Sunday, April 01, 2012
A firecrest was heard singing from the house this morning, and on an afternoon walk round the village, a call alerted me to the presence of a pair of little owls out in the paddock.
I walked round to the churchyard at Hitcham to water a plant I'd put there in the week, and noticed that new signs have gone up on the fence opposite, where there is a pull-in for four or five cars under the trees: NO PARKING. But that fence is the boundary of that particular house's grounds; or, you may be sure, the fence would be moved out to the edge of the road.
A bit further along, the verge has had logs untidily placed so that (presumably) no-one can pull off the road. Again, I doubt this verge belongs to the house, or why is their fence on the other side of the ditch?
The people who park in the first pull-in are those like me, tending a grave; and this far along the road, once or twice a week, it'll be church-goers. And the house that owns the log-hogged verge? The Old Rectory. Of course, it's a private residence now. Perhaps they should change the name to The New Grabbery.
A walk at Combe on Friday failed to produce any migrants. This stoat showed a clean pair of heels in the woods, disappearing along the track in a series of leaps and bounds.
Three marsh tits were vocal and busy on the flank of Walbury Hill.
Back near the car park there was a large flock of meadow pipits.// posted by Christine @ 10:44 AM 
