It was another lovely day and I spent a good hour sitting by the pond being entertained by nature. First up where the geese. The goslings are now quite big and full of energy. I noticed something I hadn't seen before. As they were paddling across the pond first one then all of them would duck beneath the water and swim under the water for a couple of meters before surfacing. I wondered whether they were exercising their wings ready for flying.  I didn't have my camera so I wasn't able to record this behaviour but I will watch out for it again.

Its now Saturday 19th. It's a warm and sunny day and I was standing next to the pond when the big carp surfaced and patrolled the edge of the water lily's

Every so often I would hear a plop and see ripples moving out from where a fish had broken the surface. I decided to feed the fish some bread. I wasn't disappointed within about 30 seconds the pieces of bread I had tossed in the pond were surrounded by small fish - probably roach and rudd. Even big pieces of bread didn't last long. I was hoping to spot one of the large carp. I walked to the other side of the pond and saw a dark shape - like a submarine in the water. It was one of the carp but I didn't manage to catch him on camera. I will try again.

Another magical afternoon in my garden. As I was cutting the grass a deer plunged from the thicket by the railway and bounded around the curve of cut grass to another thicket at the bottom of the field.I thought I'd be clever ad sneak up on him by walking towards where he was with the wind blowing towards me. He let me get within 20m before he jumped over the broken fence and plunged into the woods.

​​I suddenly noticed a blizzard of white seeds dancing in the air. I tracked the source of the seeds to the three 'cat willow' trees in my garden. I later discovered that the seeds germinated in hours and I now realise that they are the source of all the willow saplings that sprout up around my garden and in the meadow. These few trees have given birth to literally hundreds of willows that I have chopped down.

Depending on the direction of the wind they float into the paddock or onto the lake. On the lake they float on the surface and accumulate around the edge which is where I often find willows growing. 

I assume these wind blown seeds germinate everywhere but notice that where they seem to grow and flourish is at the margins of the garden - by the lake or along the fence line where they are protected from my mower - until they become too big to ignore and I cut them with a saw. But such is the power of regeneration that they sprout many new shoots unless I can remove the roots.

I am glad I had the time to watch the dancing seeds for a while. It inspired me to make a little movie which I set to a piece of music by Hans Zimmer called 'Light'. 

Watching animals go about their own daily life can be quite entertaining sometimes. While I was making breakfast I saw the fox sidle up to the geese in a very disinterested way hoping to nick one of the goslings. But one of the adults reared up.. flapped their wings and the fox beat a hasty and undignified retreat. It looks like she might have a den with some cubs behind the paddock on the railway line as she is making regular journeys across the garden to active rabbit warren. My wife caught her with a baby rabbit in her mouth so she must be waiting by the entrance to catch those who have yet to learn the rules.

​It rained heavily today until late afternoon. Having been cooped up with my accounts all day I decided to go for a walk. I had pulled a muscle in my back so I walked slowly and quietly around the patch. I spotted a kestrel on the transmission wires in the paddock and tried to get up close to take a photo but he flew away before I could get near him.  As I reached the far side of the paddock I startled a deer who was lying in the long grass. He bounded away to the far fence, too fast to get a photo, and hopped through the rails before ducking under the gate into the woods. I decided to stalk him through the woods but, not surprisingly, he was better at hiding than I was a finding.  Because of the rain there was a lot of surface water, the spring line was almost on the path adjacent to he paddock and on the south side the water was actually flowing and forming large pools, something that doesn’t happen very often. There was a thick green carpet of new ground cover everywhere with occasional patches of blue and white bells and other flowers. Emerging from the woods I spotted a fox with a large bushy tail and nose to the ground tracking down rabbits I guess. I spent some time by the lake watching the goslings paddle across the pond. Not a bad wildlife tally for a 30 minute walk in my garden. 

Surrey Living Landscape
My personal project connects to Surrey Wildlife Trust's living landscape project which aims to support and increase the biodiversity of the countryside in my county. The trust supports a number of conservation projects and their key idea is to link these conservation sites along corridors that facilitate the movement of species.

The strategy developed by the SWT enables me to locate my project within a community project to sustain the landscape I inhabit.