Category Archives: nature

Three Little Birds

Posted on 28 May 2024 by rpg

I’ve said elsewhere that our garden is a wildlife paradise. Turns out that the house is, too. I often see our family of robins just outside the kitchen door, by the hen house. I’ve taken to shaking the hen feeder … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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We need medicine

Posted on 13 May 2024 by rpg

I caught up with Wanda on Friday. She’d managed to inspect the captured swarm the day before, and all seemed hunky-dory. No eggs yet, but you can expect to wait a couple of weeks before a newly mated queen will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Learning to fly

Posted on 5 May 2024 by rpg

I’ve written at length about our hens. What I may not have mentioned is that last year we got a hive, and some bees to go in it.  The bees did what bees do, and we had a few jars … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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I’m still standing

Posted on 21 April 2024 by rpg

Big Vet doesn’t want you to read this post. Chickens, famously, do not have teeth. Instead they have gizzards, A gizzard is a kind of bag betwixt beak and stomach in which foodstuff is ground by little bits of stone … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The Country Life

Posted on 24 March 2024 by rpg

I set up a WhatsApp group for the locals, so I can let them know when I have eggs available. “Hello Richard!” they’ll message, “Any eggs available today?” At this time of year, with an average of 4 eggs daily, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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My Generation

Posted on 15 March 2024 by rpg

Back in January I predicted that we would hit our 14 kWh daily average sometime around the end of April. I was a little off, as we first passed that marker on 1 March—surprisingly for such a rainy day, I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Family Tree

Posted on 18 February 2024 by rpg

We’re blessed to have a larger-than-usual garden (for these parts). Legend has it that when they built this development at the arse-end of the 1980s, what-was-to-become our plot was down for 2 (or even 3) houses, but they didn’t get … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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2023 – Top Ten, plus one

Posted on 18 February 2024 by Richard Wintle

In a surprising twist, here are my top 10 photographs from 2023… only a couple of months into 2024! As usual, they also live in a Flickr set that you can explore here. Craig McRae, Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (November) … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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A Place Called England

Posted on 4 February 2024 by rpg

I planted snowdrops in the green in the woods last Sunday morning, and this Saturday when we visited they were already demurely in bloom. We usually get one crazy forerunner between Christmas and New Year in our garden, but it’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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One piece at a time

Posted on 3 January 2024 by rpg

While we’re on the subject of failure, there were a lot of bits of broken tree around the neighbourhood today. And Jenny was greeted by this somewhat alarming sight on the school run this morning. No, not the still-small-but-rapidly-growing boy, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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