Today’s guest picture is another from our daughter’s Devon holiday. She visited a famous garden but found her attention slipped from flora to fauna.
She is obviously having better weather than us as we woke up to another cold, grey, occasionally wet and always windy morning.
I cycled up to the Archive Centre after breakfast to visit the data miners and got wet cycling home again. There were compensations though.
I passed a female goosander sitting on the river bank near the church and when I got home, I got a camera and came straight back out to see if she would still be there. Luckily both the rain and the bird stopped.
Birds have a curious attitude to cyclists. As long as the cyclists keep going, the birds will often stay still but as soon as the cyclist stops, the birds usually get going. This proved the case today and after giving me a scornful glare, the goosander walked down to the water, launched herself….
…and paddled gently off downstream.
I was cheered up by the arrival of Dropscone with scones for coffee. He has been very busy lately both refereeing golf tournaments and playing golf himself so he had much to tell me.
He went off in the hope that the rain would stay away and he could get some more golf in and I went out to the garden and mowed the greenhouse grass and the drying green. I also looked around.
The flowers are very resilient for the most part and I thought that they were worth a close look.
There were a lot of bees about this morning in spite of the occasional rain.
The nectaroscordum was a particular attraction.
…and on several occasions, I actually saw a bee barge another off a flower.
The Rosa Goldfinch is coming along very nicely…
…and by coincidence, I saw an avian goldfinch in the garden today too (but not when I had a camera to hand).
After lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal was looking out of the kitchen window and remarked that there were a lot of sparrows about. Some were feeding young….
…and some were enjoying a bath in a puddle.
As it looked as though the rain would keep away, I went for a cycle ride in the afternoon and although there were one or two drizzly moments, they came to nothing and I got round dry.
The wind was pretty brisk again but not quite so rough as it has been so I ventured out into the open country and did a 27 mile circular ride instead of just pottering up and don the road beside the Wauchope.
The first seven miles were very hard work into the wind but good route choice meant that the subsequent 20 miles were less troublesome and for some of the time, I fairly scooted along with the wind behind me.
The cool temperatures and the brisk wind meant that it didn’t feel much like warm weather cycling but the countryside did its best to cheer me up either with daisies….
…or buttercups.
I kept a close eye on the verges when I was was going at a suitably slow speed.
There is almost always something interesting to see.
And if I am not in a rush, it is a pleasure to take a close look.
I took a picture of the Esk from the Hollows Bridge…
…and then scrambled down the bank to look back up at the bridge from near the river.
I would like to have got a better view but the rocks were very slippery and I didn’t think that falling in the river was a good policy.
On my way back home, I passed a lot of Pyrenean Valerian. Seen from a distance it looks a little undistinguished but from nearer, it is a very pretty flower.
The roadsides are full of daisies at the moment and I particularly liked this little scene on the side of the main road just where it is joined by the bike track.
My flute pupil didn’t come this week but I still got a musical ending to the day when I went to play trios with Mike and Isabel. We made some good progress on out Mozart Piano Trio and enjoyed the new Telemann trio which has just arrived through the post as well.
As it looks as though the wind might drop a bit over the next few days, everything is good.
The flying bird of the day is two flying bees.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
The bathing sparrow looks like it stayed in a bit too long.
The clematis looks like “Nellie Moser.” It’s a beauty.
We also have roadsides filled with daisies but I’m surprised by the foxglove. We won’t see them for a while.
A veritable smorgasbord of nature’s delights 🙂
A smorgasbord? Is that the Norwegian option we hear so much about?
😉
You peaked with flower pictures today, lovely close ups both in your beautiful garden and on the roadside as you cycled.
What a beautiful cat.
Glad you managed a ride without getting soaked. Lovely picture of the goosander in clear water.
I did not think bees were so ill-mannered! Those daisy bedecked roadside verges are a sight to behold.
It surprised me to see bees knocking each other about. I have never seen it before.
Oh, that countryside, those flowers, and the birds! Lovely way to start the day.
🙂
That sparrow looks really wet.
The purpose of the exercise, I suppose.
Bumptious bees! Whatever next! Another wonderful gallery of photos.
Fighting flies?
I learn so many flowers’ names from your blog. Today was nectaroscordum, which I’d seen Sunday with my daughter, who’d asked me what it was, and I’d had no idea. (I told her maybe an onion of some kind).
I learn the the flower names from Mrs T as my knowledge of plant name is sketchy. You were bang on the money with your onion diagnosis.
That is a very nice photo of what looks to be an Abyssinian cat your daughter took. He or she looks a bit like my dear departed Mr. Austin cat.
So many beautiful photos of birds, flowers and country lanes! The sparrows are among my favorites from this post.
Wonderful wet bird. Are your macros taken with your LUMIX? They are so good.
Some but I have a macro lens for my DSLR and I use the zoom on that as well.