Thursday 27th December 2018

Flee had promised the digger would be available soon so we could finally get started on the parking area. It's not a day too soon as it is getting very slippery up there now. In preparation Helen and I started the day at my parents house to liberate a bag of ballast they had left over from the repairs to their lane a while ago. It was too much to fit on the trailer in one go so we loaded up about half of it, somehow managed to get the heavy trailer down the lawn again without an accident, and headed off to Rais.

It was midday by the time we had the ballast dropped off but we spent a good couple of hours chopping and digging roots on what turned out to be a cold but bright and clear day. Probably the coldest day of the winter year so far (but nowhere near a frost still)

When we stopped for some lunch I was looking down from the hive towards the yardarm and saw the sparrowhawk (pretty sure, the sun was behind him) glide into a perch on the huge holly by the stream, sit there for a minute or so and then swoop down towards the yardarm and the feeders there.  I hope the birds had their eyes open!

In preparation for an early start tomorrow once we got home I dragged Kelson back over to Streat to help me load the trailer with the rest of the ballast so I could get straight to Rais in the morning