Today’s guest picture is another from one of my brother Andrew’s walks. He knows that I like canal bridges. This one is on the Trent and Mersey canal.
We had a day of rain here today . I wouldn’t say that it rained heavily all day, but when it wasn’t raining heavily, it was raining fairly heavily. To add insult to injury, just as the end of the day occurred , the rain stopped .
As there were two inches of rain in Mary Jo’s scientific rain gauge when I looked after breakfast this morning, I think we can say that we’ve had quite enough rain for the time being. Luckily, tomorrow does look as though it’s going to be a better day.
As it was cold and occasionally very gusty outside, there was very little temptation to do anything else except skulk about inside the house. I did look out of the window from time to time, and saw a jackdaw on the bird feeder before coffee.
The morning was uneventful, though Margaret came round for coffee and I walked round to the shop in the rain. Quite surprisingly, the rivers had actually gone down a bit, and were doing a very good job of draining the rain away.
I looked out at the birds again at lunchtime and saw some rather indistinct chaffinches in the gloom.
It seemed to have been a long time since I last went for a cycle ride, so I pulled myself together and went for a ride on the bike to nowhere in the garage for an hour in the afternoon.
The nearest that I got to going out into the garden was standing at the back door after my bike ride and peering through the rain at any flowers that I could see.
Sadly, the French marigolds look as though they have run out of steam but the sedums are looking very well.
The dahlias are gradually fading away but there are quite a few hanging on.
It wasn’t a day for dead heading.
The sweet peas on the fence are doing their best but I wasn’t tempted to go out and pick them for a vase.
The sharp eyed Mrs Tootlepedal spotted a dunnock creeping about behind a flower pot.
It came out for a moment . . .
. . . but soon crept back under the leaves for shelter.
A collared dove braved the rain in its search for a snack.
Up above, a greenfinch and a sparrow looked as gloomy as the weather.
A little flock of goldfinches arrived to take over the feeder . . .
. . ., and two of them took a dim view of a chaffinch trying to join them.
I had a shower after my bicycle to nowhere, and then a forgettable day faded away, although I did make apple fritters for afters at our evening meal.
With a high of 10°C, three quarters of an inch of rain and wind gusts of 30 mph today, it won’t take much for tomorrow to be a better day. If the forecast is to be believed, we will see some welcome sunshine. Fingers crossed.
The flying bird of the day is a rear view of one of those late afternoon goldfinches.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
What a colourful view you have from your backdoor even in the rain. I loved the photographs of the dunnock creeping about.
That does sound like a lot of rain! Love the pics though especially the Dunnock
The ground is getting soggy for walking on hill tracks now which will be a blow after a summer of perfect walking conditions.
The garden looks beautiful even in the rain. That’s would be quite a lot of flowers for October here.
The dunnock is very round. Even rounder than your robins.
At least you had a beautiful evening sky to see.
And it led to a much better day today.
At least you dont need to water the garden 😁 (which is still looking gorgeous if you ask me)
I was reading an article saying that we will need twice as much autumn and winter rain as usual if we are to get our reservoirs filled up again. Although we would be happy to get the reservoirs filled, we might find it hard to be grateful for twice the usual amount of rain!
Good spotting from Mrs. T: I enjoy the odd glimpses you give us of a Dunnock.
The creep about and I very rarely see one on a bush or tree.
I’ve often thought that the elegant curved branch of the bird feeder makes a excellent prop.
I agree.
That is a dramatic skyscape at the end of your wet day. I hope it presages drier weather.
Hope it tomorrow brings better weather. Wonderful pictures of birds, despite the rain and gloom.
We did get a much better day, thank you.
I enjoyed all the rainy day photos, especially the birds. That jackdaw looks as if he is expecting a cup of hot coffee with his morning feed. Those little dunocks are very serious looking birds. I don’t think we have them over here, though I swear I have seen birds that look very much like them some years.
The dunnocks are rather shy so I don’t get many opportunists to get good pictures of them.
what a lovely little dunnock
They are charming birds.
You make me appreciate our weather for scheduling much of the rain during the night.
Your jackdaw seems to be doing great job of skulking.
Hope you’ve had some sunshine since this post to bring a bit of cheer. Enough skulking!
There has been a distinct lack of sunshine since July. Some sunny days but a lot of grey clouds have been about.