As I was passing the gate I made time to go in. It was a beauty, confidently striding among the people who were there in numbers soaking up the sunshine. The stork was even accepting food from some people, so it has obviously been very used to humans. It has a small metal ring on its left ankle.

It got on to the tarmac drive and an ice cream van was halted briefly until the driver bibbed his horn which made it spring lightly into the air and fly a hundred yards on huge black-tipped wings.

Storks bred regularly in Britain, often on churches, until the agricultural revolution led to the draining of vast areas of former marshland. On the Continent platforms are put up for them to nest on and they are probably fed and tamed as youngsters when they leave the nest. They are still regarded as bringers of good luck, if not babies. I mentioned this old story to my junior nature club, and they made incredulous faces. Everybody knows babies are found under gooseberry bushes!

They were looking at and learning about pigeons the other day. Woodpigeons and collared doves in the school grounds, stock doves in the old quarries around Hebden, and rock doves at the seaside, from which descended al the feral pigeons of towns and cities throughout the world. Turtle doves are very rarely reported in Calderdale, but I have seen one in East Yorkshire, and their purring song can be heard in brambly places in East Anglia, but not as frequently as in old days. The children, listening politely, came alight when I told them that town pigeons were descended from homing pigeons, some of which were used to send little messages on their legs. They were even taken to cricket matches, I went on, so they could be sent hurrying home with the result of the match. This had them falling about, imagining the birds joining in the cricket, and I got drawings of pigeons holding bats, dressed in cricket pads, etc. which I naturally approved of.

We have been lucky in the vegetable garden so far, with not too many damp evenings. This is when the slimy pests come out. If you don't want to use slug pellets, as I don't, I'm afraid the only thing for it is to go out with a torch and collect them up. Not a pleasant job, but if you value your plants, and the pleasure of eating fresh salads and vegetables, untreated with chemicals, it has to be done. Hedgehogs help by eating some slugs, the hens get even more, but you can't let chickens loose among the greens! Over the years I have learned to recognise hedgehogs' droppings. They are dark, smooth, and pointed on one end, up to the size of a peapod, but usually somewhat smaller. Once I saw some that weren't black, but bright blue. The animal had been eating slug pellets. They are based on bran with the poison and dye added. My friend next door has a problem killing slugs and snails, as he is strict vegetarian, so he tosses them over the hedge into the wood.