The lady's not for turning

Well. The deed is done. We have agreed to buy the house in Somerset. We just have to sell this one. Jen is adamant!



Because we are some £25K short of the agreed price at the moment, we have agreed to rent the place for up to 6 months. To remove the property from the open market we have to pay 1% of the selling price up front.
Our carpet man will do upstairs the day after we move out, and our agent reckons he will find a buyer for us shortly thereafter, as the place will be newly decorated and vacant for early possesion.

This does mean that we will not be able to get on with the necessary upgrading of the property, but we will be able to suss out the local tradesmen and get specs and quotes sorted. Hopefully, by the spring, we will be "in business".

I shall be wanting to thicken up a hedge and add some new stock to the orchard; this will become my new ringing site. At present I have no idea were else I will be able to ring but I shall be speaking to my contacts soonest. From 2009 county ringing data, it seems that Somerset is similar in many ways to Bedfordshire, with new species such as Pied Fly and Siskin more abundant, more waders and gulls but fewer wildfowl.

I hope there'll be plenty of these "nettle peggies" about.
We have set a date for moving - but we're keeping 'shtoom' about it for a bit. It'll be sudden!

Never fear, we will be back!!

Some Movement

Had to remove my computer set-up to the downstairs (proper) study; it all went back together OK, except for my Finepix camera - it won't call up the download menu page! A bit cramped as this desk is quite a bit smaller than mine.

 As you can see, I've downloaded the missing .exe file and we're back in business!

The painter will be in tomorrow, hopefully for the last time. He's due to "magnolia" my old study in the smallest bedroom (but nice and long which used to accomodate my big desk & filing cabinets). The estate agent is calling round, too, so I hope he's going to get his finger out and get us 'sold' very soon. Still have to renew some of the carpets - that will mean more movement, this time of all of the furniture that didn't disappear into store in St. Neots. [Queer that; Jen's stuff is in Kettering]

Other things on the move just lately, south this time, were - Sky Larks in small flocks of up to 7, Meadow Pipits in ones and twos, odd Siskin, singleton Brambling, a trickle of Robins & Chaffinches, and some Song Thrushes. The winter trek of gulls, mainly LBBG from the Grafham roost to the Brogborough tip, is evident most mornings and evenings; some of them drop into Priory for a 'wash & brush-up'.

Walking round the perimeter of the new estate opposite (it is surrounded by large plots of wildflower meadow), turns up a few birds. There is always a Robin singing in the same dog rose-cum-hawthorn bush, a Song Thrush by the stream, a Blackbird and a pair of Bullfinch in the eastern hedge and a couple of Mipits rising up from the new, now devoid of topsoil, development on the otherside of the hedge. Further round, where it borders farmland, there is often a score of Rooks and some Wood Pigeons or a Chaffinch or two. Still further round to the west there is an 'unofficial path' that runs along a newly planted, mixed hedge and rabbit fence. In the field beyond, there are always a couple of Sky Larks and half a dozen Mipits. Today (Monday), there were  at least 14 Mipits, a pair of Reed Buntings,

 one or more Yellowhammers, a Pied Wagtail and a Chaffinch, all making use of the fence wire or posts to warm themselves in the early sunshine after a cold night (at least minus 1C). Turning back for home along the brook, another Blackbird, a couple of Blue Tits, a Dunnock, a cat and a small flock of Long-tailed Tits.  

Made a pitch for a detached house between Taunton and Minehead over the weekend- young estate agent has not come back with  anything yet ... no news is good news???

My next big job is to clear and /or pack the contents of the garage. As I have managed to 'fix' the up-and-over door, we can have a skip on the drive and a massive purge of all those knackered or superfluous items that I have accumulated over my 14 years in Bedford and the 24 years in Gamlingay before that. Tally Ho!

A moving weekend

Jen looking at a house?

We have just spent a warm and sunny weekend in North Devon and West Somerset. The object of our travels was to look at houses. Above is Jenny looking at a neighbouring house; it's the booking hall at the local station on the West Somerset line. LINK.

We spent two nights at The Crown in Lynton, where the meals are humungus. It was Lynton & Lynmouth's 'comedy weekend', so we weren't short of company, especially young folk. The landlord took a shine to my dog, Cerise.  LINK.

This one is for Phil. Just can't get away - this one's round the back of the 'hoped for' house!

We were lucky to be able to view three houses, including a brand new one, and look at some others from outside.
Jenny took a fancy to one in particular (it happens to be the one I've been keeping an eye on via the Internet) and seems to be deciding how she would like it changing already.

The tug 'Ionia' at Bideford; I ticked this, on the Thames, many moons ago.

Any road up, I took Jen on a good tour of the local area; Porlock Hill, Countisbury, Lorna Doone, Coombe Martin, Ilfracombe, Woolacoombe, Braunton Burrows and Bideford, where we visited the brand new, unfinished Morrison's, her favourite store, and filled up with diesel.

I have instructed a surveyor to come and look at 'Fairmead' (as it's called) before deciding on what we will finally offer for the place. It has been on the market since the spring and the family of the owner (from Cambridge) haven't cleared the house and still come down now and then.We know it will need a bit of work doing to it, but we have allowed for this in our budget.

The M5 motorway is 20 miles away and, for Jen, the sea-side is a mere 3 miles off; there is also a working steam railway, for me, just a couple of hundred yards away (see top pic. and link).

  What you'll see of the house as you pass by on the main road.    

It sits in half an acre just off the main road, with a large, fruit, veg. and flower plot for Jen and an orchard for me and my nets. There's parking for the caravan, as well! Just need to kick the painter out and find a buyer for mine, now.Fingers crossed - and toes, too!

"Acorn Woodland" (visit 4)

I used to have a company called that, but this refers to the young wood in Bucks that we are surveying from time to time. The acorns on the 15 year old oaks are coming along nicely and are tempting a few birds. When we set off we had no idea of the catch we would get today.

"Who are you staring at?"

We put up the first net (1) at the end of the Hawthorn/Blackthorn hedge where it meets the laid hedge. This is on the northernmost east-west ride. It was one of our most sucessful Chiffchaff catching points. It intercepts the birds as they cross over into some Willows. The next net (2) we put up half way up this ride, where a central ride starts; the young oaks here nearly touch across the open space. We managed to put a further four nets up before starting extraction; two (3&4) at the end of the above cross-ride and two (5&6) on the eastern end of the main ride.

On our way back, net 3 was "dripping" with a family party of 16 Long-tailed Bushtits and a other birds. The 'Lotti's' were all re-traps (already ringed by us on a previous visit). Net 2 produced 3 Jays; they were unringed and turned out to be all adult. We assumed (at the time) that they were the local birds.

The first of the adult Jays (wing 188, wt. 172g)

A tape lure was left running at net 2 while we processed this first lot of birds.On our return, there was another Jay in the net (2) and four Goldcrests, lured in as it was their song coming from the speaker. We also extracted Robins, a Wren, a couple of Blackbirds, a group of Bullfinches and assorted tits from the other nets and then two more Goldcrests from net 2 on our way back.

  

Male Goldcrest - except for extreme tail shapes, we age all birds as "2's"

 

We then went out once more and this time we caught a very mixed bag. By now it was natural to see a couple of Jays dangling in the nets. We also picked up our second Marsh Tit of the day, but this one already had a ring on it. It eventually came time to call it a day. Time was pressing on and there were appointments to keep. On out take down round, the main interest was another family party of Bushtits, this one consisting of eight new birds.

This was our biggest catch so far at this site; 12 species, 77 birds of which 21 were ringed on previous visits.

Jay - 9

Goldcrest - 9

Long-tailed Bushtit - 9 (16)

Blue Tit - 10 (2)

Great Tit - 4 (1)

Marsh Tit - 1 (1)

Wren - 1 (1)

Blackbird - 3

Robin - 3

Dunnock - 1

Chaffinch - 2

Bullfinch - 3

All nine Jays were adults. With so many today, and not having caught any of the residents before, we wondered if these birds were "fresh in", possibly from the continent, and were hungry. Hence our phenomenal catch? [2 birds did drop acorns in the nets]. Damage limitation procedures were in place, but neither of us came away unscathed!

Our next visit will comprise an afternoon and a morning session, back to back, at the beginning of next month.

In contrast ...

In contrast to yesterday, the wind had dropped and the sun promised to come out, giving us all a better day. As the cloud cover had almost dissipated, I took myself and the dog off to join Dave Kramer at Priory CP. I was able to join him on his daily two-hour transect walk.

For details, click here to read further.