Home alone

Today’s guest picture comes from our son Tony in East Wemyss. He was on holiday yesterday and was able to wait until the sun had come up before taking his dogs out for a walk in the woods.

After a very welcome sunny day here yesterday, there was no chance of seeing the sun at all today as we went back to familiar grey and wet conditions.

In between breakfast and playing some recorder music with Matilda, I filled the feeder and from time to time during the morning, I looked out of the window to see if there were more birds about today in the rain than there had been yesterday in the cold and sunny conditions.

There were plenty of birds about.

Of course, the light was so poor that it was very hard to take pictures of them unless they were sitting still.

However, the bad light did not stop the birds tucking in . . .

. . . and by the time that we had finished our lunch, the birds had polished off the seed

When I went out to refill the feeder, I was serenaded by a very mournful crow sitting on top of the walnut tree.

Sparrows and a siskin were very pleased to find that the feeder was back in action.

We had lunch with our visitors and then played a farewell game of Oh Hell before they packed themselves into their little car and set off back to Edinburgh in very gloomy conditions indeed.

I am happy to report that in spite of dire warnings of very heavy rain, they got to Edinburgh safely. It has been lovely having Alistair, Clare and Matilda staying with us over the new year, and we hope to see them again before too long.

Since I had put my coat and wellies on to see our visitors off, I picked up an umbrella and went for a walk while I was out. It was not a day for lovely views like those I had seen yesterday . . .

. . . and and to be honest, it was not a day for views at all really . . .

. . . so I settled for a short three bridges outing. I crossed the town bridge and walked on to the Kilngreen where the ducks favoured the edge of the water and the gulls preferred the grassy bank.

At the far end, just before the Sawmill Brig, the ducks had taken to the bank and found a friend.

Once across the Sawmill Brig, I admired the big tree on the Castleholm that always looks as though it has leaves on it.

This unseasonable effect is created by the large amount of lichen which festoons every branch and twig.

The puddles on my walk had changed from yesterday’s ice art to water patterns and plops today.

The third bridge of my three bridges walk was the Duchess Bridge . . .

. . . and I noticed some hart’s tongue fern before I crossed it . . .

. . . and some very soggy fungus beside the path on the far side.

In spite of the persistent rain, I met three other acquaintances while I was out, and we stopped to exchange New Year’s greetings and have a little chat, so although my walk wasn’t very rewarding from a photographic point of view, it was nonetheless very enjoyable.

After all the excitement of visiting and being visited over the past eleven days, Mrs Tootlepedal and I settled down for a quiet evening at home all by ourselves.

The flying bird of the day is a sparrow looming above a tiny female siskin.