We’ve been working hard to get the allotment ready for winter and – of course the spring which we hope will follow in due course. All of the water butts are full to overflowing , the pruning of the apples is finished and at the moment we’re mainly preoccupied with renewing paths, weeding and mulching although not all the fruit trees are pruned at this time. We’ve also been gathering strawberry runners to grow on in the greenhouse.
While I was writing yesterday about the urban wildlife that surrounds us I completely forgot to mention that just as we were walking up the road a couple of weeks ago we saw a sparrowhawk – probably a female – dive on a pigeon, which seemed to escape her talons right in front of us. Later we heard her distinctive call.. However, the next morning as we left the house a rather sad and bedraggled pigeon crept out from behind the mini flower garden by the door. It was a completely unexpected joy for us to see a sparrowhawk outside the door, although probably not for the pigeon. We left the bird to its own devices and went on our way.