I trust everyone is well and looking forward to Christmas and, as Helen mentioned in her email, growing excited at the prospect of singing together some time in the New Year. I'm grateful to Ron for posting a lot of our repertoire on his Facebook page which has provided some fun and enjoyment  although I'm not sure I remembered the top bass line or the words to everything - hey-ho! 

Meantime I've been trying to keep busy  working to add detail to the model railway some of the time but Max, the pup, is quite demanding of time both for walks and playing. Bike rides have been rather limited as the weather hasn't been great over here with quite a lot of rain and wind.

It was during one of my walks that I snapped this picture on the phone - so poor quality excuse again :) - and thought to send it on with a  tale for the little ones.
It should be reassuring for the kids/grandkids to know that, in this difficult year, Santa has contingency plans in place in case of Brexit/Covid issues. These could mean extended delivery times and operating Rudolph and crew outside of allowed working hours. The deer pictured, of course, aren't reindeer but are parked in a  farm just down the road from us in a protective bubble so they can jump straight into service should they be called on.
I understand similar sleigh backup power is available at strategic points around the world :). So no worries, Santa will get through.

For now, enough drivel.
​
Have an enjoyable Christmas and may 2021 bring better times.

All the best.

We've had some new visitors to the garden this year including a pair of grey wagtails and a pair of blackcaps.
The video is of one of the wagtails taken a couple of weeks ago.
A pair of great tits have nested and are very busy zooming in and out of the bird box feeding their chicks.
Other residents/visitors (in order of arrival one day) include: Goldfinches, Wood pigeons, Collared doves, Blackbirds, Starlings, Robins, Wrens, Jackdaws, Pigeons, Blue tits, House sparrows, Dunnocks, Crows, Magpies, Chaffinches, Greenfinches.

They are lovely and the bird song is beautiful - but they leave so much poop!

Last week we bought a night-vision camera to capture hedgehog activity in our garden. We’ve been meaning to do this for ages, but isolation gave us the incentive to do it, and we can now review the footage each morning over a cup of coffee. After only a few nights, we have discovered that we have at least two hedgehogs, a couple of field mice and a visiting fox! I have attached a couple of stills taken from video clips.
BW
 
Cathy