A tootle but no pedal

Today’s guest picture was taken by Mrs Tootlepedal. It shows an artistic darn which she has made to fill a hole in the sleeve of one of my jerseys. She was feeling very creative at the time.

I looked out of the window just before I went to bed last night, and was much struck by the almost full moon. I gather that it may be called a worm moon at this time of year.

The skies had clouded over by morning, and it was windy and chilly. I was happy not to go out any further than the garden in the morning.

Dropscone came round for coffee. He was very pleased because he had had a hole in two at a recent golf competition, and this had won him the princely sum of £4.50. It wasn’t so much the money as getting a birdie that had cheered him up so much.

The birdies in the garden cheered me up. They were in full flight when I looked after coffee . . .

. . . and I was happy to spot a redpoll among the regular visitors.

I had a quick turn round the garden before lunch. The hellebores are still looking very perky and holding their heads up well.

The rhubarb is developing and thoughts of crumble and custard are beginning to haunt my mind.

There is other life in the garden too.

After lunch, I looked at the feeder again, and found that it had been almost entirely taken over by siskins and greenfinches.

It was too windy and chilly to think that cycling might be a pleasure, and there was more than a hint that rain might come later in the afternoon. I cut my losses and went for a short three bridges walk while the going was good.

The rain stayed away and there was even a hint of sunshine for a few moments.

There was no shortage of birds to photograph on my way.

The pick of the bunch was a pied wagtail at the Meeting of the Waters. It stood on the edge of the river and dashed out and back several times. It is rare for me to be able to catch a wagtail in flight.

The crocuses on the banks of the Ewes Water are looking good.

I went over the Sawmill Brig, walked round the new path on the Castleholm, crossed the Jubilee Bridge and went round the Scholars’ Field.

A tiny flower on a wall among the moss

More moss on the wall

A Noble Fir branch

Celandine on the Scholars’

I got home in time to watch a bit of the racing from Cheltenham with Mrs Tootlepedal while I enjoyed a cup of tea and an oatmeal biscuit.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent sorting out the many pictures of the busy feeder which I had taken of the birds on the feeder, having a shower, and and preparing and eating the evening meal. By the time that I had done that, my friend Susan had arrived to give me a lift to Carlisle to play music with our recorder group at Jenny’s.

We were one player short of a quartet tonight, as Sue was not feeling well and had had to call off. However, we had a good collection of trios to play, stretching from Pachelbel to Hindemith, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Jenny always comes up with good biscuits to go with the after playing cup of tea.

We are promised some calm and sunny weather for the next week and I hope to catch up on some much needed cycling. It will be a relief not to have to battle into strong winds when going out for walks and rides.

The flying bird of the day is one of the oystercatchers that I met on my afternoon walk.