Today’s guest picture comes from our friend Sharon. She was out last night to see the town being painted red. Well, not exactly painted, more all lit up. It was a message called ‘Light it in Red’ . The Buccleuch Centre was illuminated by Centre Stage Theatre to bring attention to the current plight of venues and those in the event and performing arts sector. A worthy cause in my view.
We had a day that waited until the later afternoon to get lit up by the sun. When we got up, it was grey and cool, but as it was dry and the wind had dropped a bit more, we weren’t complaining.
I did the crossword and then got ready to go for a pedal as it looked that there was more chance of rain later on than before lunch. I was slightly delayed by a small tortoiseshell butterfly…
…and a moth that Mrs Tootlepedal noticed. It may well be a Large Yellow Underwing.
Then I was distracted by the first flowers on a buddleia this year….
…some St John’s Wort…
…and a very red poppy.
Then I had to make a start on cleaning the tray that lives under the bird feeder as Mrs Tootlepedal rightly pointed out that it was evil smelling to say the least. (This is where my poor sense of smell comes in handy a a foul smell doesn’t bother me so much.)
And then, just as the ladies were sitting down to coffee, I finally got going.
To be honest, I didn’t really get going today. My legs were sullen, my heart wasn’t really in it, I was missing my road bike and the wind wasn’t at all helpful. I went round the Canonbie circuit very slowly and a bit grumpily, an unusual state for me when I am on a bicycle. Still, even cycling grumpily is better than not cycling at all and I did see a large flock of birds that settled in a tree.
They were quite far away so I wasn’t certain what they were, but a look on the computer when I got home confirmed that they were starling families.
I didn’t have to duck when I passed under the fallen tree at Byreburnfoot today…
…but I was disappointed to find that someone had been along and picked all the ripe raspberries from the bush near by.
I noticed that there was orange hawkweed at the Hollows Bus Stop again this year…
…but as the bus hasn’t been running during the lockdown, it was not surprising to find the bus stop looking a bit neglected.
Because I was tired, I was happy to have another stop at Irvine House to check if the umbellifers were still proving attractive. They were.
Some of these plants are impressively tall and I had to look up above my head to see this one.
I made myself a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich for my lunch, and felt refreshed enough to go out to cut and shred another section of the hedge.
When I got bored with that, I looked at the delphiniums closely.
Mrs Tootlepedal came out and set about using disinfectant and a fierce scrubbing brush on the bird feeder tray. Although it wasn’t perfectly clean, it was passed good enough to go back in place on condition that I clean it much more frequently. I need to pick a day of the week and start a cleaning habit rather than leaving it until it gets intolerable.
The birds were grateful for the return of the feeder and later in the evening, after the sibling Zoom, I took a moment to watch them.
A little bird was an early arrival. At first, I thought that it was a siskin but a glimpse of red on the head made me look closer and the kind bird even dropped its head to make sure that I could see that it was a well named redpoll.
I think that this was a female and a moment later she was joined by a male, saluting the world as he arrived on the feeder.
While tea was cooking, I went out for a last walk round the garden. I haven’t given enough credit to the lovely Bobbie James, climbing high up the electricity pole stay wire.
At the other end of the scale, lowly nasturtiums were enjoying the evening sunshine.
Mrs Tootlepedal came out to join me and remarked on a lovely poppy…
…and her favourite calendula, ‘Indian Prince’. She likes the colour of the outside of the petals when they first show…
…and how they open out.
The local lockdown in Langholm and the surrounding district was lifted today as the authorities think they have got a grip of the small outbreak that caused it, so the world is our oyster tomorrow….if we could just think of somewhere that we wanted to go.
A siskin is the flying bird of the day.
I hadn’t realised before that Langholm had actually been within the extended lockdown area. I thought it stopped south of where you are. Congratulations on your release anyway!
Thank you.
Magnificent shot of the butterfly. Glad your local lockdown has eased.
That calendula is beautiful…I will keep an eye out for it when our seed catalogue turns up Enjoy the freedom to once again go wherever you want whenever you want!
We may visit a garden centre!
Excellent bright blue fly! Liked the redpolls and the flowers too. Stay safe.
We are doing our best to stay safe but it is not always easy.
Yes, I am finding myself increasingly becoming annoyed with people who get too close.
We must keep trying even though it is getting so wearisome!
Trying to be safe. Not trying to get too close, as I agree at how annoying it is when people invade one’s safe space these days.
More great flower close ups,especially that dazzling nasturtium and the pink poppy 👍
I think your shopping bike is becoming a bit burdensome to ride.I know the feeling,like when you ride a hire bike on holiday,it’s just not quite the same..just think of it as strength training in readiness for the faster bike.
Which part is it causing the long delay,most parts these days seem to be easily sourced imo, well Shimano are at any rate.
,
It is the clamp that holds the great change to the handlebar.
A fine pair of redpolls, starlings, butterflies and an assortment of colorful flowers. Our buddleia is in full bloom, and contrasting nicely with the orange daylilies.
We have had intermittent sun today!
Hooray for the sun.
That calendula is a beautiful thing and so is the poppy.
The Bobbie James looks like a perfect white rose.
It’s nice when insects decide to pose. I had a dragonfly land on my shoulder this morning.
I wish that I saw dragonflies. They are lovely.
I didn’t know you didn’t have them there.
We do have them but I never seem to see them.
The calendula looks like it’s lit from within – gorgeous. On the topic of bird feeders – a friend’s feeder has extremely thick and spongy grass growing under it after fallen seed has germinated – has that ever happened in your garden? Perhaps I should be spreading bird seed instead of grass seed on my dismal lawns!
We have had plants growing under the feeder in times past. I am looking to set up a no spill feeder system somehow.
We are beginning to doubt if we will ever have ‘freedom of movement’ again – humph! You have captured some real beauties for this post; I have enjoyed them all.
I hope that things will take a turn for the better.
Love the calendula, and the obliging Red poll.
It was good of the redpoll to make sure that I got the identification right.
Lovely colour of the delphinium.
You are so easily distracted 🙂
There is no doubt about that. I would be ruling the world if it wasn’t for distractions.
🙂
A person who is not distracted by a butterfly has little sense of beauty.
Very true.
so glad to hear your lockdown has been lifted and relieved that Covid 19 has been stopped – for a while at least. lovely photos today,
We are keeping our fingers cross about the virus. When people start coming into the country to or from holidays, things may change judging but what has happened elsewhere.
yes and opening pubs – alcohol and social distancing don’t seem a good mix to me.
Nor me.
Bobbie Jones deserves to be noticed…a real charmer. Amazing what can be seen in close up photos these days…the little hairs on the stalk of the poppy and its paper like petal and the alluring colour on the nasturtium to entice in those insects…mind you the photographer did a good job too!
I love looking closely at the flowers. They are full of surprises to me at least.
And me!
How nice of the redpoll to bow its head to help with ID. The male is quite flamboyant though, not needing any nod of the head to appreciate. I admired Mrs T’s favourite calendula. I like the subtlety of the outer petals accentuating the inner ones.
It is a pretty flower and I like it too.