Grafham — Hive

Every photo is taken from our windows or from the back garden.

The view is pretty good at any time,:

It’s particularly impressive at sunset…

and at sunrise, when the fields are sometimes covered by a light blanket of low mist.

Harvest time saw the farmer in the field late into the night.

Sometimes there are aerial distractions (the odd balloon lands at Grafham Water, just beyond the field).

And there are many planes. This is one of the few travelling slow enough for me to snap – I didn’t manage to catch the Vulcan bomber which flew overhead on its final public flight, or the fighter jets which occasionally pass within several hundred feet of the house.

But most of the aerial activity comes from the many birds who keep us entertained. For several weeks in the summer we had hundreds of swallows like this fellow hanging around near the house:

On most days a kestrel sits on the telephone lines, ready to swoop for its prey in the field…

.. although last week he was chased off in a scrap with a magpie:

Our favourites are the woodpeckers, which enjoy doing what they do on the telegraph pole:

We have been encouraging the blue tits and great tits to feel at home too: