The Jackdaw Wars.

The campaign against the jackdaws still continues. They are absolutely determined to make their nests in the chimney and loft despite constantly being shot at with airgun pellets. They're quite clever birds this gang of about 14. Their latest tactic is to have 2 scouts in the tree just behind the stream and another 2 in the big tree in the corner of the garden. That way they cover both sides of the house. They are actually looking into the windows and any movement sends them all to a safe distance. This morning after my first successful foray out when the curtains were still drawn I resorted to creeping around below the level of the window sills to avoid being seen. It worked and they got pinged with a few pellets before flying off to the other side of the hill. I had put some wire netting in the gaps where they were getting into the roof space but the cheeky so and sos had managed to pull some of it out and drop it to the ground. I hauled out the big roof ladders and despite my dislike of heights climbed up and pushed lots of crumpled up wire netting into the gaps jamming it in hard so they shouldn't be able to dislodge it. Feeling rather proud of myself for braving the ladders I then put the ladders up at the back of the house and cleared out all the gutters. The nice weather man says that we will be having rain by the end of the week and that was an incentive to sort out the gutters before they overflow again. It might seem as if I spent the day out in the garden enjoying all this lovely sunshine we have been having but I also managed to fit in a visit to the dentist and take Peter up to the hospital again. The dentist permanently fixed the crown that fell off on Saturday and also ground down another (filled) tooth for a better bite on the other crown. After several hours at the hospital A&E they confirmed that Peter's wrist is at least sprained and have put it in a rigid support bandage. If it hasn't healed in the next 10 days then they will scan it to see if he has aggravated his old tendon injury. First thing this morning it was rather misty. Ron's horse was out in the field behind the house together with a lot of sheep. It's a terrible distraction when the lambs come along as we can see this field from the window on the stairs.
Things are happening in the garden. The buds on the azaleas are full of promise.

And even a common hartstongue looks exciting with the afternoon sun glowing through it.