Work Begins.

Windy and sunnier today.

It's been a busy day. First thing I had to drive to the bank because silly me I'd mixed up two builders and paid the wrong one! The current builder is Mid-Wales Construction Ltd and I'd paid CBS Mid-Wales Ltd who have also done building work for us. Fortunately he's a trustworthy chap and will send the money back to my account. As I drove into town on the 20 minute journey between green hedges with views of field, woods and hills I contrasted that with the time we lived in London when it was a 20 minute walk to the local shopping street or a a 20 minute drive to a main shopping area both of which were through built up areas along noisy, busy roads. City life is not for me.

Once home I went out and washed the sea salt from the windows and balustrade which had developed a frosted effect from all the recent bad weather.

Eventually the builder arrived to start work and by the end of the day they had removed two layers of tiles and flattened the blockwork ready to start on the base of the porch. While he was here I asked the builder about replacing the old red paving slabs in the front garden and he said he would do that this week. He won't order the glass until the side walls and base of the porch are done which means there will be a delay of a few weeks so he'll do the paving this week. Peter and I had planned that we would remove the slabs ourselves as they are only sitting on a layer of sand over an original layer of grey paving slabs. However Peter had already gone out so I set to and carried over 30 slabs down to the garden gate. That was enough for one day.

Last night's sunset. (The camera sees a much more dramatic sky than the naked eye does.)

And now for a few photos from the osprey centre. 

This was taken from the live feed screens in the visitors' centre. You can watch the YouTube livestream here. There are three chicks which won't be named until they are ringed. Nearby was a board showing when the eggs were laid and then hatched.

There was also a display showing all the chicks born there over the years. Sometimes three make it but sometimes only two. Some of the plaques didn't have a name on, just a picture of an egg and the words -Didn't hatch. It looks like there is only one pair of adults nesting each year, I must ask where all the chicks went. It's a very grand set up just for two ospreys but I see on the map it is officially a wildlife reserve and it is a very important wetland area.