Today’s guest picture comes from our son Tony. It is not the sharpest picture that he has ever taken but you don’t get to see an otter very often, so any picture is brilliant.
Our spell of gorgeous late summer weather continued here today. Once again it was sunny without being too hot, so we were very happy.
Attila the gardener got to work early, and soon showed the overabundant pink phlox who was boss.
I did some shredding of the results, and wandered around as usual, happy to see sunny flowers . . .
. . . but only seeing one peacock butterfly.
Margaret came round for our morning coffee and we enjoyed sitting in the shade of the walnut tree in perfect peace. There were no aircraft flying over head, and no building works in the neighbourhood.
There was some activity in the rowan tree though.
A blackbird and an adult starling came and picked a berry . . .
. . . but the young starling came and went without pecking.
I saw a second peacock butterfly while I was waiting for the young starling to make up its mind.
After a busy day yesterday, I was very content to have a quiet morning today while Mrs Tootlepedal worked hard in the garden, and luckily I found a tricky bank holiday crossword to help me waste time. Quite a lot of time.
I put down my pencil to look at the birds for a moment.
After lunch, we both sat on the sofa and watched the cyclists in the Vuelta toiling up long hills in very hot conditions. They are heroes.
When the stage had finished, I went out into the garden to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine. Two doves were enjoying it too.
I found backlit snapdragons, dahlias looking good from in front and behind, and the first hint of colour in the sedums
And there was still plenty of colour around.
While Mrs Tootlepedal cooked roast chicken for our evening meal, I took the opportunity to stretch my legs by walking down to Skippers Bridge and back.
The next time that I do this walk, I should be able to go over the suspension bridge. It has been repaired and should open officially on Monday.
Today, I still had to take the longer route over the town bridge before heading down the riverside path past the Co-op. . .
. . . and enjoying the sights on the way.
Skippers Bridge was as photogenic as ever . . .
. . . but sadly I didn’t have the right camera to capture the little fishes who were disturbing the tranquillity of the water by leaping into the air. I don’t know whether they were trying to catch insects, or trying to avoid being caught by something bigger under the water.
I crossed the bridge and made my way home along the Murtholm track.
It is becoming impossible to deny that autumn is in the offing . . .
. . . but it does mean that the hazel nuts are ripening . . .
. . . and I found one that was ripe enough to pick and take home to Mrs Tootlepedal who likes nuts.
I liked this patch of thistledown with one seed just about ready to fly the coop.
The war memorial in the park is looking very well tended at the moment.
The roast chicken was cooked to perfection, with potatoes, runner beans and mashed neep from the garden to go with it.
After our meal, we watched the highlights of the England bowlers defying expectation and playing really well to record a handsome victory in the test match against India. There are some days when watching other people taking all the exercise is the right thing to do, and this was one of them.
There was no flying bird of the day today so I found a flying bee instead.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Never anything wrong with watching other people exercise. We’re (those who had to get up to the animals) are a tad weary after getting up to watch the Liverpool Chelsea game. The result was very diplomatic considering we are a household in lock down 😁
Both my English and Scottish teams won this weekend whihc is rare so I am surprised but happy. (Tottenham and Hibs if you are interested. You can see that I am inured to disappointment I went to Tottenham quite often in the glory year of 1961 so it has all been downhill since then.)
The picture of the otter is brilliant. I have never seen an otter in the wild. How I would love to.
There was a pair in a neighbouring town that did their fishing in a very open part of the river and many pictures of them appeared on Facebook.
The dahlia shot from behind is beautiful!
On the subject of avoiding exercise: I saw a sandwich board sign outside a coffee shop in New Zealand that said “There’s a runner in all of us screaming to get out. But we can usually shut her up with a biscuit” – and I still laugh every time I think of it!
It made me laugh too.
The sun on the snapdragons was a beautiful scene.
I’ve never tried a wild hazelnut. If the animals don’t get there first I’ll have to try one this year.
Your river under the suspension bridge is still looking low.
Mrs T reports that it was very good.
We have had hardly any rain lately after a welcome few inches at the beginning of the month.
Good to read that the suspension bridge will finally reopen and the photograph of Skippers bridge was a delight.
Great restauration of the suspension bridge. As always I loved the many pictures of the flowers and the birds 🙂
Enjoy your sunday.
Thank you. I hope that you enjoyed your Sunday.
As you know, Attila and the Head Gardener have a great deal in common. I liked the flying bee
your side of the country seems to be getting much better weather than the east.
We have been blessed lately but it has gone grey again now.
It is a fantastic even magical sight to see an otter swimming. Over the years I have been fortunate to have several sightings swimming in the river Neath (Nedd), a mother and her two kits on a dissused part of the local canal, and on another occasion two kits fighting on the river bank, under a bridge almost in the middle of Neath town. Sadly, the river is almost devoid of fish these days, and I can’t remember the last time I saw fish rising from the river at our local bridge, here in Pontwalby. so I was very surprised to see a picture of what seemed a very healthy salmon (7lb) caught in the river just downstream of us at Cwmgwrach, a few days ago. Will you be allowed to cycle over the repaired bridge, or is it pedestrian only? The refurbishment looks excellent by the way. Still no butterflies here, other than, what my dad called, cabbage whites, whose caterpillars were the bane of his cabbage crop. It’s been a long time since I saw a peacock, or red admiral. More is the pity. Keep tootling.
It looks as though there has been a latte development and the bridge may not open tomorrow. We are not supposed to cycle over it but if no one is coming, people do keep pedalling.
I have only seen an otter once or twice although there are otters round here and a young one was seen close to our house once.
Impressive guest picture of the otter.
I enjoyed all these photos, especially the backlightling on the flowers and the views of the countryside. It is a wonderful thing when the lighting is just right and lends itself to some very beautiful shots. I can see a hint of autumn creeping in and around your countryside, though it feels like summer was barely here this year.
There is a fire to the north and one to the south of us that has been sending smoke our way periodically. Neither is a problem to us at this time, but we are watching carefully. Last year’s intense fires came in September, just around the corner now.
Today is a hot one, forecast is for the mid 80s by afternoon. I’ll save blackberry picking for after dinner.
I would be keeping a very careful eye on those fires if the worst is yet to come. It is true that summer seems to have flitted past this year but we have been told that it has been a warmer summer than average so perhaps we just didn’t appreciate it enough. I am looking at our local blackberries ripening so I may go out picking soon.
It topped 89 in the shade here today.
We were below 60, cool for the time of year.
Any shot of an otter is a great one!