Dunnock...

... We are not seeing so many birds in the garden at the moment. This one stayed and even posed for a while, which was nice.

There was a thrush stuck in the fruit netting yesterday, which we were pleased to see and release. There wasn't evidence of it having eaten much (unlike inside the strawberry cage, which I swear the squirrels lift up, have a strawberry party and (mostly) leave. There was one day a couple of weeks ago which saw a squirrel buzzing around the cage like a Catherine wheel (!).. We let it out, but there was not a single strawberry left! We have had one strawberry each this year! We had a strawberry ceremony, lit a candle and let off a balloon!).  

Today a carpet cleaning man came to quote.
We have had some building work done and the Very Nice builder put down some sticky carpet protector. The carpet was beautifully protected but when it was removed three days later there was a tacky residue all over the carpet.
Nightmare.
I was on my hands and knees for days trying to remove the tackiness.
The firm who manufacture the carpet protector said it could be cleaned off with 'hot soapy water'. Thank goodness my intuition said 'do not put soap on a carpet'. My own interventions have been helpful, but I've called in the big guns now.
Just mentioning in case anyone reading this is ever tempted to protect their carpets with sticky stuff!
I recommend dust sheets!
 
(Though, in fairness, the builder said he had never known this happen before.

I guess we just got lucky :-/).