If St.Paul's Day be fair and clear
It doth betide a happy year
But if, by chance it then should rain,
It will make dear all kinds of grain,
And if the clouds make dark the sky,
The neate and fowls this year shall die.
If blustering winds do blow aloft,
Then wars shall trouble the realm full oft
The Shepherd's Almanack of 1676 predicts 'if the sun shines it betokens a good year; if rain indifferent; if misty it predicts a good dearth; if it thunder, great winds and death of people that year'.
( By the way, neate is an old English word for cattle)
I'm happy to say that we have had blue skies and sunshine for most of the day, a bit chilly but that's not a problem. It was perfect for a walk...... just around the track across the fields from us and back up the road. We have done around 2 miles a few times now so next time we hope to do one of the longer circular walks that we can do from here.
To do the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch Col wrapped up in extra layers and sat outside for a while and then came in and sat near the back door. He had put all our feeders in one area during the week so as to be able to see everything at once.
The amount he saw was incredible. I never see this many of anything at any one moment during one hour because I haven't got the patience to stay still long enough!
6 Blackbird, 24 plus Blue Tit, 1
Bullfinch, 1 Coal Tit, 10 Chaffinch, 4 Collared Dove, 4 Dunnock, 1
Fieldfare, 1 Goldfinch, 24 plus Great Tit, 2 Greenfinch, 2 Jackdaw, 1 Jay, 8 Longtail tit, 1 Magpie, 4 Robin, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Greater Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker,
4 Wood Pigeon, 4 Wren, 1 Sparrow hawk.
It's odd that we have just one Fieldfare as they usually go round in groups, there were a few more a while back but this on seems to have got left behind. He was lucky to spot the Bullfinch as it is more often out along the front hedge and if you stand up by the workshop and Campsite driveway you can often see several Goldfinches but they rarely come down near the house.
I wonder what we would see if we moved to a different part of the country?
Thank you to everyone who commented about our beautiful family bible. I'm going to start with book shelf pictures tomorrow. I shall just do one shelf at a time as it sometimes takes an age to get pictures to load - the joy of country living!
Back Soon
Sue
( By the way, neate is an old English word for cattle)
I'm happy to say that we have had blue skies and sunshine for most of the day, a bit chilly but that's not a problem. It was perfect for a walk...... just around the track across the fields from us and back up the road. We have done around 2 miles a few times now so next time we hope to do one of the longer circular walks that we can do from here.
To do the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch Col wrapped up in extra layers and sat outside for a while and then came in and sat near the back door. He had put all our feeders in one area during the week so as to be able to see everything at once.
The amount he saw was incredible. I never see this many of anything at any one moment during one hour because I haven't got the patience to stay still long enough!
4 Wood Pigeon, 4 Wren, 1 Sparrow hawk.
It's odd that we have just one Fieldfare as they usually go round in groups, there were a few more a while back but this on seems to have got left behind. He was lucky to spot the Bullfinch as it is more often out along the front hedge and if you stand up by the workshop and Campsite driveway you can often see several Goldfinches but they rarely come down near the house.
I wonder what we would see if we moved to a different part of the country?
Thank you to everyone who commented about our beautiful family bible. I'm going to start with book shelf pictures tomorrow. I shall just do one shelf at a time as it sometimes takes an age to get pictures to load - the joy of country living!
Back Soon
Sue
