanges had us on the back foot but we did score the important opener. Some bizarre refereeing decisions stirred up the crowd and create  a raucous atmosphere. A second goal stunner soon followed and had us in dreamland!  Bournemouth showed their class second half and pulled the two goals back. We were deflated and apprehensive that it might go further downhill. As the clock ticked down drama was about to be unleashed! A wonderful piece of skill so the ball crash into the net to send us in ecstasy.

The subsequent roar lifted the roof of the stadium , and the game was over. The noise continued for ages such was the joyous celebrations! Moments like that are what you dream of and rarely happen! So you savour every minute! It is usually the hope that gets you becuase you know full well the next time you might come back down to earth! Still as I write this I am still buzzing!!!!

Back to a Story Telling Blog tomorrow!

Delightfully anarchic Wassail on Wednesday night at Wick Court. The young people from Ravenstone fully participated in the Wassail-feeding toast, apple juice to the tree as well as chanting, banging instruments and circling the tree three times! I think we made a fantastic racket that might of been heard in Gloucester as we banished any troublesome spirits

Afterwards I was persuaded to tell my Mollie story. She still weaves her magic after umpteen tellings! It is now getting on for four thousand people that have head that story!

Today I ventured North to my friend Peter for a cycle ride. BRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! My bike on the back of the van had chunks of ice form on it on the journey! We had a good ride in the lanes of Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

It is an early start tomorrow for football because it is a 12.30 kick off for television (boo!) Not that confident of a result as we were so rusty last week after a month off but it is the hope that gets you!