Today’s guest picture comes from my Somerset correspondent, Venetia. While she was on a shopping trip, she passed this family of swans sitting quite happily a few metres away from a very busy road.

After a series of warm but wet days, we finally awoke to a chillier but sunny morning today. It was very welcome.
After breakfast, I went out into the garden to chat to survivors. If I looked carefully, I could find quite a few.


Among all the bright colours, I was struck by this nasturtium skeleton on the bench outside the kitchen window.

I got the wheelbarrow out and sieved another load of compost from Bin D. It has rotted down well and is easy to sieve, a reward for trying to have a varied selection of material going into Bin A, and some regular turning.
I just finished the compost task in time to make a pot of coffee to drink with Sandy, who dropped in for a chat. He told me that he had had his booster vaccination in Canonbie yesterday, and that he had seen me pedalling through the village. He remarked that I hadn’t seen him because I had had my firmly head down in the rain.
When he left, I watched the birds for a while . . .

. . . and was pleased to see a couple of dunnocks about among the finches. This one posed on the hedge for me.

Mrs Tootlepedal had gone to have her coffee with our neighbour Liz. I went across to join them and found Margaret and Liz’s daughter Jane there too. As we left, Liz pointed out some good fungus on her lawn.

When I go back in, I had another look at the bird feeder. Sometimes there is more going on at the feeder than the human mind can take in.

A coal tit and a blue tit provided a couple of quieter moments.

Although the sun went behind clouds at lunchtime, it remained a very reasonable day, and I considered the relative merits of a walk or a cycle ride. The fact that my walking boots were only slightly damp after my wet walk of two days ago, while my cycling shoes were still soaking from yesterday’s rainy ride, swung the vote in favour of a walk, and I set off to climb up Meikleholm and Timpen hills.
I passed a good selection of fungi on my way . . .

. . . and a bit of colour was provided by golden grasses, red hawthorn berries and dappled bracken.
It was wasn’t as windy as I had expected when I got to the top of Timpen, so I walked along the ridge before I circled back down to the road, enjoying the slightly misty views of ridges and valleys as I went, and a distant view of the Solway Firth gleaming in the west. (Click on a gallery frame to get the bigger picture.)
It was drier under foot than I had expected, although there was more water about than on my last walk along here in June.

Among the general views, a few details stood out.



And I could look down on the enormous greenhouse that will become a medicinal cannabis growing facility when official clearance is granted.

I liked the mosaic of colours on the Potholm Hill ridge across the river.

I had chosen a route that gave me a fairly gentle walk back off the ridge towards the road home . . .

. . . and fortunately the road down the hill is not as steep as it seems in this picture . . .

. . . though it does seem quite steep when I cycle up it in the other direction.
As I had my walking poles with me, instead of going all the way back along the road, I took the narrow and fallen leaf covered path along the hillside above the river. . .

. . . which leads down to the Duchess Bridge.

I had hoped to end my walk with a feast of fungus among the woods, but I only saw a handful.

After five and a half miles of quite strenuous walking, I was more than ready to have a cup of a tea and a slice of freshly made bread and raspberry jam when I got in. Mrs Tootlepedal had had a busy afternoon too, with Langholm Initiative business and gardening keeping her occupied all the time that I was out, so she joined me.
We are promised another good day tomorrow. If it turns out to be true, I will go cycling this time.
The flying bird of the day, caught in the nick of time, is a greenfinch stretching out for a landing.

Lots of flowers still. Hope you get to go on a bike ride tomorrow.
I did but it was hard work in a stiff breeze.
I like the nasturtium skeleton. It’s always fun to find something so unusual and unexpected.
The landscapes were a pleasure and that greenhouse does look huge.
It’s nice to see all the fungi. I think I’ve found enough for another fungus post.
It has been a good year for fungi here and our local FB pages are full of pictures.
I enjoy the photograph of the fungus on Liz’s lawn as well as the stone-walled sheep folds. That enormous greenhouse looks like a blight on the landscape at the moment. The growing of medicinal cannabis is taking off here too.
The green house is well tucked away out of sight for most people.
It was once again enjoying your beautiful views and how beautiful it is to see everything change colour.
I like Autumn even though it leads to winter. 🙂
Great views ad I enjoyed the picture of the ghost nasturtium leaves, very unusual.
Liked the lone sheep admiring the splendid view.
Jackie talks to the flowers too. Perhaps that is the secret. Good landscapes from a suitably strenuous walk
My knees felt it today.
I’m not surprised
I like that view of the Potholm Hill ridge.
I love to look down on that ridge from above.
More great fungus shots, though the landscape shots made me feel a bit chilly.
It was warmer than I expected though I was glad that I had taken my woolly gloves.
Your comment “mosaic of colours” wonderfully depicts your shot of Potholm Hill Ridge, beautiful!
It is a working hillside. 🙂
I enjoyed all the views, both high and low. Those are very fine fungi in lawn there. it looks like some creature has taken a bite out of one.
We are getting wind and rain here tonight. A good night to be in!
A lot of our fungi seem to get nibbled. Even the poisonous toadstool provides a snack for some creature.
The mushrooms on the lawn photo is vibrant!
Seems a bit strange that greenhouse is built already, before the go ahead to produce the medicinal cannabis has been given? Do they have an alternative crop if the go ahead is declined? I suggest strawberries so you can open a jam factory. Trying to catch up on your backlog of posts. I’m more than frustrated that my knee bend isn’t improving and actually gets worse through the day because of swelling. I am on my feet a lot at work which doesn’t help, but retirement is not an option still. I have gone down the road, so to speak, of buying an eccentric pedal to fit on my left crank. This will allow me to pedal with my restricted bend on the left. It also caters for adjustment if the bend improves. Plus with my SwytchBike conversion I should be able to pedal quite well. Biggest problem is the frosts, because I am frightened of falling whether cycling or walking. Cheers.
I hope that your knee pain eases off soon. It must be most frustrating.
I think that they are pretty confident about getting a medicinal cannabis licence.
An electric pedal sounds interesting.
It’s described as an eccentric pedal, I’ll send you a picture. Cheers.
I got the picture. Thank you.