Boy racer in the garden

A tired racing pigeon grabs some food.

On Monday 22nd June John noticed a pigeon on the house roof which Jane again spotted when it came down into the garden. It was a racing pigeon which looked a bit tired so we gave it some food.
We wondered about catching it but before we could, it flew into a hedge in next door’s garden.

He had a gold ring on the right leg GB19-F11253
We didn’t see him again, so hope he is now back where he belongs.

Update – 28th June.
He’s been back regularly and doesn’t seem to want to go home.

Enjoying the spring garden in difficult times.

The whole country, no, the whole world is on lock down for our protection from this insidious virus; the busy lives we all lead restricted to four walls, unless shopping, exercising or working.

We have experienced a long wet dull winter, both John and I have struggled with drawn out health issues, longing for a warmer, brighter and healthier spring, our eagerly awaited European holiday already cancelled.

Fortunately we enjoy each others company, we already spend hours on the internet, I also enjoy reading and knitting. We both love the garden, John cuts the grass and does the heavy jobs, I do the planting and flowers, we both enjoy the wildlife we can attract especially, birds, insects, amphibians and mammals, we are happily surprised at the variety of creatures we can attract.

Today I had a walk around the garden, breathing in the warm fresh air, listening to the birdsong and droning of bees around the skimmia japonica flowers, just enjoying the heat of the sun on my skin. Here are some of the images I captured with my camera.

It is an uncertain time, but there is always beauty in nature.

Wordsley winery part 2

The crushed grapes with sugar and yeast added spent 5 days in a bucket, letting the grape skins infuse colour into the juice. We squeezed the grapes and filtered the liquid into a sterilised demijohn, adding more sugar. The spent grape skins were put in the compost. The liquid continues to bubble as the sediment drops out in the fermentation process.

We managed 5 bottles of rose wine, a little sweet and a little sharp, very enjoyable with lemonade. I think we will leave the grapes to ripen a little more. We will learn and tweak what we did to make an even better wine next year.

Wine and the discarded crushed grapes