Everyone sooner or later living on this hill gets the odd partridge or pheasant visiting their garden, because we are all next to the fields. The birds don’t stay for long of course. But for as long as it lasts,we all love it!

My  neighbour  said today that a gaggle of eight juvenile woodpeckers visited her garden last week briefly eating up all the creepy crawly things in her garden, but they haven’t been seen again so they must be back in their usual trees. A bit of a eureka moment none the less!

Lower down the hill on the High Street one or two ducks in the Spring regularly take up residence in the pots of daffodils standing on the tiny window balconies of a couple of the small cottages where the mother duck will lay eggs and stay there until hatching time, getting fed and watered in style!. Then when the fluffy ducklings are ready to make it to the river, the baby ducklings scurry dangerously over the edge of the balcony in response to mother duck coaxing them from below. There the fluffy sweethearts float , off in the breeze one by one, landing softly on the pavement below while mother duck continues to call. She will then lead them in an endearing line to the shallow- water at the bottom of the Street by the bridge, stopping traffic in the process. Always a  delight for one and all!

Today, a lot higher up the same  hill but still in a direct line to the same shallow water….. I found today……. in my garden a pair of ducks, under my fig tree! So now I am holding my breath! Are these two (especially the brown one) thinking of moving into my garden, sizing up a new space for next spring? Never seen ducks up here before, so maybe not, but I think I had better tidy up the geranium pots just in case!  Gill McGrath©