The main downside to travelling and doing fun things, like courses, is that all my regular work still needs doing. So having already stayed up untiol 4am working twice since my return home a week ago, tonight I had to pull an all-nighter just to try and catch-up.

Anyone who knows me knows that going without sleep does not have a good impact on my mood or my health and I'm grumpy, tired, cold and ill by the time I leave home this morning. Add to that an ear and throat infection and being dosed up on antibiotic tablets and drops and if it wasn't for the fact I'm so looking forward to my day, I wouldn't leave my bed, never mind my home.

But onwards and upwards- there's a bird that needs finishing and I'm the woman to do it.

On arriving today I'm a bit disappointed to see how straggly the bird is looking but Lee assures me that with a bit more work he'll (Is he a he? I know nothing about birds so will have to investigate how you tell male and female moorhens apart) look better. And he's right. A few hours later after some work, washing, drying, wiring and stuffing with wood wool he is looking beautiful again. He now needs to dry for a few weeks which will set his pose.

Next up is beginning on small mammals with working on a mouse which was very similar but a lot quicker.

The strangest thing about this class, and a side of it I never considered, is that you get to see beautiful animals and birds at close quarters. I know nothing about the anatomy of either and apart from holding some birds recently on the falconry course I had never seen any up close. For these two days I've had the chance to learn a lot about them and hold and admire them whilst trying my best to do their beauty justice.

I enjoyed these two days more than I can say. Not only learning taxidermy, but learning it from Lee Paxton who's immensely knowledgable, gently reassuring as a teacher and has a mind full of interesting topics of conversation. I will be back.