September

Breaking out of night-shifts seemed a struggle, so I took the tent down to the field and took advantage of waking at strange hours of the morning and plodded on with some more work.

A quick survey and measure of the orchard area. This is for some form filling for the Rural Land Register regarding the establishment of a traditional orchard.
Finished the substantial stock-proof fence near the neighbouring field - this became more pressing since more and more people started trampling over the original barbed wire to avoid the horses in the riverside field with the footpath.
An afternoon and a tub of reasonable masonry paint obliterated the graffiti on the inside face of the by-pass underpass. Not sure how long this will last, but at least a change from rather poor attempts at artistic expression and mis-spelled profanities. (Anyone good at murals in a rural setting)?

The grass has recovered and greened up after getting scorched soon after August's mowing. A bit of time spent eradicating dandelions.
An interesting proliferation of mole-hills, particularly around the newly levelled soil. (Rather than treat the moles as an enemy, I've been collecting the soil from the humps for planting jobs (a few of the old horticultural books like Louden's encyclopaedia recommend this).

The darker nights are upon us already, although the approaching full moon and mild evenings allowed for a bit more time with some de-thatching of the grassland. More than a couple of times I was cooking outside approaching midnight and retired to the tent with a warm mulled / spiced wine.

A pleasant morning break has been astroll across the River for coffee and a breakfast toast at Deli Fine in Holt.
More chat with locals and walkers along the trackway and riverside walk too.

The weekend saw a trip to Northamptonshire to collect more fruit trees from Bernwode trees:
Apples - Court Pendu Plat, Devonshire Quarenden, Roundway Magnum Bonum, Redstreak and a Black Worcester pear.
Onwards through Oxfordshire and Berkshire to Winchester for a relaxed evening meal, then across to Salisbury for the night.
A few items of tools and gear picked up from Scats Countryside Stores, then tree hunting on the edge of Salisbury Plain.

My target was the pleasant mid-winter apple I spotted some time ago.
Unfortunately, the Council / Highways had done some roadside clearing - all that was left was a substantial stump and some windfalls. Brushwood killer had been applied too, but there were two reasonable small shoots - I snipped half of one to try some chop grafts, the pips of the apples might have half of the good attributes of the parent...
Back home cross-country and a quick check of the mature hedge-row trees back at the field during the rising winds.