A bit of a blow

Today’s guest picture comes from ex Archive Group member Ken. He is currently enjoying life in France. His bridge comes from a cemetery in the village of Mornas,

We woke up to another windy day here. This was not ideal, especially when it started to rain as well, because I was going off to join the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve volunteers at Broomholmshiels, where we took part in work to keep the bracken down. Left to itself, bracken swamps everything, but it can be discouraged and weakened if it is regularly beaten up. My friend Mark supplied this picture of the merry band meeting in pouring rain.

Armed with scythes and bamboos, we got to work. Our leader, Kat, and I cleared bracken off beside a popular path through the woods. I took a before and after picture in an open section and found that it did little to show the immense amount of work we put in to clear the path. Sharp eyed readers will notice that there is quite a lot of bracken still about, even after we had done our bashing and slashing

As we cleared the bracken, we found many tiny saplings growing, and we had to be careful not to cut these down too.

We had been protected from the rain for the most part in the wood, but when we came out to join the rest who were working on the hill, the heavens opened, and I hid under a tree until the rain eased off a bit. Mark captured me in a cheery mood swinging my scythe in the light rain.

Our small team got a lot done in two hours, especially clearing the sides of paths and round newly planted trees. I was very pleased to stop though, as it was hard work plodding about the rough ground in a strong breeze and rain while wearing heavy wet weather gear. We all enjoyed ourselves in spite of the weather.

Needless to say, the sun came out shortly after we stopped work, and by the time that I got home for a late lunch, it was a lovely, if breezy day.

After my lunch, I filled the feeder, and a goldfinch appeared before I had even had time to go inside and collect my camera. It stopped long enough for me to get a shot.

It is good to see that the birds appreciate the seed that we provide.

I did have it in my mind that I would go for a bicycle ride since it was a nice sunny afternoon. However, it came as a bit of a blow to me to find that I simply hadn’t got the energy after the morning’s work to go out and face the breeze again in the afternoon. I like to think that I can do anything I want, but on this occasion, the only thing my body was up for was a little lie down and a snooze. So I had one.

I modified my ambitions from a cycle ride to a walk, but I was too tired even for that, and I settled for a stroll round the garden.

Two clematis have come out . . .

. . . and the rhubarb which we bought at the garden centre next to the hospital in Dumfries on one of our many visits is thriving under Mrs Tootlepedal’s care.

She tells me that I am not allowed to pick any this year, so it is just as well that our old patch has perked up after a very slow start in the cold, wet spring.

The allium moly is very cheery . . .

. . . and I picked out some other bright spots, including two roses which didn’t make it into yesterday’s rose gallery.

After my snooze, we watched the end of today’s stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, and then I turned my attention to the birds. There were a lot of flighty siskins at the seed feeder . . .

. . . while the jackdaws visited the fat ball feeder.

Mrs Tootlepedal likes the way that the jackdaws always like to keep their partners close.

I spotted a starling on a fence post and had to look twice to see what made it look a little odd.

I wish that my neck was half as flexible as that. I felt more comfortable when normal service was resumed.

As I was getting ready for our evening meal, I had a look out of an upstairs window at the garden below. This is the front garden with its four mini meadows on the lawn . . .

. . . and this is the middle lawn, with no mow May (and June) in evidence.

I can’t take the vegetable garden from above as the house runs out before I get there, so I went downstairs and held my camera up high and took this picture of the third and last bit of the garden.

The drive runs between the house and the garden . . .

. . . and we are very pleased with this section, beside where we park the car, because it used to be gravel like the rest of the drive, but when we left it alone for a while and then mowed it, it has produced a very good looking ‘weed lawn’.

In the evening, I had my third blow of the day, after the morning winds and the afternoon fatigue. This blow was entirely welcome though, as it involved playing the recorder. Our friends Mike and Alison came round for their regular Friday visit, and Alison and I played duets, while Mike and Mrs Tootlepedal chatted. We opened a bottle of wine which tasted better as the evening progressed, a common feature of a bottle of wine in my experience.

I hope that I have recovered enough energy overnight to make use of some better weather which should be on its way tomorrow. (Oh no! I have just looked at the forecast, and the better weather is going to come with 30 mph wind gusts. Another blow.)

The flying bird of the day is one of those busy siskins