Today’s guest picture finds my Somerset correspondent, Venetia on the Ovango River. It looks like a good place to be.
After yesterday’s gadding about all over the country, I planned for a quiet day at home today, starting with a cup of coffee with Sandy.
There was a slight hiccup in the proposed placidity when fellow archivist Nancy phoned me up to say that one of the microfiche readers in the Archive Centre wasn’t working. I cycled up and after a great deal of head scratching, I took some advice from Sandra, another archivist, searched online for solution and found one. Phew. I cycled home again.
Sandy was in good form when he arrived and we hope to be able to get out for a walk soon.
When he left, I watched the birds for a bit and once again there was a fair bit of action on the feeder. Chaffinches flew in double handed…
…but the siskins were more than up to defending a perch.
A collared dove was an oasis of peace and quiet in a furiously fluttering feathery world.
The snow from last night had disappeared and from time to time the sun came out and shone on the siskins…
…and I even thought of a gentle pedal. However I went out to help Mrs Tootlepedal in the garden instead and trimmed a couple of berberis bushes. Then I made some soup for lunch and after we had eaten it, I went out to help in the garden again.
Since we are making new soft fruit beds this year, the old ones are being re-purposed so I dug over the old raspberry and strawberry beds…
…and after some work on the gap between them, they will become the the home for the potatoes this year.
We also put the Christmas tree in its new place…
…where it will sit quietly until next December. It is looking healthy and sturdy so we have every hope that it will see a bauble or two when the time comes.
It is sitting beside the remains of our rhubarb patch.
I saw quite a few daffodils on my travels yesterday and we are getting more out here in the garden every day now.
I went in for a sit down, leaving Mrs Tootlepedal working away outside and then Mike Tinker dropped in for a cup of tea. He is much better after having had a chest infection and it is good to see him getting out and about again.
When he left, I went out for a quick three bridges walk just to stretch my legs.
A dipper stood on a rock in the turbulence of the Meeting of the Waters and showed off the special white nictitating eye membrane which keep its eyes protected when it is dipping.
A cluster of ducks lurked behind daffodils on the bank at the Kilngreen…
…and a bit further upstream, a second dipper was doing some lurking of its own.
I was hoping to take more pictures but there was a large crowd of children and parents on the Castleholm attending a running event so I passed by and made my way home without lingering, stopping only to record two more signs of spring, a willow at the Jubilee Bridge…
…and some blackthorn in bloom beside the Esk.
I got home in time to meet Luke for our regular flute lesson. We had a hard working half hour, trying to develop the correct style in our playing.
That concluded the excitement for the day.
There are two flying chaffinches of the day today as I couldn’t choose between them.
There is the vertical lady…
…and the horizontal gent.
Your bird feeders are always packed with activity. You catch some great action shots, and I always enjoy the commentary.
So that is a blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, in bloom beside the Esk. It is a lovely tree.
It has delicate flowers and is a welcome harbinger of spring.
Amazing birds with enchanting nature. Thanks!!!
A pleasure.
Trimming berberis is a dangerous task – I hope you wore stout gloves. The gardening activities are wonderful to behold. And re. your Somerset correspondent – I think you should refer to Venetia as your international correspondent, given the wide scope of her travels!
She does get about I agree….and yes, I was well gloved up.
The blackthorn was my favourite among all those excellent pictures.
I enjoy the ducks lurking behind the daffodils.
I liked the composition myself.
The peaceful dove got my vote today.
Impressive work with the microfiche thingy. Fine photographs as ever
It was as simple as removing a paper jam in the end.
I’m with Susan. Those flowers are so delicate and lovely.
They are usually the first to blossom in the spring and very welcome as a result.
Oh, yes!
Love the thoughtful siskin and the duck trio photos. Our blackthorn in the hedges is in bud but not opened fully yet…it’s such a pretty flower and as you say a real sign of spring.
I am surprised that our blackthorn is out before yours.
Nice to see the rhubarb making leaves. It’s not unusual to find that you have too much of it though.
Nice to see the blackthorn blossoms as well. Hopefully our roadside fruit trees will be blooming before long.
You should see lots of potqtoes from those two beds. You might need a root cellar.
We usually manage to make do with a couple of big paper sacks. We have cut back our rhubarb patch a lot.
I saw two collared doves that looked like they were billing and doing on my morning ride today
They will do it.
The blackthorn photo is lovely! Ours is not out yet but the cherry-plum is so we do have a little white blossom around. I liked the photo of the ducks, too.
Ducks are reliable photo subjects as they know how to stand still.
Good to see spring out somewhere, I think we’ve a couple of months yet and a few inches of snow to depart.
We have some more snow forecast.