Lift-off!

It's all suddenly feeling very, very real!

Windows have been cleaned inside and out, we can't find another square inch to paint, the place is looking rubble- and plaster-free, and today a massive step forward - the carpets arrived! Garry got here at about noon, and made light work of three bedrooms, a bathroom, a dining room, a hall and a lobby - done by 1600. Nice going!

The dining room before....

....and after! Thanks Garry!

And equally significantly, our excellent sparky Zaz completed his work with the woodshed and rear external light - all done and dusted. Really massive milestones achieved - it really is ready to start feeling like home now.

Thanks, Zaz!

On the biodiversity front, we've added Chorthippus brunneus (Field Grasshopper), and lots of plants - Redshank, Scentless Mayweed, Field Madder and Black Nightshade. The Buzzards have (we think) two flying youngsters, there are Emperors and Brown Hawkers buzzing about, and Julia saw a Roe Deer in broad daylight in the lane. Also a definite whiff of autumn - lots of Phylloscs on the move through the hedges, and a juvvie Redstart down the lane earlier this week....

Nearly there....

More pretty epic progress over the last few days - all the skirting is now fitted (not without difficulty - glue, failed screws and finally masonry nails needed!), painted and looking great, all the filling and caulking is done, all the internal electrics are complete, and virtually all the touching up of paint is done. We are on the verge of being ready for the carpets to arrive....

And we had a very pleasant day on Monday, with a visit from Nicky Plewes and her two young sons. Great to catch up after MUCH too long - and much scoffing of Mini-rolls and other "delicacies" was done.

Nicky with her troupe of semi-house trained Orang-utans

And best of all, Rupert turned up to finish up the boiler/heating job - radiators tightened and inhibitor added. Result!

Rupert helps us lose our inhibitions

Skirting the issue - or "What mitre've been"....

A single issue visit today, with the three essentials for cutting up skirting boards: 20 metres of excellent 6" bullnose boards off t'interweb, an ace £500 bit of kit (motorized circular mitre saw) from Dad's neighbour David, and Dad himself.

Starting shortly before lunch, we scratched our heads and did lots of 3D thinking to get our 45 degree cutting right, but did succeed in a very manly way in slicing and dicing the skirting so it fits immaculately, without the loss of any digits. Good job!

He-man at work

He-man and He-man's Dad

The end result - this was only a small one....

Much progress!

While this is billed as a wildlife blog, and it will become one, news remains dominated by building and DIY!

We're making lots of progress now - all the ceilings are painted, most of the walls are done, Gary has fixed the rising damp problem, even the gloss is under way, and Zaz is making good progress with the electrics - all trying to get the messy stuff done before the carpets are fitted in a fortnight!

Nurse Julia will see you now....

Glossy cover boy

Even more excitingly, there's the natural history! While it's a quiet time of year for birds, there are lots of juveniles about - Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Blue Tits, Greenfinches, even Jay - but no real sign of the House Martins in their nest, which they rebuilt in June....

Day-flying insets have produced lots of garden ticks - Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Comma, Large White, Brown Hawker, Emperor and various grasshoppers to be identified when they've become adults!

By night, a couple of moth traps have turned up 150+ moths per session, with over 80 species already - highlights have been Bulrush Wainscot, Rosy Rustic, September Thorn, Dingy Shears, various Hawk-moths in some numbers and lots of Buff Tips and Pebble Prominents!

Bulrush Wainscot

Botanically, we've seen various unspectacular but new species - and Simon spent an hour with the mower destroying 100s of Prickly Sow-thistles which were about to set seed!

Sad news.... and a family frenzy

First, some very sad news to report - the end of the road for our oldest and much-loved cat - Willow. We were biased towards "The Willows" as soon as we saw the name, but we both had a feeling that he'd be like Moses - never quite reaching the promised land. Goodbye, old friend - you will always be remembered.

Willow, 1992-2010, RIP

MUCH more positively, there is progress to report, wildlife to write about, and a major family conflab to be happy about. We've started mist-coasting the new plaster (lots done actually), although the damp issue in the western wall is a bit worse than we thought, so we're going to have to go back a stage and have a DPC done.

Simon plays misty for us both

Zaz the electrician has done his survey, and is ready to roll very soon, and we have definitely turned the corner ready for a summer of construction to balance a winter and spring of destruction!

Wildlife-wise, we've been blessed with lots of Hobby sightings, plus Lapwings much in evidence (have they got young yet?), deer scat, more baby Rabbits and best of all, lots of Odonata! Top species has definitely been a brief Scarce Chaser, a nationally rare species which has only recently colonised the Hampshire Avon. Top banana!


The moth trapping has been good too, with Elephant Hawk-moth new, plus Lesser Swallow Prominent and lots more. Just off site, but worth a mention here, was a lifer for us in Bob's Blashford moth trap:

Brussels Lace

And on Sunday, a huge descent of Casson and Kemps made it a really fun day in the sun - walks, food, drink, cricket, mower rides and lots of catching up - great stuff!

The wanderers return....and friends visit

Back from a half-term break in Finland, and summer is definitely here. The garden is buzzing with damselflies (mostly Common Blue, we think!), and the odd dragonfly.

Mating Common Blue Damselflies

Soldier Beetle

The Great Spotted Woodpeckers have young, there are junior Greenfinches about, we heard a Cuckoo (species number 81), and there is an unspeakably cute baby bunny rabbit hanging about the bird feeding area.

Cute bunny time - and Simon stalking it!

Best of all, we ran a moth trap, and caught an excellent 133 moths of 44 speces - highlights included four species of hawk-moth (Poplar, Eyed, Lime and Privet), Buff-tip, Figure of Eighty, White Point, Pale Tussock, Small Seraphim, Sharp-angled Peacock and stacks more.

We got lots of clearing up done (the last run to the tip for a while!), and also installed a new sunshade, petrol mower and picnic bench - DIY-tastic.

New garden furniture

We also had to perform some impromptu tree surgery on one of the ornamental cherries, which had half collapsed. Was it trying to tell us something?

Dealing with the fallen tree....grrr

Sunday was further enlivened by a very welcome visit from Jon and Carol, who arrived for coffee and were pleasingly enthusiastic about everything - including the lawn mower, which got yet another test drive (or two!). We had an excellent (if hot) walk around the lakes, and then enjoyed a slap-up lunch back home.

Jon and Carol and Tony

With the house now basically tidied after the building works, and with Rupert and Adie GONE (well, nearly - slight glitch with the central heating to be sorted out....), we are really starting to enjoy the place a bit more! It feels like ours again. Rubble cleared, tiles gone, floors swept, electrician booked for this week - almost ready to decorate.

Julia enjoying the summer heat and the fantastic flag irises

No pictures - but progress (slowly!)

We are getting there - really! The plastering is now all done, and Rupert has all but finished. He did the woodworm treatment this week, and all that's left are about three tiny little jobs involving doors and floorboard nails.

Garden wise, the central shrub bed over the septic tank (see this photo) has gone, and we've started turfing it with sods dug (with difficulty) out of the field, where the veg bed will eventually go. All a bit complicated, really! The bamboos don't look happy, but that's perhaps inevitable, and there are signs of life at the roots. The willow hedges are fine - remarkably fine, in fact! We found we have a Wisteria (even some flowers) emerging from the west wall flowerbed.

Wildlife-wise, highlights have been Holly Blue, Common Heath moth, two Hobbies midweek and lots of teneral damselflies whizzing about.

Three ticks, bamboo and fireplaces

A very productive weekend, on a number of counts.

First, Ady has plastered the dining room and the ceiling of the Blue Room - awesome!


Second, Simon managed, after some effing, blinding, several false starts and hammer-throwing exercises, to block up not one but ALL THREE of the fireplaces with battens and plasterboard.




Outside, Julia planted four clumps of bamboo where the pampas used to be, we cut down a small conifer and two Horse Chestnuts, found several clumps of Cowslips....


....AND scored with no fewer than three garden ticks - Shelduck, Swift and quite a few Common Terns flying around, carrying fish and calling. Summer is a-coming in.

De-pampased

Various jobs completed today, leaving it ready for Adie to start plastering! All the coving in the "old" part of the house has now gone, and all the carpets are up, and all the wallpaper has been stripped. Simon even managed to get the metal fire back out of the wall somehow....

In the garden, the walls are completely free from ivy at last, yet more of the chicken wire fence has gone, and most importantly, Olly Cracknell returned to grub out the pampas grass - yippee! And another garden bird, although heard only - Kingfisher.

Olly gets mean with the pampas grass

The site of destruction

Getting plastered - nearly

We had Adie the Plasterer in today to spec us up for some wall skimming and (better still) Artex covering. He is going to start work on Monday, so we set to and tried to finish stripping all the wallpaper and removing all the coving in the old, front part of the house.

Didn't quite finish, but almost done now!

A (now healthy) Julia admires Simon's targeted destruction skills....

....and her own devastation ability, too.

And yet another tick - Stock Dove - took the garden list to a scarcely believable 75!