Avocet

At last, we have got the good weather the rest of the country seems to have had for days!

A very productive meeting this morning with the garden designer.  He showed us his proposed plan and we were really pleased with it.  One minor change agreed to move a water feature from the middle of a circular patio area to the edge and we signed off.  We had given him a fairly generous budget to work to and for that he was able to allow for more mature plants including two trees that will be around three meters tall so it should have a finished feel to it even immediately after planting.  He came in at £500 less than our budget so that allows some leeway for any changes or cost increases that may occur, but with the deposit we pay he will be able to buy most of the materials he will have to use which will help, as prices are rising on a weekly basis due to demand.

After all that we drove over to Pensthorpe for a walk and to see the birds.  My main shot is an Avocet but I’ve also added an extra of a Black Winged Stilt.  It may look cute but it was a nasty piece of work; it had a chick and spent most of the time we watched flying round stabbing other birds in the back with it’s long beak even though they were posing no apparent threat!