Gentle activity

Today’s picture shows the view from the Moorland Feeder Station.  Not a day for seeing the hills.

And Dropscone and I decided that it wasn’t a day for cycling either, what with intermittent rain and a freezing 20 mph east wind.  He didn’t leave me in the lurch though and arrived for coffee with the now traditional Friday treacle scones.  These tasted just as good as if we had cycled twenty miles to earn them….or perhaps even better.

I spent a good deal of time today, when I wasn’t looking out of the window or doing the crossword, getting to grips with my new music programs and as a result I have made some good progress towards getting some value out of them.  The happy thought of reading the manual came to me and it proved to be quite helpful, which as computer manual readers will know, is not always the case.

The birds still flock to the feeder.  Perhaps they have read the forecast of freezing night time temperatures over the next few days.

A female chaffinch doesn’t stand on ceremony with a brambling, she stands on it.

A chaffinch looks up to see if there is a seed opportunity.

A siskin and goldfinch show their shouting skills.

After lunch, I went up to fill the feeders at the Moorland Feeder Station.  It was raining when I left the house but I took my camera just in case it stopped.  It did stop.  I took a few photographs.

The athletic pheasant was in action almost as soon as I retired behind the viewing screen.

She dismounted with care.  Other birds rushed to take her place.

There were a lot of pheasants gleaning fallen seeds.

This one came up to have a look at me.

The wind was ruffling a few feathers today. This is a great tit.

And this is a blue tit.

The feeders were furiously busy and even the woodpeckers were competing with each other.

One did get some peace in the end.

The trees are beginning to look quite well pecked.

I didn’t stay too long as it was pretty chilly and the screen didn’t keep the wind off at all.

When I got home, I was able to compare a robin which I had photographed on the ground at the Moorland feeders…

…with one which I shot in the garden later on…

…which just goes to prove that there is only one robin and it follows me about.

The frogs had been hard at work…

…but I fear that it may be in vain as I expect the pond to freeze over soon.

Mrs Tootlepedal has some early miniature daffodils called Tête-à-tête and they are just starting to come into flower.

They could do with a bit of sun.

Two starlings sat quietly in the top of the walnut tree.

Although there are literally thousands of starlings near us, we have had very few in the garden this winter.

I soon went in and finished working on a transposing a duet for two recorders by Boismortier so that Mike and I can play it on cello and flute with Isabel.  It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Mrs Tootlepedal was at work for most of the day and wisely didn’t feel like cycling when she got home so I continued to find peaceful things to do.

In the evening, she stayed at home to watch the first of the new season of Gardener’s World on the telly along with a programme on the wildlife of Arabia while I toddled off  to listen to a concert of American Country Music at the Buccleuch Centre.  We were both rather disappointed with the fare on offer.

My concert was what they call a ‘tribute’ to Williams, Cash and Cline and was a rather perfunctory run through a lot of very fine songs by some competent but uninspired musicians and singers.  I quite enjoyed it because I love the country music of that period but would have been happier if the band members and the sound engineer between them had let us hear more of the singers which was what we had come to hear and less of the band.  One bonus was that the overall sound level was quite comfortable.

It wasn’t a good day for catching flying birds because it was so grey but a chaffinch obliged.