We rewarded ourselves with a few glasses of the red stuff of course, well chuffed that we had gotten it all done on the Saturday and could afford a lie in and a leisurely Sunday. More importantly, Tracey would get to watch Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final.
I tried out my new camp bed in the blue tent and slept like a log - so much so that I didn't get up until 10:30am, the best nights sleep I've had up there... ever. :-)
We decided to head over to see the neighbours on Sunday, but unfortunately Bob and Rita were not in, so we continued on to see John at his bird haven in Millers Wood. What a difference some light makes, his woodland is very open in comparison to Rais. He has thinned his trees quite a bit at the Eastern edge of his wood and worked incredibly hard to get a number of hides in situ already, including an impressive drinking hide which I'm keen to have a go in. John has an Alaskan chainsaw mill which gives the ability to turn felled trees into planks... incredibly useful when you want to build solid hides, and flat benches but don't have the need or space for a permanent saw mill. As a result there are benches dotted around to enjoy the peace and watch the birds. I was particularly impressed with how close the birds were coming in to his feeders, even with us standing not too far away. Then to see the juvenile woodpeckers come in almost immediately after we got seated inside - particularly as we were not even being quiet! John is renting his hides, and offers photography workshops from his wood so check out his website... http://www.johnstantonphotography.co.uk/He has sown a lot of wildflower seeds and planted a number of natives around the site which will be stunning in a few seasons time when it all takes hold. I'm also looking forward to seeing how his pond turns out, as he has opted for a man made version with pond liner whereas we are attempting to dam our stream again using the clay instead of liner. I'm intrigued to see if there is a difference in the time they take to establish.
Going to be an exciting summer / autumn.