Rumbles

Today’s guest picture comes from our friend Mike. He is currently on holiday in sunny Wales, and sent me this shot of the bridge over the River Wye at Builth Wells. The forecast for our weather here today had been altering every time that I had looked at it, so we expected changeable weather. However,

Sadness on a beautiful day

Today’s guest picture comes from our friend Gavin. He spotted this turkey vulture on a visit to the California Bay Nature Reserve. We had a beautiful day here today, which provided a backdrop to a sad occasion. We went to the crematorium in Carlisle for the funeral service of an old friend, Peter, with whom

A quietly sociable day

Today’s guest picture is another from Gavin in America. He found something more beautiful to look at than yesterday’s ugly car on his walk today. We had a day here that started off dry and grey, and ended up wet and grey. It didn’t encourage excursions of any sort, and apart from a quick walk

Feeling blue

Today’s guest picture comes from my Somerset correspondent, Venetia. She enjoyed watching this black bird trying to satisfy the large appetites of its youngsters. We had another in our current run of cool but sunny days here today. It felt a bit cooler than yesterday, because the north easterly wind was a bit stronger, but

A tootle but no pedal

Today’s guest picture was sent to me by our daughter Annie. She has been in warm foreign parts lately where she encountered this bird. It is definitely not a chaffinch. By contrast, it was freezing here when we got up this morning. Although it warmed up a little, it never got very warm, and it

Good route choice

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Caroline. She is fortunate in having a nearby patisserie with a very relaxing garden to sit in, where she can enjoy her morning refreshment . We woke up to a cool but sunny morning here, and after I had filled the bird feeder and watched goldfinches going and

Strictly for the birds

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Caroline. It provides a welcome splash of colour on a dull day. Our day started out gloomy and overcast, and it got steadily worse. I did try to persuade myself from time to time that a wet walk would be a good idea, but the sight of sheets

No charge

Today’s guest picture comes from my nephew Nick, courtesy of his father, my brother Andrew. It shows that Nick’s extensive native tree planting in his garden must have been well done. The trees are flourishing. After a pleasant day yesterday, we reverted to type today. There was some steady rain overnight, and it kept raining

Just a song at twilight

Today’s guest picture comes from our son Tony’s good friend Mike. He is in London at the moment, and took this fine shot of Tower Bridge and the river from the top of the Shard. Rather him than me. We had another very windy day here today, and I had to pop out several times

Fade to grey

Today’s guest picture comes from Mary Jo’s trip to the surprisingly dry Caribbean island of Aruba. It shows a black bell plant. I have mashed up two of her pictures to show the flowers closed and open. Very disappointingly, after a sunny weekend to say goodbye to March, April opened with a grey, windy, and