There is a clean and clear sunrise today, although there also are many heavy and dark rain clouds around. I wonder why rain clouds don’t empty, I have never understood that, there must be a point when they are no longer saturated and so don’t rain, when does that happen. I would love to know more about that sort of stuff. The trees are starting to take on that stark look that they have over winter once the leaves have gone and they are outlined against the sky. My snowdrops are starting to push up, which is early. These days everything seems early, I guess its global warming. A part of me misses the cold of winter, which we have not yet had, but it is much kinder on the birds so that is a bonus.

Once the ground dries out (if the ground dries out!) we have a ton of brashings from the hedge to move and dispose of and a load of logs that will eventually make for good warming fires in the house once they have seasoned. But right now everything is too wet to get on the land and move. I suspect our bonfire night which we postponed is going to stay postponed for a bit as the ground is unpleasant to walk and stand on for fun! But at least for the moment the wind has gone, that will upset Fortina, she loves it!

My car is still sick, I hope someone can find out what the hell is wrong with it, I miss it, and having only one vehicle makes life a little tricky. I should have brought back the old truck I bought in South Carolina, but that was yet another item that the centre over there stole! Plus it was a petrol guzzler anyway, and would have been interesting to drive on our lanes here!

We are brick laying today, I think I might have a go as well, I am not very fast at it, but I used to be able to manage it.....................................

Well did I brick lay, nope, not sure what I did apart from get extremely wet, and help jess up the two luggers, who are now sitting quietly on their new perches, their primaries are not 100%, a little tipped, but that is to be expected I guess having been in an enclosure since March. But I am pleased they are up on their shelf perches before its dark, that is a good sign and means they are out of the cold and secure.

It really has been a pretty unpleasant day, even I admit it. Colder than it has been and with heavy heavy showers. Poor Mike managed to get most of the lower wall laid, but it was not fun!

John and Peter, a new volunteer, finished putting up all the nest boxes in the small falcon/owl block, brilliant!. It is so nice to see all the smaller owls now housed where they should be with decent perches, nest boxes and a bath ledge. We just have to organise food drawers and we will be sorted out and back where we should be Actually we are even a little further on, because we have a much better and smarter stand off barrier and Zoomesh on the front, so it is much lighter in there and easier to see the birds, and it has a new roof!

Simon and Josh moved birds around, Hard Tackle my best Tawny Eagle will not moult out with other birds as company, he is a bully, probably because he is more than old enough to breed. He was in an aviary in Barn 2 on his own, but he was next to the breeding pair and he is quite vocal. Now my breeding pair have not bred since we went to the US. The aviary design was poor over there and when one pair of birds bred in a line, none of the others did. We really need them to breed and Athena has been coming back to her normal self and so we are hopeful, but I was concerned that with Hard Tackle shouting, he might put them off, so we switched him with a pair of Bateleurs, who needed a proper nest ledge and more space and they are now next to a second pair of Bateleurs and their vocalisations might encourage one another. The Booted Eagles were moved too, its good that we have a replacement male now. So here is crossing fingers that they all want to breed like mad! I would love to fly a young booted eagle, and I really want some more Indian Tawny Eagles as they make the best of demonstration birds if you train them correctly.