Blustery and dull

 Juno and Sophie have eventually come together in a friendly manner, as you will see in the photos. They were never enemies as such but the boisterous nature of the excitable spaniel was too much for nervous Sophie and she would quickly disappear. There has been mutual acceptance for a while and the cat has ceased bolting for some time but they are now actively happy together which is lovely to see, especially with Juno spending longer periods in the utility room due to having got so dirty out on walks.

We managed over 5 miles of walks despite the rain and I also did a mile long litter pick with 5 bottles of the Blossom Hill minis on the verge along with 5 Henry Weston boxes. It has been looking a less for several days with more cigarette butts and empty packets apparent.

I got through lots of things on my list and the conservatory is looking full of plants with the cacti and various flowers, as well as the seed trays where basil, chives, parsley and lettuce are in full flow. The tomato plants which have emerged are thriving but there only a few of them which has meant me sowing more seeds. 

Very pleased to see 3 greenfinches in the garden today and the sound app I've been using showed green woodpecker, chiffchaff, blue tits, great tits, goldcrest, blackbird, song thrush, carrion crow, mistle thrush, nuthatch, rook, robin and wren all going for it during the dawn chorus. We've also had plenty of dunnocks, goldfinches and chaffinches singing, as well as marsh tits which I hadn't even noticed before. I would have assumed they were blue tits but the app made me look at the birds more closely and to realise my error.

I had to collect Joseph from school as he was not well, bringing him home just before lunchtime, but he enjoyed the vegetable pie I did. My pastry is coming on but needed to be a little thinner I think. I love thick crusty pastry, so it was fine for me but I was thinking more of what they'd say about it on the Bake Off. I might have been facing an exit although the bottom was far from soggy.