toe, first walk, so good!, hemlock, bittersweet, end of term, end of year, chilly

 

Toe injury put paid to walking for over a week. So good to be out in the fields again today!

Hemlock thick in places. Bittersweet more discreet.

End of Oxford Trinity Term today. End of the 2020-21 academic year. Like no other, but we got through it! Not that all courses are respecters of academic years. Creative Writing ones often never stop.

Chilly today - log fire. Couldn't have imagined that a week ago.

comfrey, alive, downton abbey filming, it takes you back

 

A comfrey hybrid, a ladybird, the Downton Abbey church - and more.

The green lane is alive with green, and with colourful flowers.

And talking of DA, there was some filming going on this week, although I didn't see it. By all accounts it didn't last long. Probably some second unit stuff. The first feature film didn't have much of the village in it and perhaps the second will be the same.

Not like when they were making the TV series - I well remember being curious about this new unknown programme back in 2010: 

https://justthoughtsnstuff.blogspot.com/2010/04/returned-to-bampton-this-afternoon.html.

great spotted, cheep, singular, diy, sighting, the bird has flown

 

I was alerted to the great spotted woodpecker's nest on the edge of the village by a friend in mid-May.

Although I couldn't see any sign of the chicks at that stage, I could hear them (link below).

At least I thought it sounded like there was more than one. Recently, though, the cheeping got louder and singular. How disturbing the natural world can be!

Looking at the hole, I began to wonder whether chicks ever got too big to get out... But then I suspected I was imposing my own DIY and construction skills. The woodpeckers have it covered.

Yesterday, I caught sight of the chick.

This morning the nest was silent and I imagine it has flown!

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Listen to Great spotted woodpecker chicks.m4a by Frank Egerton on #SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/6rWQQ