A wet walk

Today’s guest picture comes from Mary Jo. She was flying to have breakfast (as one does in Canada) and this is a shot of the wonderful meanders of the Assiniboine River, taken from somewhere NE of Virden.

I had a somewhat meandering sort of morning myself. It included a crossword, coffee and proof reading a dissertation on sea weed farming for one friend, and offering advice on flute embouchure to another. A morning well spent, I think you will agree.

I rounded it off with a visit to the corner shop for supplies.

As a result, I didn’t get out into the garden until the afternoon.

Mrs Tootlepedal had been giving a drink to the plants she bought yesterday from the ‘needs care and attention’ bargain shelf in the garden centre. It looks as though they should survive.

I checked on her small dahlias from the mixed seed packet . . .

. . . and I think she is right to feel a little bit miffed by the seedsman’s view of what mixed means.

I sieved a load of compost, and then we rushed to get the washing in as it started to rain. When the rain stopped, I went out and was very pleased to find a small tortoiseshell butterfly visiting the garden . . .

. . . even though it wasn’t in the best condition.

I took a very close up picture of a ripening blackberry.

I had partly filled the bird feeder with almost the last of my bird seed, and I found a greenfinch and a siskin taking the chance for a feed while they could.

There were blackbirds about too on the ground. . .

. . . but the most numerous birds in the garden at the moment are sparrows . . .

. . . which rise up in great clouds when you walk into the vegetable garden. Mrs Tootlepedal is not a sparrow fan.

It rained on an off during the afternoon, so I put on my waterproof trousers, picked up an umbrella and went for a walk. It was pretty calm and quite warm, so in spite of quite a lot of rain as I went round, it was most enjoyable.

My new camera is waterproof and I didn’t hesitate to take it out as I went along the Murtholm to Skippers Bridge and then up through the oaks and birches in Longwood, and back to the town along the river bank.

I saw Himlayan and yellow balsam, many trees, and fruits of trees . . .

. . . hazelnuts and loosestrife along the Murtholm . . .

. . . and rowan berries and acorns in Longwood.

I walked along bracken lined paths . . .

. . . avoided puddles . . .

. . . encountered enchanter’s nightshade, cow wheat, marsh woundwort and a tiny oak tree . . .

. . . and generally took a lot more pictures than the rather gloomy conditions deserved.

My favourite moment on the way out was when I went to the river bank to show Skippers Bridge to my new camera and found a fisherman taking advantage of the fact that there was actually some water in the river. He was very happy to have himself included in the scene because he had had a good day’s fishing.

The oak wood was as delightful as ever.

On my way back along the river bank, I entertained myself by getting my new camera to look at a fence covered in interesting things.

I came across verbascums behaving both properly and in a rather familiar way too.

I was delighted by a honeysuckle hedge . . .

. . . which was planted by someone with a sense of humour as it conceals our sewage works behind it.

I found balsam and willowherb past their best . . .

. . . and a very threatening seed head of giant hogweed sticking out above the river, along with a very threatened knapweed growing in gravel beside the river.

The hogweed should have been cleared off long ago, but central government has starved local authorities of funds to such an extent that there is no one available to do this work now.

I got home just in time to have a cup of tea and host the regular Zoom meeting with my siblings.

I have done very little walking this month, so it was good to get out and have a look around.

The flying bird of the day is a pigeon, determined to get where it was going.