A more gentle stroll

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Caroline in Southsea. She came across a very fine floral hedge on her outing today.

We enjoyed another blue sky day here, but once again it was chilly. It was below freezing when we got up, and though it did rise to a heady five degrees around noon, this was only for an hour or so, and it is back down to -3.3°C as I write this post in the evening. We may get sleet or snow tomorrow.

After a quick look at the feeder where the chaffinches didn’t seem to mind the chill . . .

. . . I walked up the hill to have coffee with Sandy. He had had two good nights of sleep, and was in as cheerful mood as anyone who is stuck in the house can be. He is longing to get out and get walking again.

I came back home in time to join our neighbour Margaret who was having having coffee with Mrs Tootlepedal. The sun had reached the bird feeder by this time, and as I had filled it up before I left to visit Sandy, there were plenty of customers about.

Not all of them were chaffinches, but this robin was the only one who wasn’t.

I could count about fifteen chaffinches around the feeder from time to time . . .

. . .and there always seemed to be at least one or two about when I looked . . .

. . . and a steady stream of replacement flying in if the perches got empty.

In spite of the sunshine, it was still too cold and there was still too big a chance of meeting icy patches for me to be tempted to get my bike out, so after lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal and I went for a walk.

When we got to the Kilngreen, we found that the gulls were divided over whether to hang about beside the water, or stay at their posts.

We decided to walk along the Baggra, and soon we could look across at Whita over felled trees above the rugby ground. Even in the sun and with a blue sky, I thought that the light had a decidedly chilly air about it.

The upside of the chill was that the ground and puddles were frozen and the going was very reasonable for the time of year. Mrs Tootlepedal likes walking along the Baggra because it is the old road to Edinburgh, and she likes the feeling of walking in history’s footsteps. It has good views too . . .

. . . and plenty to look at as you go along.

When you get to the end of the old road, you can see the new main road to the north below you.

We walked round the field down to the High Mill Brig, enjoying the backlit sheep . . .

. . . but feeling the chill of the shadows as we got further down towards the river.

When we got to the Castleholm, there was enough sun left to light up moss on the wall . . .

. . . but the shadows over the cricket pitch were impressively long considering it was not yet three o’clock.

To be fair, they were being cast by tall trees.

The tree across the new path had been neatly cut up to allow pedestrians to pass through. This has been common practice and there are a lot of these tree passages around.

A cup of tea with some gingerbread and an evening Zoom with my siblings completed a leisurely day during which many of the useful things which might have been done, remained to be done on another day.

The flying bird of the day is an inevitable chaffinch.