A Close Shave

More than a bit blustery this morning as storm Ciara struts her stuff across the country.
We just had a short walk to the end of my lane first thing.
A near neighbour had a close shave some time during the night.

A couple of broken fence panels as someone's trampoline went fly-about:



If it hadn't rested on his sturdy oak post and gates it could well have damaged their car:



Wind speeds recorded by my new weather station (from the Wunderground site)
Today from midnight to 9 a.m..



Blue = wind speed.  Orange dots = recorded gusts.
So far I have one fence panel rapidly disintegrating. I was expecting that one to go.

Buzzing with Life

A freezing start to yesterday but by the afternoon I could feel the warmth from the Sun.
While I was pottering in the garden I had a quick look for any insect life.



There were dozens of bees on the heather. All taking advantage of a calm February day as the temperature reached 10.4°C.  Didn't see any bumble bees though. The calm before the weekend storm.

More Holes

The large holes in the stonework of our church I mentioned a few days ago are on the North facing side and just in one particular area:



The holes being 20 to 25 mm in diameter.
Recently I decided to look at the other walls and found holes on the East and South facing walls:









There are scores of holes, mainly above head height and much smaller at about 10mm diameter. They give much more the appearance of being the homes of masonry bees. I doubt I will ever find out for certain what made those larger holes on the North side.

To quote Toyah: "It's a Mystery"

Monday Mystery

Last week's mystery was



Ragged Robin suggested it was an insectivorous plant of some sort.
Adrian suggested it was a Venus Fly Trap but it was a top view of



my pitcher plant.
My thanks to those who had a go.

This week's mystery object is



what?

If you would like to make a guess please leave it in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

Must keep my ...

... neck and nose warm on these cold nights:

Monday Mystery

Last week's close view



was correctly identified as



part of a pair of scissors by Adrian and Ellen. Well done.
My thanks to all who had a go at identifying it.

Can you work out what this is a view of?



If you would like to make a guess please leave it in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

The Holey Part of the Church

The walls of my village church were built using a mixture of greensand, ironstone and limestone.
One section is possibly softer than usual.



I'm always fascinated by the holes in that section.
Were they made by bees?



Many seem to have been taken over by spiders.



The largest must be getting on for 3 cm in diameter which seems to me to be rather large for a mining bee.
Any other ideas?