Christine's walking & birds blog

When I opened the bedroom curtains this morning the first thing I saw was a plane high up, travelling eastwards and leaving a neat, straight vapour trail across a cold blue sky.

The second thing I saw was a male bullfinch in the copper beech. By the time I'd gone downstairs he was in the pyracantha in the garden, and a female was nearby. I took the photo through the patio door from between the curtains. A garden tick.

Planes have been taking off from Heathrow all day, at longish intervals. Most of them headed west with just one or two going over the house. It's still relatively peaceful. I think we're so used to their noise, that it seems almost spookily quiet without them.