daytime

Sunday, 26 April 2026

26th April 2026

Dear All,

After swimming on Monday I met up with walking mates David, Laurie and Howell for lunch at Cambridge Weatherspoon’s.

On Tuesday there was a small gathering of ex NIAB employees for lunch at Girton Golf Club. In the evening there was an excellent talk in the Local History club featuring the History of Cambridge firm Pyes. They started in 1896 and grew to be the largest employers in Cambridge starting producing Scientific Instruments then moving on to Radios, then TVs, then electric components, then mobile phones. Staff numbers grew to 28,000 in the UK with 7,000 in Cambridge. In 1966 they were taken over by Phillips and went into decline. We had a phone call from Geoff Barnes asking to come and stay for a couple of days. In the garden I planted out Celeriac, earthed up Potatoes and were blessed with a visit from a mouse eating cucumber and courgette seeds!

We have been moving potatoes and other frost susceptible plans in and out of the greenhouse all week. Our rainfall has stuck on 0.5mm for the month of April and our 1000 litre rainfall tank is already empty.

Early Nomadic Potato

On Thursday I had an educational bird spotting walk with Laurie in Over Fen. He was disappointed in the haul but we saw 25 different birds and heard a Bittern booming. List: Wren, Cetti warbler, Sedge warbler, Coot, Golden Eye dusk, Tufted duck, Mute swan, Blackcap, Swallow, Cuckoo (first of the year), Mallard, Canada geese, Graylag geese, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Robin, Buzzard, Kestrel, Black headed gull, Heron, Yellowhammer, Pigeon, Rook, Crow. Also a hare and 2 lots of deer. Laurie is one of those people who can identify every birdsong.