We have our community bench. This is in the bird-feeder area and the point of it is so people can sit and watch the birds feeding, have a bit of fun recording what they see and most importantly, it gives people a subject to talk about. A nice ice-breaker. When people start to chat about what they are interested in, it leads to new friendships being formed and that could be a big thing for anyone who is feeling a little lonely, or simply does not have a support network of friends or family.

You would be surprised at the number of middle-aged men who find themselves in the above predicament and simply have lost the skill to reach out to others and make friends. The stats are pretty shocking and it leads to serious Mental Health issues.

Thank-you to the developers of the Elliott’s Field retail park for making this happen with the #FieldGoodGrant.

I am going to get two more feeder posts and a few more feeders. We want to have a regular seed mix in a couple, peanuts in a couple, sunflower hearts and suet balls in the others. This will ensure a maximum number of visitors and hopefully make it a really busy little clearing.

We have planted over one hundred tree saplings and have a load of bird-boxes in the area and up the path.

Jobs for this month are, clearing the wind damage. A couple of trees are down and a load of scrub has blown onto the path. Litter pick – there are a few drink cans lying about. Posts for bird-feeder area. Move the rectangle picnic bench from the bird-feeder clearing down the path a bit and create a little clearing for it. Pollard the mature trees where we planted saplings up on the embankment.

I am having surgery on my back next week so I will be out of action for the rest of the month.

There is probably a few other things but it was so wet that I couldn’t really get a good look today.

Lastly, a big shout out to Pete, who was out walking his dogs, and helped me carry the component bench parts up to the clearing. I was really struggling.

Paul