Today’s guest picture was sent to me by my friend Bruce whose wife spotted an interesting creature on their windowsill. Is it a moth or a butterfly? I don’t know.
We had a fairly miserable morning as far as the weather went but bang on cue, the day brightened up a lot just after noon and the rest of the day was very pleasant.
This let me get out on the bike for the first time for a fortnight but the dry conditions unfortunately had an added brisk wind mixed in with them which made pedalling very hard. My legs were not in good condition so I did a dull twenty mile out and back ride and was pleased to get off.
I only stopped once to show a rowan tree along the road which has not been visited by birds yet.
It has been a very good year for rowan berries
I mowed the drying green and the green house grass when I got back and I am now fully caught up after the holiday. I also had time to look at the flowers in the garden during the afternoon.
Pretty in pink
Delicate
Honeysuckle
The last of the cardoons
The birds at the feeder were the usual suspects…
..but a young starling and an old jackdaw came too.
I am sure that this bird was a headmaster in a previous life
In the evening, we went along to the Buccleuch Centre for a jazz concert by a British singer, Tina May and an Italian pianist, Enrico Pieranunzi.
There was a select audience but the performers didn’t stint and gave us a first rate performance. We are very lucky to be able to listen to such quality so near to home.
The flower of the day is three poppies…
…and the flying bird of the day is three sparrows.
Sorry about the rushed blog but it is late and I am tired. Perhaps this is because I have put additional photographs onto the blog of day four of our holidays in France. You can see it here.
According to the Library of Congress “A butterfly’s antennae are club-shaped with a long shaft and a bulb at the end. A moth’s antennae are feathery or saw-edged.”
The pink dahlia is a beauty and the cardoon looks huge.
Thank you for the information. The cardoon is about the size of my fist.
Re the moth/butterfly question your help guided me to identifying it as a Small Copper butterfly.
Loved the description and photographs of what you did on Thursday. The views coming back from the boat were excellent.
That beady-eyed blackbird is quite alarming.
Great to see the added photos of day four – you did get to see a lot of wonderful places.
We enjoyed the whole tour a lot.
Not many people have the dedication to see so much in a short time – impressed.
What a beautiful and interesting place to celebrate a birthday!
Honeysuckle flowers always bring to mind a bad hair day…an explosion of tresses
It was a great idea of Mary’s.
I thought it about time I liked/commented having been such a slack blog-reader over last several weeks (months?) As always, your blog posts soothe me and make me laugh at the same time – wonderful!
You might be permitted to be a slack reader, Julie but as always, any comments that you have the time and energy to make are welcome.
A very nice selection of both flowers and birds today, my favorite is the former headmaster!
I’m sorry that I haven’t commented on the updated posts, but the photos are excellent, and I didn’t want you to have to take the time to reply to even more comments than you are already.
Good thinking.
Flowers continue looking great, the honeysuckle caught my attention straight away.
I have enjoyed the updated posts very much. I am not surprised that you are tired after catching up with all the gardening, a 20 mile cycle in the wind and attending a concert as well as all the usual chores you must have to do. I loved the flying sparrows!
Thank you taking the time to battle through the flood of photos.
It was my pleasure.
My favorite photo is the old Jackdaw. You have done a marvelous job capturing his expression! I do agree he was probably a headmaster in a former life. Perhaps even one of my own teachers from grade school. 🙂