One compensation for these lockdowns has been the increase in spotting wildlife. Living on London’s north-eastern extremity, a country park is but a short walk away, with less human activity or more time to observe, the increase in wildlife is noticeable.

At night we now have a chorus of toads trying to hook-up, at the last count five were sitting, and mating, on my lawn.

Foxes ever-present, have managed to destroy my watering system whilst playing one night, then last weekend, one of the parents dropped a dead cub on my neighbour’s (artificial) lawn.

We now have a flock of about 50 sparrows nesting in my neighbour’s pyracantha bush, I know the number as these were counted during the RSPB’s weekend bird count audit.

A bird box at the foot of our garden, not 5 foot from my neighbour’s flank wall, has seen six fledgeling blue tits leaving their nest last May. This year looks promising with a pair busily checking the bird box out.

Whilst writing this post, a flock of 12 Canadian geese have just flown past going south, presumably to alight on our local park to cover it with their defecations.

We have parakeets squawking as they fly overhead, now they have migrated out from the warmth and salubrious west London, to join their down-market cousins in east London.

But the most amazing siting (and the reason for this post), are the red kites now being regularly observed high up in the sky yards from our house. The other day two were apparently courting, or fighting, while a third looked on.