Quick Update

I glanced out of the kitchen window today to see a female sparrowhawk gliding down the garden and alighting on top of the feeding station. She spent several minutes looking around but all of the garden birds had already dived for cover. This is the second sparrowhawk I have seen recently and I hope it isn't the reason why the number of juvenile blue and great tits and goldfinches on the feeders has recently dropped!

I will post a full update in a few days - am off on a Cup Cake course tomorrow evening - and have spent hours the last few nights trying to identify moths from the last trapping session. Have several new species for the garden including a beautiful moth called a Sallow Kitten. Its very worn but still very pretty - only hope I can get a photo. Have caught even more lbj's this time too which are proving very tricky to identify.

I must admit I have also spent several hours "lurking" in various football forums reading the latest gossip/rumours on why Martin O'Neill has resigned from Aston Villa and who the likely replacement might be. Must say I was a huge fan of MON and am really rather devastated at his sudden departure - don't admire his "immaculate" timing however!It will be interesting to see the type of manager Randy Lerner appoints and we may learn about his ambitions for the Club from the appointment. Even if a statement is issued by the Club I really do doubt if we will learn the real reasons behind MON's departure - although if Ashley Young suddenly departs for Spurs or another Club we will have a pretty good idea!

To return to the garden update I will leave you with a photo of a "baby" sunflower which was attracting a lot of hoverflies yesterday. I lost 5 sunflower plants due to lack of watering when we were on holiday in June and this is the only survivor.