Big Garden Birdwatch 2022

Having done it last year, decided we'd better keep it up . . .

So 3.20-4.20pm today was again spent peering out of the windows at the bird feeders - although this year without a mob of starlings trying to take over.

Here's our tally for 2022:

7 Goldfinches (=)
3 Blue Tits (down 2)
3 Chaffinch (=)
2 Blackbirds (up 2)

2 Great Tits (down 1)

2 Jackdaws (up 2)

2 Siskins (up 1)

2 Sparrows (=)

2 Wood Pigeons (up 2)

1 Collared Dove (up 1)

1 Dunnock (down 1)

1 Jay (up 1)

1 Magpie (down 1)

1 Pheasant (up 1)

1 Robin (down 1)

1 Starling (down 14)

1 Woodpecker (Greater Spotted) (=)

0 Coal Tits (down 2)

Posts that Didn't Happen - January 2022

 So here's my January retrospective . . . and can't say it started well:

After being super-careful not to take Covid to family for the 'Christmas' visit - it turned out they already had it, and I brought it home with me.

At least I escaped with a relatively mild experience - just felt like I was getting a cold for a couple of days, then it went away.  No real cough or aches and pains - I've had much worse from a common cold!

Took a while to test negative, but Martin never caught it - neither did my sister (the brother-in-law was patient 0 and felt pretty bad), or Mum (Dad tested positive but didn't have any symptoms).

So hopefully that's our brush with Covid done with!

On a more positive note . . . 

Phil is still around and about the place, enjoying his peanuts.

And Martin entered his half century - marked by a Chinese takeaway with family (post self-isolation!).  We'll have to plan for his proper celebration trip when the whole Covid thing allows. 

The Folly also now has decorated walls, electricity, lighting and internet, a fully fitted vinyl plank floor, and skirting boards.  In fact the builders and electricians are all done and dusted.

Which just leaves the wood burning stove, which is proving to be a bit more problematic.

Can't say we've been impressed by the fitter. 

The builders had been done for a couple of weeks before he finally turned up to lay the hearth - then he couldn't get the flue to attach to the outside wall and had to come back twice to get some struts in place to attach it to.

As it stands there is still a hole through the wall and no flue - but at least the stove is out of its box, and in the Folly awaiting further developments. 

In 2021 I Mostly Read . . .

So let's start with the reading list for 2021:

October-December 2021- mostly playing sudoku, except for one 99p foray into Kim Watt's Beaufort Scales mysteries, with book 1 Baking Bad, which was ok, but don't think I'll bother with any more (despite the dragons).

September 2021 - in our quest to decide whether or not we want a campervan - Mike Hudson's How to Live in a Van and Travel interesting and informative.

August 2021 - a couple of 'lifestyle' offerings - Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life - interesting stuff (basically keep moving!). Followed by Kate Humble's Living Simply.

June-July 2021 - Yes, you've guessed it - another 99p job. The Unhappy Medium by T.J. Brown. This one is markedly better - the premise is interesting and new (to me anyway), the writing is more sophisticated, and it strikes a humorously sarcastic tone in its view of modern life. For whatever reason it isn't however really gripping me, and I'm taking a rather long time to finish it. I will though!

April-May 2021 - And another one (inbetween the more serious Neil Oliver), Lynn Morrisons Murder at St Margaret. Described as a 'cozy' humourous paranormal mystery, it was alright - it kept me reading to the end, and I didn't actively dislike any of the characters (the wyvern was a bit annoying), but it was a bit derivative, and nothing special. I think the author is American as well, and there were a few bits where it got the British setting wrong. It's the first in a series, but I probably won't bother with the others.

April 2021 - On to another 99p-er, this time Neil Oliver's Wisdom of the Ancients: Life lessons from our distant past - maybe it's because I'm getting older, but a lot of what he says in the first couple of chapters really chimed with me - will see how the rest of the book goes.

April 2021 - Time to finally read some of those 99p Kindle purchases. Starting with David Mitchell's Slade House - a series of interlinked literary fantasy short stories - slightly spooky, but certainly kept my attention! Will have to look out for its companion piece The Bone Clocks going cheap - it was good, but now £6.99 worth of goodness.

January-April 2021 - Tolkien all the way. Were in the process of re-watching all the films (Hobbit and LOTR) - then read Ian Nathan's excellent narration of the process of making the three LOTR films, Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth. So, having watched the films, and read the 'making of' book', it was time to look back at the books and see where it all came from. Really interesting to contrast The Hobbit, with the three Lord of the Rings volumes, and in the case of the latter, see how the book translated into the film - who actually said that speech, where had they made changes. I have of course read LOTR many, many times, but not for a few years, and I was particularly struck this time by Tolkien's use of language, and the saga-like tone that he brings to it. I did rather skim the Appendices though - something to look at again when we get a chance to see what Amazon have made of Middle-earth!

January 2021 - Last of the current Dresdens - Battle Ground - epic battle indeed, almost the entire supernatural world facing off against a Titan and her Fomor armies in the battle for Chicago. There were some light-hearted moments, but we also say a heart-breaking goodbye to a much-loved character (had to happen sometime). On now to the last of the short stories in Side Jobs and Brief Cases - shedding some light on a couple of story points in the books too. All good stuff - hopefully book 18 (Twelve Months?) will make it out sometime in 2021.

Apologia

So it's 2022 - and as I write this it is November of 2022 - which means I have been a very bad blogger.

In retrospect - given that 2022 has managed to show that Covid is not necessarily the worst thing that can happen to world - it doesn't seem quite the thing to start with 'Happy New Year' inserted posts, so I'll start with an apology for not being a better blogger, and for 2022 itself.

What follows will be a mix of monthly summary blogs, and individual posts where relevant.

I'm hoping to resume normal service in December - but in the meantime, enjoy what follows - it's been a year of changes in more ways than one (and some of them are actually positive!).