Well that was a weekend and a half! Here in Cumbria we had winds in excess of 80mph courtesy of Storm Eowyn and I was woken at 2am by my wheelie bin cavorting around the garden and crashing into the dry stone wall which separates me from the field behind. I tentatively ventured out this morning, not knowing what destruction I would find, but other than the weed membrane fabric I’d pegged over the yet-to-be-veg-patch my home seems to have survived relatively unscathed 🙏🏻.

I made the image below following the worst of the Covid pandemic. So grateful that I had also weathered that storm unscathed, although some of my friends were less fortunate. I remember, particularly, my good friend Dave who went into hospital for a fairly minor heart issue, caught Covid and never came home. He was incredibly supportive of my creativity and one of the people instrumental in teaching me the fundamentals of photography. It was Dave who gave me his old printer for nothing because I couldn’t afford to buy one and, over the years, passed on all sorts of bits of kit to me that he no longer needed. He could be a stubborn and cantankerous old git and we fell out more than once, but he was always so kind and is still sorely missed.

Today is Garden Birdwatch, so the next hour will be spent with a brew recording the birds as they to and fro.

I have a small apple tree where they perch before flying to the feeders, returning to the tree branches with their spoils. Last week I had a flock of chattering Long Tailed Tits, though their visit was fleeting and they soon moved on. But my biggest delight is daily visits from a Greater Spotted Woodpecker 🙂. In fact he’s here now, the red patch on the back of his head bobbing as he pecks for sunflower seeds from the feeder – for some reason he prefers those over the peanuts which are much easier to reach!

What an absolute joy my new garden is. I can sit for hours just watching the clouds roll by, the changing light over the fields, the snow capped distant fells and the wondrous birds we all take so much for granted. I can’t wait for the summer to get stuck in to creating borders, planting flowers and growing food. You can keep your 2 weeks on a crowded beach, your noisy city break and your boring hours spent in airports or on the road. I wouldn’t swap this for that if you paid me £1million – I have everything I need right here and it is wonderous.