Herons Nest Building

We spent a very enjoyable hour or so watching Herons collecting nest materials.They were collecting both from the trees themselves - mainly willow - and from the ground and often seemed satisfied with even a quite small twig though they returned fairly quickly then to collect another!

Toft Barn Owls

For several nights, I have observed a Barn Owl coming out of the field next to our garden at around 18.15 so last night I took a camera and spent time tracking it around the field by the Hardwick Road and was delighted to see it joined by a second Barn Owl though by then it was too dark to get any type of quality image.

Stinking Hellebore and Garden Birds

I was really pleased to find a colony of Stinking Hellebore, Helleborus foetidus, on the old railway embankment in Toft. This is a short-lived perennial herb of shallow calcareous soils. It is a poor competitor, and intolerant of deep shade, so is usually found in small colonies in woodland glades or open scrub, on scree slopes, rock ledges, hedgebanks etc. There are other plants of the species around Toft but I have not found new colonies before. 

With the cold weather, our garden is hosting lots of Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Blue Tits feeding on the old seedheads and the provided sunflower seeds.

Marathon Charities

As usual, there were lots of runners supporting various charities - the largest contingent was from Alzheimer's Research UK. The ladies with the toilets were raising money to replace outdated school facilities in Newport. Not sure about the Chicken or the Glitterball.

Cambridge Marathon Main Runners

15,000 people took part in the Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday in very overcast conditions. Here a few shots of the leading group (Nick, 2nd here, was the final winner) and then as the runners come up the Barton Road from Cambridge - a real stream of humanity.