A brief respite

Today’s picture, from my brother Andrew includes a bridge over a swollen Sor Brook near Banbury.  Rain everywhere.

It was a brighter day here when I got up and there was even a hint of sunshine.  To compensate for this, there was a bitter wind blowing.  Sandy and I felt the extreme keenness of this when we went up to fill the moorland feeders.  It was, as they say round here, starvation.  We had hoped to get in some serious photography in the better light but a short time time standing in the chill persuaded us that a seat in the car was a better bet and we soon got fed up with that and retired for a cup of coffee. We both took a few pictures.  There were a great number of birds about.

The tall feeders were particularly busy.

A great tit looks around to see where everyone has gone and stamps its feet to keep warm.

A nuthatch paid a fleeting visit.

This was the view of the other tall feeder from the car.

Because of the wind chill,  it felt colder than a frosty day would have done even in our new headgear and we were pleased to get indoors.

After coffee, I had hoped that the wind might drop so that I could go for a pedal but it seemed to get even stronger so I looked out of the window instead of doing anything more energetic.

There were plenty of birds in the garden too.

Neatly stacked chaffinches

I like the way that chaffinches really keep their heads still and their eyes on the target.  If they could swing a club, they would make good golfers.

There is no ‘ladies first’ in the world of chaffinches.

Here’s a lady left out in the cold by  goldfinches.

A goldfinch takes a swing round the feeder to see if there is a spare seat.

Taken from an upstairs window

Other birds were to be seen away from the feeder.

A robin lurking in its favourite bush

A male blackbird catches a narrow ray of sunshine

A female blackbird works on her tan on a box ball.

I made some vegetable soup (with added turkey bits) for lunch and when I had finished, the weather had got darker and windier and colder so I gave up any thought of pedalling and turned my hand to doing worthy things like writing up the minutes of the recent committee meeting and composing a begging letter for funds for music to a local trust.

What with doing this and looking at other people’s interesting blogs, the afternoon turned into evening and as the rain and wind battered the house, the evening turned into bed time without anything else interesting happening at all.

The rain is leaking through the end window as I write and it provides a melancholy percussion counterpoint to my tapping as it drips into a plastic bowl on the window sill.  The old year is leaking away.

I should say that if you enjoyed my starling pictures yesterday, there are more and better ones on Sandy’s blog.

A traditional flying chaffinch, caught when the light was at its best.