GoPro play

The day was spent doing not a lot!

I spent some time looking at pictures taken with the GoPro,

Todays photo of the day

Go on then put em up.

Until tomorrow...

The rain didn't stop Robin

The dustbin men where we live are not very considerate when it comes to emptying the bins! The residents all put their bins out in a neat and tidy way so as not to block the paths, but after the bins have been emptied the bin men just throw them anywhere.

Anybody with a pushchair, pram or wheelchair would have no chance of using that footpath without having to move dustbins out of the way. It is like this every thursday.

I decided I would go down to the shed today even though it was raining, it was nice walking into a clean tidy shed. 

The Robin arrived almost as soon as the live mealworms landed in his blue dish,

The rain was not going to stop him from getting his mealworms.

I had to laugh when a starling tried to get in on the act but spotted me and decided he just wasn't brave enough to stay.

I acquired a new lens today, a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM I intend to use it for street photography and portraits. (expect to see a lot of trial and error shots over the next few weeks)

I have not had any problems with the last lens I bought (Sigma 150-500mm 1:5-6:3 OS Canon fit)

so I hope this will give me as much pleasure but with different styles.

I took the new lens down to the shed with me not really expecting to use it, I did however take a couple of photos and I did forget to change the aperture setting so it is set at 7:1 

 It still worked pretty well, although I am not sure Robin would be pleased to see the picture.

Todays photo of the day

A male Sparrow helping himself to live mealworm from Robins blue dish what would Robin say?

Even the Starling came back for another look and he must of felt a lot braver this time,

he certainly gave the mealworm a glare!

Until tomorrow...

The return of a regular visitor

A regular visitor who has been absent for a while has been making an appearance in the garden again just lately but usually I have been unable to catch her with the camera. Today Tony shouted me into the kitchen to tell me she was on the sycamore tree at the bottom of the garden.

So camera at the ready, Tony had the window open for me I finally managed to take a nearly decent photo of a female Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Todays photo of the day

Mrs Woodpecker.

Hopefully she will continue to visit and if we are really lucky more of the family will visit as well.

Until tomorrow...

The shed clear out

This morning we called at the Hospice Warehouse where I purchased 2 books, 

"Precious Time" by Erica James 

and

"The Ladykiller" by Martina Cole

We then called to Sainsburys to pick up a few essentials before returning home.

We had decided today we would give the shed a long needed clear out. We moved almost every thing movable outside, gave the floor a sweep and mop, re-arranged some of the furniture and it looked so much bigger it was quite a surprise.  The bin had a lot more in it, Tony had a small fire, and some things were moved up to the loft, (things that had been moved to the shed when the flat was modernised.) Both Tony and I are happy with the result we both have more working space, and I can get my tripod nearer the window.

The Robin was not bothered by all the moving he had live mealworms in his blue dish, so long as that was not moved we could do what we wanted.

He kept having a look to see if we were still there and what we were doing.

The squirrels should be happy as well as I finally remembered to buy some monkey nuts.

After we finished Tony did one last thing for me,

Todays photo of the day.

These are real shed heads.

The Wooden Indian heads I had when I had my boat named Sioux, They are the only things I kept, it just seemed a good place for them to go.

Until tomorrow...

Tony cut the grass, I photographed surviving dandelions...

Tony cut the grass this morning, I stayed indoors with painful eyes. I cannot blame the mealworms this time I have not been near any for a few days so it must be the weather, or the amount of  grass cutting that has gone in on the last few days. It is amazing a bit of sun, a bank holiday weekend and out come the lawn mowers, strimmer's and hedge cutters. Don't the people with allergies suffer for it.
The garden does look better for it I have to admit, so good in fact that when the eye drops began to take affect I decided to risk a visit to the shed.

Two hours later, I had 7 photo's, I had finished my book and I had drunk 3 cups of coffee.

I enjoyed the book, "It's the little things" By Erica James It is not my usual type of book I usually go for thrillers or crime stories but this was recommended by a friend so I gave it a try.

Erica James was in Phuket in 2004 when the Tsunami happened with her 2 sons.
They were very lucky the hotel they stayed in was not badly damaged, Erica knew she would write a book but not about the tsunami but about the after affects. How it changed peoples life after .
It was interesting and not too mushy or centring just on the tsunami.

Right back to the photo's I took today, I took some different ones today  because most of the time I was in the shed not a bird or squirrel appeared so I just took what else I could see.

A Dandelion in the pile of rubble.

 A Dandelion in the corner of the garden.

A Bud on the Sycamore tree













I did get some pictures of birds later in the day but the squirrels didn't come into the garden until I came back indoors.

Today's photo of the day

A Starling shaking his/herself dry after a bath.

I survived in the shed for almost 31/2 hours before my eyes began to be too much of a problem to stay any longer, my hands were swelling as well, it was time to go in.

Until tomorrow...

Nest building time

The Blackbirds are nest building.

Margaret our downstairs neighbour  had watered her garden,  the female blackbird took advantage of this. She collected the wet moss in large beakfuls to take for her nest.

Todays photo of the day

That should have lined the nest beautifully.

Until tomorrow...

Squirrel playtime

The squirrels had fun today playing chase round the garden. 

Todays photo of the day

Two of the Squirrels that visit the garden.

Until tomorrow...