Monday – Leominster – Thick grey clouds are racing north eastwards across the sky. A brisk wind is blowing. There are weather warnings for heavy rain and flooding. The water level in the River Lugg appears to be much the same as yesterday but the water itself looks like it is carrying far less mud. It starts to rain. Long-tailed Tits are squeaking in the trees but remain hidden. The number of Wood Pigeons race over as if being chased but there is nothing following them.
Through Pinsley Mill. Northbound and southbound trains pass, both being pulled by Class 87 diesels. I gather some cooking apples. Most of the windfalls are badly bruised but I find enough for today. Through the churchyard and onto The Grange. Two Border Collies are chasing balls.
Thursday – Leominster – A grey, wet day. Down to the railway footbridge. A rabbit bounces across the path where the old track ran. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level is some five feet higher than a week ago. Several Robins and a Song Thrush are in song and a Mistle Thrush rasps. Two Grey Squirrels are in an Alder tree.
More Grey Squirrels are active in the Millennium Park. More Robins are in song. A Blackcap is in the Pitmaston Pineapple apple tree along with Blackbirds and Blue Tits. The River Kenwater is flowing swiftly. At long last the scaffolding on the old Priory buildings is being dismantled.
Into town. The Turkish grocery store has been shut down again for illegal tobacco and vape trading. It has only been open around a month since it was last shut down – a weird way of carrying on a business!
Home – A couple of Amaryllis bulbs that were kept in dormancy over summer have their dead leaves trimmed and the pots watered. The peanut feeder is given a thorough wash and refilled. Rhode is now moulting and has a bald neck. Tonight has the final supermoon of the year – the Cold Moon.
Tuesday – Home – It is a dark and wet morning. Jackdaws are in the trees and very fidgety and noisy. House Sparrows are in the Laurel, chattering away happily. Blue Tits dash down to the seed feeder continuously, grabbing a morsel and retreating to the branches above. Some beetroot tops and bread are given to the hens. I spread it out over the run but everyone wants the same piece and squabble over it.
Leominster – Storm Bram, named by the Met Éireann, is bearing down on us. It is raining as I head down to the DIY store on Mill Street. Over the Priory Bridge. Below the River Kenwater is flowing rapidly, the water a grey colour. By the afternoon, great dark billowing clouds are moving over. Some turn orange and pink as the low sun catches them.
Saturday – Home – The month has slipped by, damp and gloomy. Much time has been spent working on documents and meetings related to Planning Applications for a large housing estate running from the Hereford Road at Town End, over Cockcroft Hill, then Ivington Road and across the fields to Barons Cross Road at Morrisons. It is also proposed that a new supermarket is built alongside Morrisons. It will means the destruction of a large area of high grade farming land. The historic views from Cockcroft will be badly compromised and, in the end, there is little justification other than misguided politics.
Here, the hens are continuing to lay reasonably well except for Rhode, who has at least grown new feathers and looks a little more respectable although still a rather pathetic little scrap. A few jobs in the garden have been undertaken but with everything being permanently wet a lot is still to do. A Song Thrush starts singing before the sun rises and is still going strong when darkness returns.
Winter Solstice – Sunday – Leominster – A grey cold, although not freezing and very wet morning. Earlier drizzle has stopped for the moment. Robins sing and Jackdaws chack. At the foot of the road another Jackdaw drinks from a house guttering. Over the railway and onto Butts Bridge. The River Lugg is flowing fast and high, a grey-green colour. A Robin sings in trees and another ticks from the undergrowth.
Back back to the railway bridge. People are crossing from the down line platform back to the entrance. There is no train information being shown on the notice board. As I cross the bridge, a rail replacement coach arrives at the station forecourt.
Into Pinsley Mill. A Song Thrush is in good voice across the tracks. Blue Tits are in track-side trees before flying off over the railway and the houses. Into the Millennium orchard. Some of the Ladies Finger cider apples have now fallen but many are still on the tree. A helicopter is circling the town moving in and out of the low cloud. A Cormorant heads south. The River Kenwater is also grey-green in colour and flowing swiftly. Into the churchyard where there are fresh mole hills and rabbit scrapings.
Saturday – Home – Christmas came and went; no sign of snow. Today dark clouds head across the sky after a frosty start. The atmospheric pressure is fairly high. Small white mushrooms are growing in the lawn grass – probably Snowy Meadow Caps, Camarophllus niveus. Two Blackbirds, one the most recent “Spotty” with white flecks over its head, are fighting in the pathway to the garden. House Sparrows and Blue Tits are emptying the seed feeder in less than two days.
Sunday – Leominster – A grey morning with a very slight, cold breeze. Jackdaws chack from chimney stacks. A refuse lorry passes, flashing orange lights, catching up after the Christmas break. Onto the railway bridge. A Song Thrush sings in the trees behind the station. The harsh call of a Carrion Crow comes from the same direction. Jackdaws fly over. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level has fallen in the River Lugg and the water reflects the greyness of the sky. Another Song Thrush is singing upstream. Wood Pigeons coo overhead. One rises into the sky, flapping furiously before gliding down to its chosen target branch on another tree.
Back round to the White Lion. Across the car park which crosses the route of the now filled in Pinsley Brook. A bridge stood here once but is long gone. Brown, desiccated flower heads remain on the Buddleia, but behind them fresh silver-green leaves are emerging. There are still plenty of berries on the Hawthorns and no sign of any winter thrushes.
Into the Millennium orchard. Ladies Fingers cider apples are at last beginning to fall in good numbers. There are still Pitmarston Pineapple apples on the tree and they are being enjoyed by a Grey Squirrel, Blackbirds, Blue Tits and a Blackcap. Two Magpies fly over and small flocks of Wood Pigeons are flying in every direction. The Minster bells toll the hour then ring out the call to prayer. A Common Buzzard sits on the old blacksmithed fence that divides Pinsley Mead. The River Kenwater flows past, a grey-green colour. There seems to be Grey Squirrels everywhere. A Robin ticks, more Magpies chatter across the other side of the railway. Seven Canada Geese head north.
Into the churchyard. The Common Buzzard is sitting on a red marble cross. A Song Thrush sings from the top of a jumbled mass of Holly, Hazel and Ash. Cherry blossom, white with a hint of pink, has emerged on a tree near the Priory church.
Wednesday – Leominster – A sharp overnight frost has painted the world in icing sugar. The sun blazes in a cloudless sky but it remains cold. The chicken and wild bird water in the garden is frozen. Down to the railway bridge. The sky is laced with vapour trails. Song Thrushes are singing lustily. Onto Butts Bridge. Mist swirls above the River Lugg and Lammas Meadow. Robins sing.
Back round to Pinsley Mill. The Common Buzzard is in its usual spot in the Black Poplar across the river. A Chaffinch is in the track side trees. Into the orchard. Several Blackbirds, a Robin and a single Redwing are in the Ladies Finger cider apple tree pecking at the remaining apples. More Redwings are around the park. Blackbirds are on the Pitmaston Pineapple apples. Another Song Thrush is singing beside the River Kenwater.
A Common Buzzard flies out of the trees and across the churchyard. The day remains bright, sunny and cold.
The year comes to an end. Many events across the world make 2025 one of the more depressing years of this century. The rise of right wing populists causing havoc will take many years, if ever, to overcome. It has been one of the hottest years on record and the abandonment of any consensus on reducing emissions means there is little hope for improvement over the next decade or more. We can only hope things will improve in 2026, but hope seems forlorn.
long gone. Brown, desiccated flower heads remain on the Buddleia, but behind them fresh silver-green leaves are emerging. There are still plenty of berries on the Hawthorns and no sign of any winter thrushes.
Wednesday – Leominster – A sharp overnight frost has painted the world in icing sugar. The sun blazes in a cloudless sky but it remains cold. The chicken and wild bird water in the garden is frozen. Down to the railway bridge. The sky is laced with vapour trails. Song Thrushes are singing lustily. Onto Butts Bridge. Mist swirls above the River Lugg and Lammas Meadow. Robins sing.