2nd February 2023
Rosemary spotted a Grey Heron near the field pond. I rushed out to take a photograph. I was far from it, and it was standing down the slope to the pond, so little of the Heron was in sight. I grabbed a few frames from about100 meters away, and then walked towards it. Of course, it flew off.
I looked at the frames I took, not technically good, but you could see it was eating a frog or toad. So worth keeping them. I think it was a Toad, and so does Rosemary.
2nd January 2023
The wildlife camera threw up an interesting find. In between the rabbits, muntjac deer and the foxes, was an Otter. We have seen it only once. Maybe it was exploring the pond. There are several ponds in the immediate vicinity, many with fish. Our pond dries out in the Summer so not suitable for fish. Anyway, nice to see it, a change from Rabbits and Foxes.
1st January 2023
The New Year brought with it the Sparrowhawk. It spent an exceptionally long time perched in the tree by the bird feeders. Most of the time was spent preening. Needless to say, there were no songbirds in the vicinity. I took several (hundreds) of photographs, which I have trimmed down to this lucky sequence of it emptying out our songbirds in one avian excretion.
Back in the late spring, early summer of 2022, we had a skulk of foxes in the field bringing up four fox cubs. We believe it was two vixens, with a couple of cubs each. Normally we would see two cubs at a time, but on occasion another two cubs would come from the other side of the mound and join in with the play. One set of cubs disappeared during the summer. We assume (hope) they moved on somewhere else. The cubs are now fully grown, and we have seen them since this video was put together.
You can watch the short edition, a little over 5 minutes, or the long two and a quarter hour video. The longer video also stars Badger, Muntjac deer, Squirrels, rabbits, Great spotted woodpecker and various other birds.
Five minutes and 52 seconds showing the highlights of the cubs.
Two hours and 19 minutes. The full monty.
11th December 2022
We have had a dry and very cold few days in the United Kingdom. The temperature in Kingswood dropped to -11C and has been below freezing all night and day. I haven’t felt anything as cold as this since we first moved here in the late 1980s. Despite this cold patch, the UK average temperature for 2022 averaged more than 10C, the first time ever it has topped 10C. The cold weather went on until the 18th, but of course warmed up for Christmas.
I grabbed a few pictures of the frost patterns on cobwebs and vegetation using my mobile phone.
8th December 2022
I was up at 4.00 UTC to see a rare event. The planet Mars was occulated by the moon. The next time this happens will be January 2025. I took around 80 photographs, discarded many, and superimposed each image on top of each other. You can see the moon in the center of the image, and images of Mars on the top left getting closer and closer to the moon. Eventually Mars was behind the moon. This occurred at around 4.59. I went back to bed, intending to photograph the moon when Mars reappeared on the bottom right. I was a little late for this and missed the initial image of Mars reappearing an hour later at 5.58.
I was lucky, a noticeably clear night in Buckinghamshire, though cool at -5C. The down jacket did little to keep my hands warm.
5th November 2022
Unusually we had the Kingswood Firework party this year on the actual fifth of November. But, as is usual, we had a magnificent bonfire & fireworks & BBQ. No guy to burn this year, despite plenty of candidate effigies, such as a lettuce, a Liz or a Boris. The weather was a little damp, although the rain did hold out to the end of the firework display. Those finishing off the burgers, bangers, beer and wine did have to shelter under the canopies when there was a short torrential downpour.
For a few, the evening ended in a Kingswood house where a considerable volume of whisky etc was consumed, amidst much camaraderie.
21st July 2022
The second of our two local pubs, the Akeman (formerly the Crooked Billet), the one we don’t often visit, has a vegetable garden. Planning permission was granted several years ago, but COVID came along and delayed the opening of the vegetable patch. This year all changed, and the garden was planted with veg, while plastic poly tunnels were erected to grow heritage tomatoes. The intention is to supply fresh vegetables to several of the Oakman inns. We went with neighbours to an open day with the gardeners and management on hand to explain their vision. It looked impressive, but would it be able to supply much veg? Who knows? Let us see what happens next year.
Of course, it would have been rude not to have had a glass of beer in the bar.
22nd May 2022
We took a walk around Wotton Underwood Estate, only with my mobile phone, so I failed to get many shots of the wildlife. It is a shame to see the one old oak tree broken. It has always been magnificent with the strange spiral trunk. Now unfortunately it has been broken by the winds, still alive, but will be gone soon. It is a lovely walk, and you don’t get to see anyone, not even Tony Blair.
8th May 2022
Beautiful day in May was chosen for the Wotton Fête. We had not attended for a few years, something got in the way, and then it was COVID. Unfortunatey Wotton House was not open. It used to be for Fête days. The house not being open was a disappointment. We love the house to open, not so much to see the inside it, but to peer out of the upstairs windows into the grounds of Tony Blair’s country house next door. The last time we did this, there were only armed police in the garden, which, claimed R, would have put her off her G&T on the terrace.
The fête had the usual country treats; cakes, teas, a brass band and dog show competitions. A few classic cars are also brought along for nostalgic reasons. Tecnology is making its way, a wifi zone had been setup to make payments by card faster. Additionally, a number of electric cars arrived at the fête,
The church was also festooned with flowers, adding a graceful touch.
