Category: Birds

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A Nice Walk Through The Woods

on June 17, 2017

Phew!

It’s been a warm one today. And of course, I decided to go for a walk through the woods on possibly the hottest day of the year so far. It was hot everywhere.

Out in the open:

No shade, searing heat.

Overlooking the Lake:

Not a lick of a breeze.

Further around the Lake:

Stillness everywhere.

I think I time-travelled as I walked. Found myself in what looked like the Jurassic period. Does anyone know what type of bird this is? (Apologies for the quality, but I was too far away to get a decent zoomed-in image:

Not that I’d have ventured too close to it, as it happens.

It might have been a heat mirage – but one that affected the camera on my mobile phone as well.

I noticed it looking at me. Not wanting to end up its dinner, I ran.

Yes, even in the heat. I managed to catch this photo as I did so:

Eventually, I found the track that entered the wood.

Ahead of me, I heard a cawing.

“This way. This way. Aw. Caw. This way. Look there. Look there.”

Ahead of me, a raven or crow flew at head height, flying round to make sure I was following. (S )he perched high up and looked over fixedly in one direction. What was I being showed, so I looked over in the same direction.

On a fence post, this chap was also perched:

Posing for his photograph. I took a few shots, and off he toddled into the grass beyond.

In the woods proper, it was still hot.

Even the shade had been warmed up to ‘hot’:

Although, I’m pleased to say there were some nice cooler areas:

Which enabled me to carry on with my walk.

Passed the old old tree I walked. Onward through the cooler shade.

Soon, the shade began to feel warmer again, as I was on my way out of the woods once more:

I walked passed Veronica’s Gulch:

Across the clearing:

And back to the Lake again:

Where these little critters suddenly made an appearance:

So naturally, I had to take a few shots of them also.

One in particular:

And then, it was time to make tracks back:

And have a long, very long, rest!

Did I say it was hot?

Phew!

Hope you’ve had / are having a fabulous Saturday yourself!

This has been a photo-heavy Six Word Saturday post. Visit Debbie’s site for more six worders!

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Letters to the Universe… The One Minute It’s Hot Edition!

on June 16, 2017

Dear Blogland,
Firstly, let me apologise for posting another post today. Hold on a minute! Apologise? NO! I love blogging, so it stands to reason an extra post may pop in every now and then! Obviously, I had to finish my little four-parter, which left me with two options for this post… either miss a week for the letters, or post it anyway. I chose the latter option. I hope you don’t mind.

Dear Hay Fever,
How fabulous it is to have you back! I love sneezing like I’ve never sneezed before, and with your constant nose and throat tickling you are giving me ample opportunity to do so! At least you are leaving my eyes alone for now. Time to crank up the antihistamines methinks.

Dear Gooselets All In A Row,
You water critters are having a fabulous time on the Lake this year, aren’t you? I smiled, nay beamed, when I saw you swimming in a line on the water’s surface earlier today. I may have to post a photo of you at the end of this post!

Dear White Powder,
How odd that you stayed on the road’s surface (where you had either been spilled or tipped) this morning as I parked my car, in that more than gentle breeze; yet when I returned to the car there were many particles of you all over the side of my car. Luckily you didn’t stay there too long – it’s not the weather for washing the car.

Dear Self,
How many excuses can you make for not washing your car? Powder on the road? Whatever next?

Dear Weather,
You’re teasing us all, aren’t you? One minute, it’s bright and warm (HOT!), and the next cloudy and dark as if thunder or a storm is on the way… and then you whip up a strong breeze, clear the clouds and bring out the HOT sunshine again. I don’t know whether to water the seedlings or not with your will you or won’t you rain shenanigans… so I do it anyway, and then you rain. Anyway.

Dear Dillop (Inconsiderate Road User),
I noticed you earlier, revving your engine and driving at speed up close behind me, trying to push me along. I hope you noticed that I slowed down so you could get even closer. I loved how, when the road was wide enough, you sped passed me and almost drove into the back of the other car. Learn a little patience… you’ll get to places feeling a lot better.

Dear Chili Con Carne,
My, you were hot! PHEW! Delicious, mind, so I’m not complainin’!

Dear Computer,
I wish that you, my anti-virus and internet protection software, and the WordPress API would all work smoothly together all of the time. The message ‘The Page Has Been Reset’ is getting rather tedious now. A quick restart resolves the issue, until you start playing games again. Restarting takes me away from valuable computer time (for computer, read BLOGGING) and I’m sure I could get far more done if you were accessible when I need to use you.

Dear Ankles,
I’ve just noticed how you are reacting to the heat. I don’t know why you need putting up after I’ve spent most of the day sitting down already, but I’m not going to complain. I like a good rest!

And to finish… Dear All,
Here’s hoping you are inspired to try that one thing you’ve always wanted to try, but never got around to it. Have fun! You may even like it!

Thank you for reading!

P.S. I said I would do it, so here are the gooselets, just because:

Well, they all looked so cool all in a row like that!

BirdsFeel GOOD!NaturePeopleReal Life

Letters to the Universe… The New Theme Edition!

on June 9, 2017

Dear Blogland,
Apologies are in order if you have seen any temporary posts appear and then disappear from little ol’ me… especially after me not posting anything for a few weeks; one knows how that feeling of dashed excited expectation feels. I want to return to full time blogging with a new look, so I’m experimenting with themes again. If there was only one, I wouldn’t need to, but there’s about fifteen thousand and three themes to choose from, with some not exactly having the features I think I’m looking for. I may have it with this one (but we shall see!)

Dear Short-sighted Drivers,
I think I must help you for when we are on the roads together. I’m going to change the colour of the back of my car to fluorescent reflective orange, so you will be able to see me from further back without your need to drive so close to my car you are practically on top of me. I saw three of you back to back to back behind a fourth car yesterday, so maybe you would all benefit from this idea as well.

Dear Short-tempered Drivers,
I think you all need to chill out a little. Hand gesturing through your front window will not make the road signs in a strange town any clearer, especially when they are covered by our gloriously green Summer leaves as well. If you are in such a hurry as to where you are going, may I suggest you set off a little earlier? And may I also suggest that you consider the fact that if you are already late, going any faster will not make you any earlier. Oh, and some of those gestures were impertinently rude. Tsk.

Dear The New Company That Has Taken Over The Running Of The Buxton Health And Healing Festival,
Thank you for your recent programme, however this year I’m, sadly, unable to attend. I think my name has been lost in translation during your changeover, which gave me a chuckle when I read the envelope. How you managed to change Tom to Lynn is a bit of a mystery, although you kind of managed to get my surname correct. The capital letter in the middle of it encouraged a different pronunciation, which I may stick with, should the need arise.

Dear Visitors To The Buxton Health And Healing Festival,
I wish you all a good time when you go – there seems to be a lot going on!

Dear United Kingdom Election,
Is that finally it? Are you done? Can we all settle down now? I know some will be offering in-depth analysis of what went right and wrong until the next election, comparing things to 1802 or the last election (which seems like last week). The stumpy pencil industry must now be quids in!

Dear Ducklet,
How cute you were earlier today, hastily swimming on the Lake to catch up with the rest of your clan. And you had me laughing when you got on top of the lily pads and started running. Still, any means to an end, I suppose!

Dear Open Live Writer,
I must say I’m liking this experience since I downloaded the new blogging theme to you. Text fills the screen magnificently, which is just how I’d like my posts to appear on the blog itself. Will things look like this? Possibly not, with the sidebar that’s there, but almost. Anything is better than the thin columns I had in the last theme I tried.

Dear Garlic Bread,
Thank you for making my breath smell so special. The taste of you far outweighs the reaction I occasionally get from others due to my pungent exhalations, so you are every bit worth the tiniest amount of effort required to eat you. One more slice? No, I coul… ah, go on then! See I cannot resist. 

Dear Weather,
Here’s hoping for a good weekend, weather-wise. Thank you for the rainbow segment yesterday, any chance of a fabulous and brilliantly bright one over the weekend? I haven’t seen a full one this year, so it would be most welcome.

And to finish… Dear All,
May you remember that being a part of the human race doesn’t mean that everything has to be done in such a rush. Sit back, chill out, and watch the world go by for a while. Your time is just as important as everybody else’s, so it’s important to notice it every now and then.

Thank you for reading!

P.S. Here’s a photograph of that ducklet I mentioned, just because:

…Just because it was so darned cute I couldn’t do anything else but share!

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The Heron Thinks

on May 8, 2017

Oh no… he’s spotted me. Just act nice and casual… take it nice and slowly…

I’ll nonchalantly wander around here, and pretend I haven’t seen him… Ooh, who’s that over there?

Sigh. How did he make it here before me?

Ah well, best grin and bear it I suppose.

I can always fly away if he gets any closer. At least this is my best side.

About the images:

Taken in May 2017, out in the Grinds by the Lake, using a Galaxy Note mobile phone. I’m pretty certain this is what the heron was thinking.

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