Washout

Today’s guest picture is another from sunny East Wemyss. Tony took it yesterday and sent it to me to show that they have more than just sea views there to keep dog walkers happy.

We didn’t have anything here today to keep dog walkers or anyone else who wanted to go outside happy. Mrs Tootlepedal did manage to get some tulip bulbs planted in a light drizzle after breakfast but the rest of the day was a write off with either strong winds or rain, and mostly both.

I stayed indoors and occasionally peered through the gloom at passing birds. We must have blue and coal tits living nearby, if not actually in the garden somewhere, as they have become very frequent visitors to the feeder and are often among the earliest to arrive in the morning.

I wasn’t at all an early bird myself today and lingered over the crossword and the Saturday newspapers for a long time before getting properly dressed and facing the day.

I found a mini charm of goldfinches waiting for me at coffee time.

Some jackdaws flew in and found interesting things to peck at on the lawn (I think that Mrs Tootlepedal might have been putting little morsels of cheese rind out there). It was a day for subtle touches of white among the feathers…

…and some more obvious…

…and some downright implausible.

This last jackdaw is often to be seen in the neighbourhood. It is hard to believe that that white feather is not about to come free, but it has been there for a long time now.

I took this picture in March.

The light was generally awful, but from time to time it got slightly lighter so I kept looking out of the window in the hope of seeing a novel visitor, blown off course by the strong winds, at the feeder.

I was not to be so lucky, and regular customers were all that I saw today. An occasional greenfinch loomed up and tried to be unpleasant…

…but apart from the goldfinches, blue, coal and great tits were the busiest today.

When the goldfinches took over the feeder, they were occupied by eating rather than quarrelling for once.

I took my last bird picture just before lunch when it had got gloomier and wetter again.

The plan for the afternoon was to enjoy a great feast of sport with a very mountainous stage of the Vuelta competing with Scotland versus Wales on the rugby pitch for our attention. Sadly, just when our day needed a bit of interest, both of these events proved to be rather dull. The Vuelta has an even more mountainous stage tomorrow so the leading riders sensibly took things very easily today, while strong winds and rain and the lack of a baying crowd made the rugby match a comedy of errors rather than a heroic drama.

It is interesting to wonder whether the lack of the crowd made a difference in the way that the penalties were awarded in the rugby. Scotland got given a lot more penalties than one would normally expect when they are playing against Wales in Wales. Some reports of rough research into recent games of crowdless football seem to show that home advantage doesn’t count for nearly so much without the crowd kindly drawing the ref’s attention to every infringement by the visiting team.

After the lacklustre sport, the day dwindled away, partly spent waiting for an appearance by Boris Johnson, originally scheduled for four o’clock which finally arrived about three hours later. When it came, it didn’t brighten the day noticeably.

The forecast for tomorrow is another wet and windy day, so November is going to start much as October finished.

The (very, very nearly) flying bird of the day is a great tit.