Today’s guest picture from my sister Mary shows Mr Grumpy’s London relative in Regent’s Park.
Today’s chapter of the great end wall saga started well with the early arrival of the chimney pot removal gang and progressed smoothly with the actual removal of the aforesaid pot.
While this was happening, I made some ginger biscuits and was then visited by Dropscone bearing scones. My ginger biscuits were a fraction undercooked (a fault on the right side) and Dropscone’s scones were, as always, quite perfect.
After coffee, Mrs Tootlepedal retired for a session on her bike to nowhere and I got togged up for a walk in the chilly sunshine. I was just about to set out when Sandy arrived and he joined me on my expedition.
Because of the good company and the pleasant sunshine, I was happy to walk a little further than I had intended and got over two and a half miles for the first time. My knee was very happy about this but the rest of me was pretty jiggered by the time we got back.
Our route took us over the Esk….
and onto the Castleholm.
We were held up by a colourful robin.
When I looked at the picture on the computer, it looked as though it had been swimming but somehow that doesn’t seem very likely. We saw several more robins on our walk.
There were a number of small birds flitting around and this blue tit stopped just long enough for a quick snap.
There was a lot to look at as we went round and I have picked out a tall pine tree….
….a twisted branch reaching out towards the river….
…a fine view of the hills…
…a bunch of catkins…
…the road through the woods…
…a few snowdrops…
…a tree stump rotting in a picturesque way….
…and ducks in the Ewes going this way and that.
It is noticeable from a photographic point of view how different the colouring of both the duck and the water is considering they were taken within a few yards of each other and with minutes. A member of our camera club was complaining about ‘cheating’ by using a photo editor at our last meeting. He doesn’t realise how much a camera does without asking.
I stopped for a last look back as we crossed the town bridge…
…and collapsed gratefully into a chair when I got home.
You can see the pictures that Sandy took on our walk if you visit his blog. He saw a waxwing in his garden this morning and although we kept an eye out, we didn’t see one on our walk.
Once again, Mrs Tootlepedal provided me with an excellent meal. This time it was a bowl of nourishing bean and chilli soup (with croutons) and I was so perked up that after lunch, I took her up to see the new bird hide at the Moorland feeder station. It looks very good but is still lacking a floor.
There were few birds about so Mrs Tootlepedal went off on foot to walk the two and a half miles home and I strolled along the road across the moor.
I visited a boulder in a roadside glade that I noticed on my last walk along this road and picked out a prominent lichen.
As I walked along, I startled a little bird which I can’t identify.
Back at the hide, the feeders went unvisited but the usual crew of pheasants strutted about. One caught a ray of sunshine on its breast.
These birds are free of the chance of being shot as the shooting season has come to an end but they will have to find their own food from now on.
By the time that I had finished my short walk and driven back to Langholm, Mrs Tootlepedal had also arrived in the town and jumped into the car for the last few hundred yards.
A cup of tea and a ginger biscuit was our reward when we got home.
In the evening, I went to the Archive Centre with Sandy and we finished off the last week of my index backlog.
A very satisfactory day was made even better by the availability of a convenient black headed gull as flying bird of the day.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Love your photos every day but especially these today!
You are most polite. Thank you.
Seems like you had a bright and productive day! 🙂
I did.
Beautiful shots of the hills again and I loved the rotting stump. The mystery bird could be a type of pipit as they have streaked breasts and white outer tail feathers. Work seems to be progressing well on your end wall.
We do have pipits so you might be right but I am tending towards the reed bunting suggestion.
Might your UFBird be a young reed bunting?
It might be. I wondered if it was a redpoll but the tail looks too dark.
All of these are beautiful, but especially the landscapes. That’s also a fine shot of the catkins that look like alder.
I don’t know what that lichen might be. It’s got an odd shape that I’ve never seen before.
I’m glad the knee is coming along so well!
The lichen was about an inch and a half high. It was much bigger than those I usually see.
I was looking for something else in my lichen book and came across toy soldier lichens (Cladonia bellidiflora). I think yours might be one of those.
It looks a possibility but I don’t think my example tapers enough quite to fit the images that I found.
What a lovely walk and a beautiful collection of pictures! I wish I was as good a cook as Mrs Tootlepedal. Too many lovely photos to pick a favourite. Thank you for sharing.
It’s a great pleasure to have appreciate readers.
Great captures, love the pheasant. 🙂
He was obliging to walk exactly into the ray of sunshine.
I wish there was a Dropscone where we live! My favorite scones (blueberry-oat) when we lived back east were from a small restaurant/bakery called “Good Harvest Bakery”. Nothing like it here.
Life without scones? Is it worth living?
I loved the pictures today. Glad the chimney pot removal went according to plan.
We greet every step with joy.
What a beautiful day – cold and crisp. Great shots.
From an end wall point of view it would be even nicer of it was three degrees warmer.
Well, what a successful day, and a very fine collection of photographs to show for it!
Glad all is going well with the building works, splendid pictures on your walk I liked the blue tit on its green covered branch best.
Such delightful scenery Mr T.
It is a treat to walk among it.
What a great collection of photos today, a little of everything, all wonderful!
I think that the unidentified bird is a pipit also, and the reason that the robin looks wet is that it may have just taken a bath.
Both your knee and back must be feeling much better for you to have walked so far and packed so much into a day.
My back is behaving very well and my knee is coming on if not quite by leaps and bounds then at least by good strides forwards.
Nice to see the Sun in your photos even if it was cold (that blue shade present in some photos suggest this).
That pheasant is so colourful!
We have had a run of cold but sunny days. Since we are in the middle of winter, we don’t complain. It is better than wind and rain.
Oh my, what a tremendous selection of pictures in this post! I enjoyed every single one. One of my favorites is the tree limb reaching out toward the river. A great composition. Also the robin, of course. 🙂 And the pheasant.
Glad to hear of the great progress with your knee and that the end wall is coming along.
We are not lulled into a false sense of security. We anticipate many delays in wall matters.
That new knee is certainly clocking up the miles! Wonderful photos today, as always. My favourites: the twisted tree branch and the road through the woods
There is a very good set of gnarly trees along that bit if the river bank.
Some very nice walks there and some high mileage to break the new knee in.
Love the stump and the gnarly branches. Am catching up. Got all overcome with going back to work.