Every cloud has a silver lining...

You could never accuse the neighbours on the eastern border of our garden of being particularly considerate: several years ago they cut down a tree in our shared hedge that was the traditional nesting site for 'our' Turtle Doves (which have never returned since.) Their side of the boundary was marked by a twenty foot high Leylandii hedge which was rarely trimmed and which prevented me seeing comets, planets and so on  at the prime time just before sunrise.

Three days ago (with absolutely no discussion or warning) a team arrived and started to remove the whole hedge: it remains to be seen what the impact of this will be on our garden birds and what future developments might occur.

One tiny glimmer of comfort: Linda and I spent all day Friday buying and installing blinds for the windows on our east side (we hadn't needed any before!) As I raised the ones on my office window this morning the first thing I saw was a group of four Common Cranes flying south east towards Strumpshaw!