I think the little fellow that turned up two days ago on the glass of our back door, is probably a Speckled Bush Cricket. He’s there still, and has been a patient sitter while I’ve snapped away with the camera. He’s moving around quite a bit, but as yet hasn’t leapt into the long grass of the orchard beyond.
Something about that door must have an appeal for him. Perhaps the lights on the bathroom landing look so cheerfully twinkly that he’d like to come in and make himself comfortable for the Winter.
We’re having quite a cold snap at the moment, and at first sitting of a morning business at the bird-feeders is brisk. The mature pheasants Tiberius and Agnes are at the head of the queue for whatever drops to the ground. Three (or perhaps four) of their many offspring have survived to be a really good size, and we have something approaching a flock when they arrive as a family group. The youngsters are still very shy of me, though Agnes has become quite the calm matriarch, with none of the hysterics that characterised her behaviour when she first arrived here last year. She’s become confident and laid-back. Hopefully not too much so, or Mr Fox will be upon her.
Up in the Battery I’m happy about what’s emerging on the easel, though I’m not yet ready to show progress. Soon!
With Peter away for a few days, down in the sitting-room I’ve made good stencilling progress by working in the evenings. Blackbirds proliferate across the chimney breast.
Last night I even lit a fire in the wood-burning stove!
Now we lack only the fire-surround and the tin-glaze tiles commissioned from Meri Wells to line the aperture. It’s been a long old job, but all the hard work is beginning to pay dividends.
