Well, it was an exciting morning at the farmers’ market at Wyken yesterday. I had just about finished setting up my stall when one of the other stallholders, April, approached me clutching a bundle of something close to her chest. Wrapped up in her cardigan was a beautiful Tawny Owl. On their way to the market April and her husband spotted the bird on the side of the road, they stopped to see if it was alive, just as a Crow landed to take advantage of the hapless owl. The corvid flew off and April discovered that there was life in the owl, so she scooped it up and wrapped it in her warm knitwear. She asked my advice and I told her that I would do some research while she found a box and somewhere safe to keep it – the office of The Leaping Hare. I found the number for the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary at Stonham and April called them. She described what had happened and that it appeared to her untrained eye that the bird had a damaged wing. She was horrified when told that they would euthanize the creature! Some sanctuary! She couldn’t bring herself to do that and was determined to give the poor thing a chance, particularly as it had perked up during the morning, so she was going to take it home and try to feed it, whilst exploring alternative professional help. This morning I passed on details of the Phoenix British Bird of Prey Rescue charity that covers Norfolk and Suffolk, and that has experience of dealing with damaged Tawny Owls. At the time of our conversation the bird was still alive and had opened out its wings, which was a good sign, but was not eating, which is not good. Hopefully there will be a positive outcome. I will provide an update if I hear any more before publishing this later today.

Okay, I now have a progress report. The bird is now at the Phoenix rescue centre and has been assessed. They think that it might be concussed. They will look after it, and if it recovers well they will eventually release it with April where she found it. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it will start eating and make a good recovery. April couldn’t have been more complimentary about how the team at Phoenix handled the situation. She is organising a collection at next week’s market for the very small, strapped for cash charity.

I feel vindicated. The recent extended grey spell of weather has a name – ‘anticyclonic gloom’. It’s no wonder that I was so grumpy last week! I would like to thank so many of you for your messages of support and encouragement after my misery blog last week, it is nice to know that you do read my scribblings, and that you seem to enjoy them, ta very much. The good news is that from tomorrow we are promised sunshine – hoorah! Many areas of the UK have had zero hours of sunshine so far this month, whilst the north east of Scotland has had clear skies and warm temperatures. It’s like being in the land of other way round. If you are anywhere near as old as me you may remember that smash hit song by The Bachelors….or perhaps not.

I will not be at Wyken next Saturday, so there will be no order collections I’m afraid. For my friend Trevor’s 60th birthday a group of 7 blokes are going up to the Peak District National Park for a weekend of walking and celebrating. We are leaving Clare at 6.00am on Saturday morning, will do a 12 mile hike, then eat and drink in the evening, sleep at YHA Hartington Hall, a Jacobean stone built manor house dating back to 1611. it is said that Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed there during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 when his troops got as far south as Derby. On Sunday morning we will do another walk of 5 or 6 miles before heading home. I will be posting some photos of my adventures in next week’s blog

Photos courtesy of YHA

This week’s veg offering is little changed from the previous one. Cavolo nero returns, there are Jerusalem Artichokes (if you dare), Cara potatoes, and Clementines, otherwise it’s as you were. Please try to adhere to the Tuesday night order deadline, most of you do but there are some regular stragglers who make my life a little more complicated than it should be.

I had my collar felt last Thursday. I had set out to do my local deliveries in Steeple Bumpstead, departing via the gates at the back end of the estate. The electric gate had just closed behind me and I was about to join the lane towards the village when a Police car pulled right across me, blocking the way. I sat there, they sat there, and a stand-off followed. Who was going to blink first? Me. I got out of my van and approached Mr and Mrs Plod. My Plod got out of the car to greet me. “What are you up to then?” he asked. “I’m just leaving, I work in there. What’s the problem?”. “There has been a lot of rural crime around here recently, so we are on the lookout for anything suspicious” he said. “Is there anything specific that I should be looking out for?” I asked. “Vans like yours” he replied. While we were talking I assume that his colleague was checking the registration of my van. I assured him that I was not guilty and that I would keep my eyes peeled and inform them of anything untoward and they let me proceed on my journey. Farm theft is a massive problem at the moment, so it’s good that they are being proactive in tracking down the perpetrators, but on this occasion they picked on the wrong guy.

If, like me, you have an interest in 20th century British art you may like to watch the documentary film ‘Eric Ravilious, Drawn to War’ on Sky Arts (a free channel) this evening. I went to one of the first cinema screenings where there was a Q&A session with the director Margy Kinmonth, the artist Ai Wei Wei and the writer Robert Mc Farlane and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Right I’m off now, I have a family afternoon gathering to attend. Let’s hope that the sun really does shine and that smiles will return to faces and a spring in the step will propel us along.

Phil