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Category Archives: Grendon Underwood

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The Secret Life of the Compost Heap XIIII

Blasdale Home Posted on July 13, 2021 by SteveJuly 13, 2021

We had a pair of Moorhens nesting on the pond, and then a brood of cute black Moorhenlings (Moorhen chicks). The pond was unusually full for the time of year, so the Moorhenlings were there for quite a while. One of the very few benefits of the incessant rain this year. Before the arrival of the Moorhenlings, the Moorhens actually coexisted with three Mallard ducks for several weeks. The Mallards could be spotted on the pond day and night. They appeared never to sleep, steaming around the pond at any time of the day or night, unlike the Moorhens. The Moorhens disappear back to their nest during the night. For many days we had only one Moorhen, presumably the other was hatching the eggs. At this time the ducks vanished, I presume forced off by the Moothens. We now had a set of baby Moorhen chicks (Moorhenlings).

The Moorhens chicks soon increased in size. You can see them searching the margins of the pond for food, and being offered morsels by their parents. A Heron paid a brief visit. Did any of the Moorhenligs fall prey to its avaricious appetite?

The Moorhen chicks also spent a considerable amount of energy hiking across the fields in search of food. Sometimes we would see them in the garden. Recently I was surprised to find the adults and chicks investigating the badger sett in our Compost Heap. This is a considerable distance from the pond with long grass in between. (We are limiting the grass mowing this year, with a no-mow Summer.)

Posted in Grendon Underwood, Kingswood, wildlife | Tagged Duck, heron, Moorhen | Leave a reply

Should I follow in the footsteps of Noah?

Blasdale Home Posted on October 9, 2020 by SteveOctober 9, 2020

Garden Bunny
The most fearless wild rabbit I have ever come across!

The last few days have seen rain, and more rain. The field was totally flooded. The field pond went from empty to full in the course of a couple of days. The leaking garden pond is almost full. Not seen such high levels for years. This rain has added to a water main leaking outside one of our neighbours since at least March. I did wonder why one of our field gateways had been damp during the summer. The water apparently flowed to her ménage, which is well drained, and then through the ménage land-drains to the gateway. Thankfully Thames Water have at last fixed the leak. This though is worthy of its own story.

The rain has again attracted the Little Egret, and flocks of gulls, who suddenly descend on the field as if it were the seashore. If I wanted a house by the sea I would not have bought a house which is probably as far away from the coast as you can get in the UK. Not only do we have these coastal birds visiting us, we now have Garden Bunny. Such a fearless animal sitting eating our grass for most of the day, totally ignoring us as we walk around the house & garden, and the tractor which came into the garden to cut the hedges. One worry is that Rosemary saw some baby bunnies the other day.

Red Kite
Red Kite
Little Egret
Gulls
Garden Bunny
Posted in Grendon Underwood, Kingswood, Uncategorized | Tagged Gull, Kingswood, Little Egret | 1 Reply

Little Egret

Blasdale Home Posted on August 30, 2020 by SteveAugust 30, 2020

The recent torrential rain has ended summer and attracted a Little Egret. The Little Egret could be seen wading around the field pulling up worms for breakfast. The Little Egret was large, so we thought we were lucky and had a Great Egret. Alas, beak, legs and feet show it to be a Little Egret, a far more common variety.

Little Egret
Little Egret
Posted in Grendon Underwood, Kingswood | Tagged Little Egret | Leave a reply

International Space Station

Blasdale Home Posted on May 27, 2020 by SteveMay 27, 2020

By chance we saw the International Space Station fly over us on Sunday night. On the Monday and Tuesday I took to taking photographs of it. The first ones taken on Monday were short 30 second exposures. The last photograph taken on Tuesday at 23.45 was for the full duration of the visible portion of the flight. Unfortunately camera was not pointing quite the correct way, so we don’t see it fade out.

International Space Station
International Space Station
International Space Station
International Space Station
International Space Station
International Space Station

 

Posted in Grendon Underwood, Kingswood | Tagged Grendon Underwood, International Space Station, ISS, Kingswood | Leave a reply

Lockdown Walk

Blasdale Home Posted on May 15, 2020 by SteveMay 27, 2020

A walk through Ham Wood and then back up to Grendon Underwood and across the fields home. The sun was setting, so some warm images. The Spring flowers were over, so what remained of the flowers were a bit straggly, though they still looked nice.

Grendon Road
Grendon Road
Ham Wood
Ham Wood
Ham Wood
Ham Wood
Ham Wood
Ham Wood
Ham Wood
Akeman Inn
Track
Lawn Farm Road
Sheep
Sheep
Sheep

Posted in Grendon Underwood, Kingswood | Tagged Flowers, Sheep | Leave a reply

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