Good weather for ducks

Today’s guest picture of a fine tree comes from my Welsh correspondent Keiron.

The night didn’t get nearly as cold as the forecast had threatened, and we got away with a fairly gentle -3°C. It got above freezing quite promptly, and although the day only managed a rather chilly 4°C at its peak, the snow magically disappeared from the town.

We had a very quiet morning, and I didn’t even go as far as looking out of the window until just before coffee time. When I did look out, I found that a pair of recent visitors had returned, with the male politely waiting . . .

. . . until the female had visited the feeder tray.

This gave me the opportunity to admire the light on the male’s head.

Their presence did not put off a blackbird . . .

. . . and life on the feeder above carried on as normal. Sparrows were building up their strength as they get ready to attack Mrs Tootlepedal’s growing vegetables later in the spring. . .

. . . a goldfinch enjoyed a seed . . .

. . . while a young greenfinch flew in to get its share.

The feeder never got very busy and there was always a free perch available.

I left the birds to it and settled down to coffee and a business meeting with Mrs Tootlepedal. We were going through the household accounts to make sure that we both knew clearly what the other was responsible for, and also to check that there were no unnecessary outgoings for services that had continued to be charged even though we no longer needed them. Fortunately, we found that everything was in order and broke up the meeting in good time for lunch.

Although it was only 4°C, there was not much wind, and as the forecast said it wouldn’t rain until the late afternoon, I decided to take my pushbike out for a short pedal to try to add a little to my rather skimpy bike mile total for the year so far.

I was very warmly dressed, and it was pleasant enough as I cycled up the Wauchope road. I stopped to admire the hard work of either one very busy mole or a small gang of them working together as a unit in a field.

I hadn’t decided where to go by the time that I got to Wauchope Schoolhouse, so I took a short diversion up and down the Cleuchfoot road . . .

. . . while I made up my mind. This was a good decision, because although I headed further up the road towards Callister after my diversion, it meant that I was only four miles from home when it started to rain. It was only gentle rain, but I really didn’t want to get cold and wet for the second time in three days, so I turned tail and pedalled back to Langholm as swiftly as I could.

When I got in, I had a quick look out to see if the feeder needed filling and saw that the female mallard was back. She gave me a hard stare . . .

. . . and I returned the compliment.

Fortunately, there was some horse racing from Cheltenham to watch on the telly, and this passed the time when I should have been pedalling. I popped out into the garden between two of the races to try to add a bit of colour to an otherwise rather grey post.

A daffodil which had survived wind, rain, frost, and snow was doing well . . .

. . . but it had all been too much for this bunch of crocuses.

The day got increasingly gloomy and it felt much more like winter than spring as the light faded. An evening meal of macaroni cheese cheered us up.

The forecast is pretty gloomy to so it doesn’t look as though my bike mileage will be going up any time soon.

The flying bird of the day is a greenfinch.