Sloe gin puts hairs on your chest and a spring in your step, and we think it makes an important part of our winter.  We also love giving bottles of it as Christmas gifts.  So, on Sunday, Operation Sloe Gin commenced with Andrew and I setting out for a sloe berry picking session.  We'd already identified a promising lane on a foray with the dogs, so took our carrier bags and set out.  It was a beautiful, sunny, hazy afternoon and the hedges were thick with all sorts of berries, blackberries, hawthorn berries, rosehips and sloes.  They looked wonderful - beautiful glowing colours against the turning autumn foliage.  The sloes were a good crop with a real variety in size - some about the size of blueberries but with lots as big as a small plum.  These have gone into the freezer and then they'll be transferred into their bottles for the mixing with the gin and the sugar.  All being well, it will be ready just in time for the festive season.  Picking was enjoyable though many of the hedges were above steep ditches so we had some fun with me hanging on grimly to Andrew while he leaned over to get at the the pick of the berries while trying not to plummet into a ditch.  Fortunately we only got a few scratches, and our total haul was just over 3kg - plenty to make a good batch.  

On Tuesday, I attended a Dog Law Professional Seminar at the Holland House Hotel, in central Cardiff. Trevor Cooper is very well known in dog circles as being an expert on dog related law and there was also a barrister speaking on the Animal Welfare Act.  Around 35 people attended - a good mix of vets, police, dog/animal wardens, rescue people and RSPCA/big charities. We covered a lot of ground with a particular focus on the Dangerous Dogs Act - a complex and deeply flawed piece of legislation.  Personally, I still don't think this Act makes anybody safer and arguably has led to an explosion of "pit bull type" dogs, who are actually (paradoxically) more attractive to criminal elements because of their banned status.    I had lunch with Sian from the Dogs Trust, and she was telling me about the excellent work she is doing with social landlords, building in responsible dog ownership issues to tenancy agreements - a very welcome step.  Saw a few other familiar faces and was chatting to a couple of very pleasant vets over coffee - they are often at the sharp end of very tough ethical decisions.  It was an excellent day, though I came home feeling shattered - after a lot of concentration and learning.  I am still digesting the implications of what was discussed and will probably write more about these as my thoughts crystallise.  

Andrew set off early for the station this morning so I took him, with the dogs and headed to Tredegar House for an early morning walk after depositing Andrew.  It was lovely - a beautiful autumn morning, dew thick on the grass, masses of rabbits and squirrels, fungi sprouting in the grass and ducks everywhere.  The swallows have now departed.  Boola was running round like a mad thing, grinning all over his face and Andy was squirrel hunting in all the trees.  After having their breakfast, all the dogs are now peacefully asleep though Andy was snoring gently while I had a quick game of Angry Birds after my own breakfast.  Booty is now lying upside down on the bed with her legs in the air - she'll probably be snoring too shortly. 

The departure of the swallows from Tredegar and the house martens from our house as they set off for Africa makes me sad.  They are such a part of summer and when they go, I really know autumn is here and we won't see them again until the third week of April next year. This year, I think about my father - he'll never see them come back again.  One of the things I remember about him is his love of birds (and the natural world as a whole) and as a child he would teach us about birds, point them out to us and identify them, and encouraged us to enjoy watching and studying them.  I can still remember vividly his excitement at showing us choughs on the cliffs near Pennard when we were small.  Our postman was also a keen bird watcher and encouraged us as children to join the YOC - the junior branch of the RSPB.  Nowadays, I don't suppose they can do this sort of thing - it would probably be regarded as highly suspicious though I am very grateful for this kindness that was shown to us when we were younger.  The understandable concerns about child protection have, I think sadly, permanently lost a lot of the very good contacts between adults and children that used to take place.