But they still stick close to mum

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The best plums for eating, cooking, crumbles and jam.

she has discarded some of them.

Thanks to YouTube videos, I sexed the quail that we had assumed was a Male. There are three methods. One is the voice or call of a male, which is quite different from a female quail. The second is by colour of feathers – but this only works with striated birds and our Male is buff colour all over and the third method confirmed that he is s Male. To find out what that method is (and one of the YouTubers called it “gross”) you will have to watch the videos yourself. I wore gloves!

at making a willow basket. I don’t have patience for seasoning willow and soaking it so I used thinner, more pliable lengths of willow that grow down beside the goose pond.

It’s not even big enough to hold a Victorian plum and

Nigel thinks it’s a ball!

One of the paddock birds has gone broody. I removed the two hen eggs that were underneath her (they were only laid today) and I have substituted a clutch of quail eggs.

She has sat down again, after her initial objection, but there is another problem. We think that one of the quails is a Male but we are not sure and also unsure if the quails are mating! So we might be “selling the broody a dummy”. Hmmmmmm.

The heavy winds have bowed (but not uprooted) two young apple trees. We will stake them and tie them upright and hope that they survive the onslaught of yesterday.

The wind also blew apples, pears and plenty of plums to the ground. It is time to start picking the luscious Victoria fruits before they are attacked by wasps.

Chickens adore plums. They are their favourite fruit. Click below

hold on tight to the Blue Eryngo, little bee, as you feed on the flowers.

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Our friend arrived just as the apple cake was cooling – so we treated ourselves to a “sit down, cuppa, cake and natter” and all the better for it, too.