We had a great time at the "setting up a yurt campsite" course in Wales, learning lots and inspired by others planning similar ventures. And staying in the Mongolian Yurt was fantastic - so much so that we've ordered it, for collection in October. They are wonderfully snug, with thick felted wool lining and a cast iron stove (you can see ours here, puffing out wood smoke in the early morning). Our group of 6 spent a couple of hours putting up a large yurt, as a practise run; I just hope we can remember how! Amanda and Peter advise that they come with full instructions and illustrations.

The bluebells are out in the woods at the end of the field, though I think it'll be necessary to take a scythe to the cow parsley, which is jockeying for position (and threatening to win). There are still celandines out around the pond, and with the occasional burst of sunlight, it's looking beautiful. Our challenge over the summer will be to identify the trees and work out a management plan - not as onerous as it sounds, as the trees are 4 rows deep, and about 30 years old, from what we know of the past ownership of the farm. We found a hedgehog sunbathing here earlier in the week (do hedgehogs sunbathe?) A male pheasant was doing something similar over by the gate - completely flat to the soil, and still as a statue until I'd gone past with Jet, our small black dog.



The willow cuttings all seem to have taken, and this one is sprouting really well. The rabbits have had a go at a few of the rods, but even those seem to be putting on growth. We planted 134 rods in all, in 6 different beds, grouped by colour or use (basket weaving; autumn colour; flower arrangement etc) and can't wait to see them shooting up. We continue checking on what we hope is our yellow rattle seed, the bedrock of the transition from field to meadow. Some of the squares where we removed turf and sowed seeds are looking promising, but it'll be a few more weeks before we know for sure that it's the yellow rattle growing rather than random weed seeds.

We spotted what we thought was a marsh harrier hunting in the field behind us on Friday; we checked with Minsmere, and they confirmed that marsh harriers can be spotted a few miles inland (we're probably no more than 6 miles inland from the coast and even closer to the Blythburgh estuary area, which has plenty of marsh harriers). Simon Barnes says that we have buzzards in the area too, so we're keeping watch...