My mum used to say that at her great age she’d seen everything, but in truth there’s always something new and exciting to see however old you are. Take this week as an example.

Yesterday morning we were sat in the kitchen at 11.30 am having a cup of tea. As you can see from the picture the kitchen is a single story construction.

Suddenly a  sparrowhawk swooped in and plucked a poor unsuspecting sparrow from the kitchen roof.

It then landed on the lawn where we were able to get a really good look at it. I’m thinking to myself, “I don’t think I’m going to like this next bit”, but luckily for me (if not the sparrow) it only stayed a few seconds and then flew off.

I’ve seen sparrowhawks in the garden before, but never so close, or for so long and certainly never hunting successfully.

Today I’ve been doing some gardening. Just weeding and general tidying, it’s been a lovely day.

As I was locking the shed I noticed a grey squirrel in the branches above my head. I said hello to him and asked if he’d come for some apples. We still have lots of windfalls.

He skipped through the branches and ran down the trunk of the next tree. Putting his head in a hole he emerged holding a half eaten apple in his mouth, and proceded to nibble away as I watched.

So there you go, squirrels can remember where they’ve hidden their nuts, or at least their apples!