The changing of the sward

You may recall, dear reader, that when we moved to Burnbank a little over a year ago, our new home was in one corner of a larger plot, with planning permission granted for three further houses. Here's a photograph from back then, showing our nascent rear garden (the mown bit) with the plots, actually an unimproved meadow, behind and to the side of it.

Knowing what was to come, we decided to enjoy this meadow vicariously whist we could, watching how the vegetation glowed as the light changed, or being mesmerised by the fluffy heads of the cottongrass. 

We were especially pleased with what this habitat helped to bring into our garden, most gloriously all those wonderful visits by Brown Hares. However, it wasn't going to last and, indeed, it hasn't. Recently, work has commenced on the first two plots, the one behind us and one to the north. The precious turf of fine grasses and wildflowers was scraped back into various heaps, hard-standings were laid, foundations dug, and the beginnings of walls have emerged from the ground.

The local Rooks and Jackdaws were a bit non-plussed to begin with, but soon realised how to use the space to their advantage. The barley crop in the field behind the plots is not far short of ripening and harvesting, and the birds delighted in breaking off a stem at a time, dragging it through the fence and onto the hard-standing, where they then had time and space to devour the grain. To be honest, this is a behaviour which we hadn't previously witnessed, so as they say... every cloud has a silver lining. The hard-standing material is also ideal as grit for their gizzards, so they're devouring that too, to help digest the barley.

I guess things are going to be noisy, muddy and unsettling for a while, at least until fencing and planting soften the view. We will miss the meadow and the joy it brought, but there's been the odd sign that perhaps all is not lost...

[Cue some unsightly craughing]