On arrival, we saw our new neighbours were in and so we stopped to introduce ourselves to beekeeper Bob and his wife Rita. Lovely couple, retired and "pleased as punch" with their new purchase. Bob followed us down to our clearing for a nose about and stayed for a couple of cups of tea and a good natter about all sorts. What a fantastic start to the day - sun shining for the fourth day in a row too.We cracked on with more deadwood and Rhodie clearance - the two piles are getting quite large now, but the woodland floor is finally receiving dappled shade and feels as if it's opening up a bit more - instead of the gloomy deep shade and the sense of being slowly choked in rampant non-natives it looks marginally lighter, airy and optimistic.
Ant with his new bedding and me with my determination to sleep over this week at least once, we made a start on our "A" frame beds this afternoon. Looking promising but still need the "mattress" parts to be able to sleep there. After pondering re-using the chicken wire to form a tube between the two horizontal poles (like a stretcher) we decided the risk of tearing our slightly inflatable sleeping mats was too great and so we are going to look at getting some waterproof canvas instead.I also hacked another new pathway through the east side from Rais down to the log bog. There is still one section which is a bit tricky and ideally requires another bridge, but I will tackle that tomorrow.
The bracken on the top of the wayleave is already chest high and I spotted another new wildlfower today (pictured) which I cannot find in my book... it was in a boggy area, and so probably not common enough to be in my Collins guide so I now have an evening of trawling photos on the internet; It was right next door to the ragged robin which I love.
