May Bank Holiday - 26th May 2018

The end of May bank holiday weekend saw more atypical British bank holiday weather. Hot and sunny all weekend with a threat of thunderstorms that didn't materialise (where I was anyway.) Rais is starting to look like summer, the trees are almost in full leaf and the grasses, thistles and other greenery in the wayleave is growing quickly, such a difference to a month ago. It was a very different feel to last weekend. Jo has gone back to Africa and everyone else was off doing other things so it was just me at Rais.

Saturday was hot! I did some clearing of brambles and rohdie stumps by the stream until the sun came round and it got too hot. There was one very disappointed wasp who had obviously been starting a nest in the roots of one of the stumps I dug up and the brambles had been growing like crazy so it looked quite different after an hour of digging. My new hand axe is working pretty well for brambles, loosening the soil round the roots so I can pull them out

Once it got too hot I moved into the shade and found a very strange looking beach (?) by the twisted oak that was totally stripped of it's bark with the bark lying on the ground in strips all around it. I thought it was dead at first but the leaves were very healthy.

Looking around I found a couple more with similar damage just starting so hopefully it is natural growth rather than any disease.






I did find some good news at the top of the wood though. The dead oak sapling is.... not dead! just behind the others, it has some new growth so fingers crossed it will be ok

During the afternoon I stayed in the shade and cleared all the brambles and stingers by the camp, repaired the cracks in Cassius, inside and out and tried adding chicken wire to the yardarm deck planks that get wet as an alternative to grip tape. I just did the very outer board as a first try and it seems ok to me. Just need to see what the others think before I do any more.

Two woods over the digger was busy again all day and my curiosity finally got the better of my manners so I wandered over to see what they had been doing after they had gone. Looks like they are expanding round the edge of the pond they dug last year, and not being too worried about any trees that may be in their way in the meantime!

 I had a nice chilled out evening round the fire before some un-forecast rain sent me to bed around 11

Sunday morning was even hotter than Saturday so after breakfast and another hours digging I headed home.

Jo's mid year Camping Weekend - 19th May 2018

This weekend was an opportunity for a gathering for Jo's friends to see her during her last week in the UK this year. Rais is at a beautiful phase, masses of growth but not quite the full summer canopy in place yet, and the weather looked like it was going to co-operate. Flee and Tracy, Mungo and Lorraine, Helen and I and, of course, Jo and Ant were going to be there for the duration, along with some other potential visitors popping in.

We arrived after work on Friday to find Jo and Flee and Tracy there already. Jo had made a beef stew, but slightly forgotten that it takes three hours to cook! so the first order of business was to get that on the fire, then we settled down to some beers. Ant arrived a little later, followed by Mungo and Lorraine around 9, coincidentally just as the food was ready!

Jo had, apparently said she wanted an "All nighter", so we were well stocked up with beer and wine and it turned into a fantastic night around the fire. The beef stew was excellent, there was loads of good chat, while the Great Tits zoomed in and out of the net box above our heads. Ant and Mungo found that the Honey Jack Daniels was really very nice, and became quite relaxed, so much so that Ant reluctantly demonstrated "club stylee" to Helen. Unfortunately as the evening wore on one of Ants amazing new whiskey glasses was a casualty of the general merriment.
Flee went to bed around midnight as he had a full day doing kit car building on Saturday and was followed by Helen around 1 and me around 3.30. Jo lasted till 6am, which seeing as she was snoozing in the chair at 10pm was good going! and the rest made it to 6.30 when Flee got up to go to work! before staggering off to bed.

We had drawn the straw to provide breakfast for the weekend, much to Ants distress, and Helen had left at 9am to walk home as part of her training so Saturday morning saw me cooking plenty of sausages (not a single one containing any fruit, much to Ants relief) and bacon, cooked along with an egg experiment, that was somewhere between fried, scrambled and omelette, in the iron pan that worked out ok. Everyone was tired after the late night and Ant and Mungo in particular looked a little the worse for wear so after breakfast Ant went home to "sort out the cat", and Mungo went back to bed for a micro nap (that only lasted until 5pm!) In between cups of tea, knitting, haircuts and bird call identifications I cleared a bit of bracken and Jo and Tracey spent some time in the Hive to test their cameras (and somehow managed to break the door??).

Saturday night was catered by Tracey and it was to be Pizza night! so around 3 I lit the fire in Cassius before heading home to collect Helen and stock up on breakfast supplies for Sunday. While we were gone Sarah and Charlie turned up, which was a nice surprise for Jo who had thought they were only coming down for a short time on Sunday. Tracey had arranged it with Sarah but it nearly backfired when Jo got a bit annoyed with Sarah during the week as she thought she wasn't going to bother coming down at all, but all was well in the end.
When we got back the fire in Cassius was still going, despite Tracey's best efforts at neglecting it, and Flee was just arriving back with Megan, Xyah and Storm to round out the party for the evening,

Cassius was properly warmed up by about half 7 and while ideally we would have waited another half hour for the fire to die down, as the sacrificial pizza was done in exactly 2.5 minutes! Jo's food monster made a sudden and startling appearance so the potato wedges went in immediately. Tracey had loads of mini Pizza bases and everyone made their own and passed them to me to go in, usually surrounded by loaves of garlic bread. Once again each one took only 3-4 minutes and soon round one was complete and I sat down to let everyone else sort out if they wanted round two. We were all so stuffed that the Camembert remained in it's boxes uncooked!

Another jovial night ensued, although while the Honey JD made another appearance things were a bit more restrained than Friday night.The highlight was probably Jo's fiberglass and duct tape story which, strangely, she had forgotten to mention to me before.
Xyah, Helen, Flee, Sarah then Mungo and Lorraine called it a night from about 1 onward and we eventually packed up about half two and I staggered off to bed and silence descended. (Apart from some odd noises of clinking bottles that indicated someone was back up and in the kitchen.)

Sunday started with the epic news that Storm had been very thoroughly sick in his tent during the night. Mamma Jo had got up to help him get cleared up and so had not gone to bed till after 4am! Xyah and Storm we asleep in Immac when we got up around 10 but eventually emerged to much amusement and ribbing. he took it in good heart though.

After two late nights everyone was tired so after another nervous breakfast for Ant we pottered round, tidied and generally packed up. Sarah left around 2 and we left everyone else getting ready to go at around 3. Sunday was a very early night!

Sunday 13th May 2018

Sunday was another nice May day, after non stop rain yesterday

I arrived about 10 with a good list of things to do, probably far too much for one day, but actually it turned into a very productive day.

Helen extended her training range and walked up to Rais from home, arriving about 1:30 which is a good speed, and in the meantime I cleared the last stumps by the hive, they were all much more difficult to get out than their size suggested, I see why Flee left them! Then I pulled some bracken, in passing, and strimmed, fairly gently, by the yardarm and the paths in anticipation of potential visitors next weekend when we are camping. Next was installing the pallet for our tent doorstep and then lunch!

Helen had arrived by now and started to move some primroses on the bank Ant has now cleared over by our tent and I carried on by clearing brambles and stumps by the shower. An hour or so of that made some progress so we called it a day

On the wildlife side there was again no sign of the rat, looks like he has moved on and the Great Tit nest box by the yardarm has hatchlings in. I've realised I've not seen or heard the buzzards for several weeks. One of the doves which I think are nesting in the owl box was behaving oddly, he was sitting on the ground and while he would fly away, it was only if you got very close.

(update Monday lunchtime: he is clearly sick, still on the ground and now falling over if walking too fast and not able to fly away)

Update: Tuesday Lunchtime: he's come to a sticky end!













A survey of the oak saplings showed most are looking very healthy although there is one casualty by at the top of the wood. By the Hive one has been quite badly eaten, so I closed off the top of the cover (interesting that something could get in there) one is a bit sad looking but it is probably the most shaded and one is very feeble but that is the natural seeded one that we put a cover around.

Saturday 5th May 2018 - Bank Holiday weekend

Helen was in Bristol for the weekend and I was not back from Mexico until Friday evening, so I didn't rush to get up on Saturday morning. I got to Rais around 11 but was still first there. It was glorious weather, most unusual for a Bank Holiday weekend. Sunny and warm and forecast to stay the same all weekend.

As usual I put the bird food out and the decided to sit in the sun for a few minutes before I started anything, and that's when I saw the new resident rat! He was very brave, coming from behind the wood store onto the peanuts in the feeder and really not worrying that I was there at all

Ant arrived shortly afterwards. The plan was to burn all the roots and remaining rohdie, although it was a big pile and I did not think we would do it all in one day. After some discussion and a bit of googling we decided the rat had to go, so Ant went and got his air rifle while I minded the new fire. When he got back Ant shot at it but, although he may have hit it he didn't kill it and from then on then it was much more cautious. We did see it (or a rat at least) over by the stream and in the camp by Forests stump in the morning but not at all after that.

The fire went well, it was hot dirty work, on the hottest day of the year so far, but it was a huge fire and by the end of the day everything was on and burning. Flee and Tracey arrived about 5 and we had a nice evening round the fire

I had a good lie in  on Sunday morning, the jet lag helping me sleep till 10! We had breakfast and  Flee found what seemed to be the rats nest in Immac.

For the rest of the morning Tracey and I pulled bracken up by the hive and I dug out the last stump up by the cars. The oak saplings seem to have recovered quite a bit since last week so hopefully they will all make it after all.

Ant cleared the last choppings from his side and Flee started the mammoth task of clearing brambles in the wayleave over the other side of the stream. Ant and I went home about lunchtime while Flee and Tracey stayed Sunday night too.

I went down on Tuesday after work to try and have another shot at the rat but there was no sign of him. I did lose my glasses though and spent a good hour looking for them before finally finding them by the dam on Wednesday lunchtime.