Drought, tree sparrows and a weekly

Today has been very busy on the 'News' front with seven headlines, more than at any time since the Forestry Sell off furore or budget reactions.
We've had some rain over the past week or so but not much, the ground is still baked rock hard, it's going to be very difficult to plant out the bedding plants this weekend and then they'll probably frazzle without water - but we're going to give it a go anyway.  The drought means that the bird feeding station is busier than since the snow and they seem to eating more too, lots of babies to feed in addition to the adults.  We've seen young robins, blackbirds, greenfinches and best of all a brood of tree sparrows.  As there is a large hole in the fence (Hebe went headlong through it after an undisclosed target) the birds are not being disturbed by the dogs so they're pretty relaxed and enjoying the extra water baths which with a scarcity of gardening labradors are possible (labs just drink it, paddle in it, generally do their best toempty them and bring the last remnants of water into the house!).
The latest edition of CJS Weekly has gone to print, 13 pages this week with 27 new paid posts of which 20 came direct plus all that news and the second part of the Training Calendar, all the identification courses this week.  Digital copies available shortly, paper copies on doormats on Monday (Royal Mail permitting).