2015

After many months of collecting any wood that we might be able to use to surface our paths we have enough to justify hiring a chipper. The machine is due to arrive before the end of the week. Experience taught us that trying to drag a petrol driven chipper along our paths to where the piles... read more

Having found our inspiration for our Viewing Platform back in June, things had moved on. With the work on the decking around the house completed Roger was waiting for me to lay the foundations for the the platform he is to build. Sand and paving slabs had been delivered and I had been busy t... read more

Close to the house the path round the grounds has a topping of wood chippings which are prevented from spreading with logs placed on each side of the path. It was the first time that I recall ever seeing a lizards, but that is clearly what they were, sunbathing on the logs. read more

In front of the house work continued on the construction of our "cart shed" or garage to those of a less rural persuasion! As the time for an afternoon tea break arrived I brough the drinks out to the side of the house near the newly constructed decking and spotted perhaps the biggest ... read more

This afternoon just before 16:00 I was talking with David, our builder, when he drew my attention to what at first I took to be a butterfly resting on the gravel beside us, but not a variety I recognised. As ever, I had to research this one and it seems it is a Small Emerald Moth . It appea... read more

It was a warm dry night a week ago and for some reason Diana decided to pop outside and walk down the path beside the lake. When she came back she asked me to come out with her again. We took a few steps down the chippings path beside the decking and then she got me to look in the undergrowth to... read more

At this time of year if the water level drops after a period without rain the lilies behind the house seem to rise out of the water and and appear to form a forest in which moorhen and ducks can easily be difficult to spot. At the moment the lilies are... read more

Having seen the First Kingfisher of the year around midday today, shortly before 15:20 I was out standing on the decking behind the house taking photos of Norfolk Hawker dragonflies. Last year I managed to photograph them a number of times in June, most memorably getting a picture ... read more

Only the other day I was asked about the kingfishers that we see from our lounge. I had checked and responded that in 2014 I had posted my first picture in Late August , so we shouldn't expect to see them yet. However, now I have checked the blog again and see that in our first year here, 2013, ... read more

Compare the first of this months views, taken on 3 June, with the one taken a few days earlier, on 30 May , and you realise that I've managed to make a start on clearing the lilies, with some further progress being made in the rest of the month. The trouble is, at this time of year cut... read more

After the surprise of seeing the cygnets Riding Their Parent's Backs last month today they were back again. When I first saw them it seemed that the parents were trying to encourage them out of the lake as they were on the bank where they usually cross to the dyke at the side of our ground... read more

Today Diana and I travelled to the Midlands to meet with various family members. It was while at the pub where we ate together that we saw a structure in its Beer Garden that we felt was perfect inspiration for the "viewing platform" we had been talking about having built on the main i... read more

Mid-summer is approaching. The cottages next door begin to fill with holidaymakers. It's on a Saturday afternoon that you often see most activity as the newcomers explore what Ruston Reaches has to offer. I usually reckon that you are lucky to have more than one week in three where you wil... read more

There's two images this month. the first was taken on 20th and the second on the 30th. While I often make comparisons with previous months, in May the lake changes more quickly than at any other time of the year, so I'll make comparisons with last year instead. That was before I adopted the p... read more

Having taken some photographs of the work being done to connect us and the neighbouring cottages to the village's new main drainage system and as it was a wonderful warm sunny day, I decided to take the long way back to the house and walked round the lake on the cottage's side, returning through... read more