Today’s guest picture is a reminder of the sort of sunrise that you can see in East Wemyss if you are up and about at 5 A.M. Our son Tony was.
Owing to a busy afternoon and evening, I am starting this post very late in the day, so the text may be a bit skimpy.
We woke to a wet and windy morning, but things soon got better, and we had a fine day, albeit with a persistently strong wind.
Morning consisted of idling about, coffee with Margaret, and more idling about. I filled in the time by taking pictures in the garden. I took too many and they will appear in panels.
A welcome but rare insect, a seedy dicentra, lichen on a paving stone and a white butterfly.
Yellow rattle on the drying green.
Various bees and a red admiral butterfly.
More poppies beside the dam at the back of the house.
After lunch I upped my game a bit and interspersed the idling with sieving compost and dead heading Icelandic poppies. And taking more pictures.
Fresh Icelandic poppy, fresh rose, fresh irises, and fresh blossom on the rowan tree.,
Mrs Tootlepedal spotted some rooks feeding their young.
Then I went for a walk along the river to the Kilngreen where I had an ice cream (I saw the meadow pipit later in the walk) . . .
. . . then along the Baggra, where I saw wood avens . . .
. . . and lots of hawthorn blossom.
Then it was up the track from Whitshiels . . .
. . . and onto the open hill . . .
. . . past the sheep pens . .
. . . and the three remarkable trees, still standing in spite of three storms and limited contact with the ground . . .
. . . onto the road beside the Scots Pines . . .
. . .which suffered quite a lot of damage in the first storm. But there are still trees standing.
I left the road and walked along the hillside to Whita Well and then back down to the town . . .
. . . by way of the Kirk Wynd, which was lined with wild flowers.
When I got home, I looked at the front lawn and thought that it might recover from the jackdaw attacks, if they don’t come back again.
After I had had a cup of tea and a slice of fruity malt loaf, Mrs Tootlepedal cut my hair and then I had a shower and a shave so that I was looking relatively respectable when the three other members of the recorder group arrived for our fortnightly meeting.
We missed nearly two years of playing thanks to the virus, but we are getting back into our stride again now, and we had a really enjoyable evening of good music and very acceptable though not perfect playing.
I was going to have this evening sparrow as flying bird of the day . . .
. . . but when I looked through my pictures, I thought that I ought to have this bee as flying insect of the day instead.
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A beautiful selection of birds, bees, flowers and views. The flying bee of the day showing your her backside is a nice photographic catch. Is that a group of Poet’s Daffodils in the upper left of that last 4-panel?
They are indeed Poet’s daffodils.
My favourite of all the daffs.
I am also glad to hear the recorder group is assembling again. After 2 years, that must be special for all of you.
Fruity malt loaf is one I will look up. That sounds delicious.
It is a very tasty loaf. We don’t make it too often as it leads to over consumption. 🙂
You reminded me that I haven’t seen a single hawthorn blossom this year, not even on the one in my own yard.
The views were beautiful as always, especially the one with the lone tree and clouds.
That’s a great shot of the bee.
The hawthorn blossom has been very good this year with no late frosts to upset them..
Maybe that’s why we don’t have any. We did have a late frost or two.
The flying bee of the day is lovely!
Thank you.
Lovely shot of the poppies by the dam, and who wouldn’t like a picture of a bee?
Tony is to be commended for his early morning photos. I am often awake at 5 a.m., but that’s a far thing from actually getting up at such an hour!
I am usually awake before that but on a good day, I am fast asleep again by five o’clock
A beautiful sunrise and pretty flowers to brighten my day as I am about to set off for my morning walk along the edge of town.
I hope that your walk was rewarding.
It sounds and looks like you had a most excellent day – nice pictures, a lovely walk, good grooming, and an evening of tootling.
Good grooming is always a thing that boosts your cheeriness.,
A good range of fine pictures.
Thank you Derrick.
That hawthorn blossom was really pretty. Glad you had a successful play.
Glad you are back tootling again.
Lovely picture of the Kirk Wynd.
The open hill landscape is like a painting. Glad to hear your recorder group is meeting again.
It was good to get going again and after a few meetings we are feeling more confident.
Particularly impressed with the flying bee of the day! 🤗
It hovered most obligingly.
I can’t remember seeing a butterfly around here for weeks now. And sadly only the very occasional bee. Swifts and swallows are very rare to be seen. It is obvious here in South Wales things are much worse than in the Borders with you. On the face of it everything looks normal. Plenty of flowers blooming the woods are all green. But with so little insect life the future must be bleak. I know I sound like a harbinger of doom, but it is staggering.
We have begun to get a few more bees and other insects in the garden but butterflies are very scarce.