Spring is making up for lost time in Dorset, as everywhere else. The blackbirds are nesting again, the partridges have been joined by a cock pheasant in full, shiny breeding plumage. We heard our first cuckoo on March 5th, a couple of fields away. Sparrows are nesting in cavities in the old walls of the house. Strictly we ought to plug them with something, but it seems a shame, and the walls are thick enough. And so, on to…

…the decade that music forgot. I watched a pair of house martins building a nest under the eaves, taking it in turns to collect small balls of mud to add to the structure, and carefully fitting the nest together. I decided to video them. Suddenly I had a vague recollection of The Housemartins and a song called ‘Build’ (it reached #41 in NZ in 1987… rather higher in the UK). So I put video and song together, only to realise that the song is actually quite irritating – especially the papapapapa bits. Too late. Here it is, with advice to mute the sound if you don’t want to be transported back to a bad place musically… 

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/65641512]