Very hot. Weeded out first lot of broccoli & dug between. Cut down nettles under the apple tree & applied 1 lb. sodium chlorate. A lot of apples but they are not very good or big, & many windfalls. Made 2-3 lb. apple jelly out of the windfalls.
8 eggs (1 small).
Forgot to mention that at Ringwood I several times saw large flocks of goldfinches, in one case over 30 in a flock.
NB. to count eggs for earlier days of this week at 7 a day, as during our absence they laid 85 in 12 days.
Orwell Diaries 1938-1942 
[cue maniacal laughter]
Applying a deadly poison which can cause multi-organ failure as a soil-sterilant, Eric heroically counter-attacks the enemy plants with a no-holds-barred, scorched-earth policy.
The goldfinches, like the other European refugees, have joined the exodus west from the advancing trigger-happy totalitarians.