More rain, another walk

Today’s guest picture comes from our friend Bruce. He must have been flying into or out of Edinburgh Airport, as he points out that if you look carefully between the blades of the propeller, you can see the new Forth Road Bridge.

We had another grey, but calm and reasonably warm day here today. The forecast for the afternoon was very gloomy, so I mowed the greenhouse grass and the veg garden paths in the morning, while Mrs Tootlepedal was out taking minutes at a Langholm Initiative meeting. I also paid my bill at the corner shop, put a new inner tube into the front tyre of my shopping bike, did the crossword and entered a few pages of the Archive Group newspaper index into the database, so although it was a quiet morning, it wasn’t entirely wasted.

From time to to time, I kept an eye on the birds. When I first filled the feeder, siskins were very active . . .

. . . but it didn’t take long for goldfinches and chaffinches to notice that I had refilled it.

In the garden, more flowers had appeared on the Crown Princess Margareta rose, although they were finding hard to hold their heads up in the damp conditions.

Nearby there was a dahlia which would brighten any day, however gloomy.

While I was at the shop, a friend suggested that I ought to go round and take a picture of our war memorial in the park, so when Mrs Tootlepedal came back from her meeting, we walked round. It had been discovered that the memorial was in danger of falling, so steps have been taken to stabilise the monument.

The angel was taking her bondage very calmly.

When we got home again, we walked round the garden.

I felt that Mrs Tootlepedal’s latest dahlia deserved a picture to itself. It is a very handsome flower.

Over lunch, an already gloomy day was made gloomier by obvious concern about the health of the Queen.

I looked at the feeder again after lunch, and goldfinches, greenfinches, siskins, chaffinches, and sparrows were all searching for seeds.

The was a small disagreement between the forecasters again today. The met office claimed that it would rain heavily all afternoon, while the BBC suggested that it would rain lightly all afternoon. Once again, a compromise was reached, and it rained alternately quite heavily and quite lightly as I went for a five mile walk.

I was very pleased to find that work clearing the fallen trees from the riverside path from the park was underway . . .

. . . but it is a big task and it may be some time before we can walk along the path again.

I was hoping to pick an occasional hazelnut as I strolled along the track to Skippers Bridge, but some scurvy knave had been out before me, and picked more or less every available nut.

I looked around as I went along and picked photographic subjects instead. It can’t be denied that autumn is on its way.

On the way to the bridge, I walked through one of the heavy showers.

However, it wasn’t windy, and I had my trusty brolly with me so I didn’t get wet. And my new camera is waterproof.

As I went up the hill to Broomholm, I looked at the wall beside the road to see if the recent rain had perked up the lichen. It had.

I took the track through the woods on my way back to the town, passing a tup pondering life , rain and everything.

The walk through the oak woods is never a disappointment, whatever the weather . . .

. . . and in spite of the rain and some puddles, the path was perfectly walkable . . .

. . . and the trees are always a treat.

I came down across the old railway to Skippers Bridge and took the riverside path . . .

. . . back to town. I saw enough little things in the woods and beside the river to keep me interested on my walk . . .

. . . though I was hoping to see more fungus than I did.

I was very surprised to find a small row of bushes near to the suspension with the berries still on the tree.

The rowan berries in our garden and the gardens round us, all got eaten some time ago. Why these ones have survived is a mystery. Perhaps I am mistaken in thinking that they are rowans. I will have to go and look at them more carefully.

I got home just in time to join Mrs Tootlepedal as she watched the final kilometres of today’s stage of the Tour of Britain cycle race. We are spoiled for cycle races just now. Our neighbour Liz was telling us that she had been to watch the race in real life as the cyclists left Hawick a couple of days ago.

As had seemed increasingly likely as the day went on, the news came in that the Queen had died. Her long reign and admirable personal qualities had been extensively and affectionately discussed in the media during her platinum jubilee celebrations a couple of months ago, so there was a slight sense of deja vu as they were extensively discussed again today. It is an oddity that the new king is nearly as old as Mrs Tootlepedal and me.

The flying bird of the day is a siskin.