Christine's walking & birds blog

A cuckoo was heard in the distance, and a common sandpiper was uttering its rather peevish alarm call from the loch shore. At one point, a sudden loud flapping halted us in our tracks as a bird broke cover in the trees and flew low along the bank, mostly hidden by conifers. We thought grouse, but whether red or black it was impossible to say.

Back at home, I snapped a picture of a tree bumblebee - my first here, I think, although they were frequent visitors to our garden in Taplow.

Talking of which, two things have put me off gardening recently; the first was getting my hands on unseen cat poo while clearing out old dead stuff from beneath our pretty Spiraea bush. At least the owners of dogs can be fined for not clearing up after them, but cat owners - amazingly - aren't held responsible for where their pets relieve themselves - which is, more often than not, in other people's gardens. The other thing was - ticks. I've had three already this year, two tiny larvae (six legs instead of eight) which are supposed less of a threat, and one adult - which was already engorged with my blood by the time I realised it was there.

I also had a spooky moment recently when I went to the loo in the night. A couple of small noises from above made me look up, thinking an insect was trying to escape through the skylight. As I gazed up trying to see it, a pale, ghostly face suddenly appeared against the black sky - and instantly disappeared. It reappeared, this time with the addition of a neck as the cat craned to see me better. It looked as astonished to see me as I was to see it. House sparrows nest in our roof space, and no doubt it was after them. That's now one herring gull and one cat caught peeking at me through the skylight - the gull, when I was in the altogether. This animal voyeurism has to stop!