Henry’s photo

You can see the quality of Henry’s camera and new lens in the picture he took (one of many I suspect) of this Greater Spotted woodpecker, feeding on our bird table this evening at about 6pm. Both the male and the female made numerous visits, taking a liking for the suet sticks, and at one point removing the remains of one stick flying off with it in its beak. We all watched from the house for a long while, it is so rare to see such special birds in the garden. Jon said they seemed to be heading back each time to an ash tree hidden in a clump behind the neighbours back fence, so they possibly have a nest? I hope so.

Day two of our 3 week fitness and dieting regime! Up and out again before 6.30 and back by 7. It is averaging 2.5k that we walk in the morning, and we try to do it briskly. The lovely weather helps, and it is such a lovely time of day. I’ve been spotting some lovely wild flowers in the verges. I want to go back and collect seeds in a few weeks, so that I can sow them in my wild flower patch on the allotment.

Work day was a bit rubbish. Still frustrated, and today was stupidly long as I struggled to balance actually doing some work against people ringing to chase. My god why don’t they realise that while you are speaking to them on the phone , you can’t be calculating their pensions. They all think they know how long it should take for us to do our job. If only it was just a case of pressing a button. Was losing it by 5.50pm A very long day when i started at 7.15am. Tomorrow will be shorter.

The diet part of my day is harder than the exercise, but part of that is psychological. I think ‘diet...oh no, I need chocolate..!’ After dinner we had nothing to watch on tv so went for a longer walk, so that I can try and hit the magic 10000 steps. It is the first time in a while that I’ve done it. This last year working from home has definitely contributed to my weight gain.

Now a bit of tv, then bed!