Toad in the Hole

Found this fine fellow while working on the ongoing 'kitchen courtyard' project - and while maybe he wasn't quite in a hole, the courtyard area itself had certainly become something of one.

It's space we've always rather under-utilised, and it had gotten very scratty.  So in the spirit of lockdown home improvement, we've been clearing out the ivy and weeds from the surrounding walls, and dismantling the old pots with half dead bits of bush in them.  

Hopefully we'll end up with something a bit more attractive, where we might actually want to sit out on a sunny evening - although it's still a work in progress at the moment . . .

Wildlife

Wildlife is becoming a big part of our lives. One of the first things we did was put up a bird 'feeding station' outside the kitchen window, and it attracts a wide range of garden birds, including Great Tits, Blue Tits, Robins (one of which spent a lot of time attempting to assert ownership; eventually he got tired of chasing all the other birds away!), a small Sparrow colony, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, and the occasional Rook. The Great Spotted Woodpecker pictured on the left was a more exotic visitor, although not exactly rare according to the RSPB.

Then there was the day we came home and discovered the baby Collared Doves under and above the wooden arch - once they learnt to fly properly we saw a lot less of them . . .

Just the other day we found a Common Toad in the greenhouse . . .

And of course, there's always the bunnies . . .