And so our week's holiday begins.

Friday 22nd August 2025.

The Cider Barn Cottage we are staying in for the week near High Bickington, Devon.

At last, Becky, myself and the dogs are on holiday again and it's back down into Devon again. We had booked a cracking little Cottage just outside the village of High Bickington, which is just 20 minutes away from Barnstaple and set right in the heart of the countryside. We are spending the week here, while my stepson and his mates look after our house while we are away.

Above, Ted and Buddy have a whole field to run around in and below, Foxgloves were growing in the hedgerows.

Above, the big field for the dogs to play in. Yep, someone is occupying the shack to the right of this photo. Our Cottage is behind these trees. Below, numerous Common Grass-moths were flushed from the tall grass.

We are determined to have a very relaxing time and I have even brought my Moth Box (well, Andy’s actually) and ready for some ‘mothy goodness’ hopefully. I gave the dogs a good walk around the field opposite and a Yellowhammer was flushed up from the centre of the field. The perimeter of the field has been mown and so a nice walk for both the dogs and myself as I flushed a lot of Grass moths. On closer inspection, they were mostly Common Grass-moths, while overhead, a few Swallows went by and a larger flock flew over the fields to the north. The owner of the property told me that a Barn Owl was quartering the fields in the evenings and so I shall take the dogs out for a walk as it nears dusk.

We stopped off at our favourite Farm Shop just west of Chideock for a quick bite to eat.

There were plenty of Common Buzzards seen on our near 4 hour journey here (typical Bank Holiday traffic) and singles of both Sparrowhawk and Raven were also seen. Hopefully, some good Moths over the coming mornings and maybe some interesting birds too.