Starling

Starling, a photo by cruisersoo on Flickr.

This is one of the few photo's I managed over the last few days, Autumnwatch marked it as a favorite.
So that cheered me up a little bit.

The weather is not good, unless of course you like strong winds and rain!
I haven't had any luck with the camera in the last few days, in fact I broke a lens.( I could of cried)
It was a small lens for my Olympus, I was trying to take off the lens hood, got one of my twitches and don't you know it instead of the lens hood coming off the lens comes away in two parts (a couple of £100 down the drain). Not one of my better moments.

Tony is wating for an MRI to see if they can find out what the problem with his back is.The district nurse came today to do a circulation test on his legs and feet. He was not impressed he is in more pain now since she did the test.

Tony is making a sign for the steps with 1A in large figures so the postman knows where it is. This is due to the fact that he keeps delivering our post to the wrong address. The postman put a parcel for Tony in next doors bin put a note through the door to tell them it was there, then put another card through the door to say their parcel had been returned to the postal depot for collection. I think the postman must be numerically dyslexic.

Dull and foggy days

The last few days have been cold damp and foggy, not really the sort of weather for sitting in a garden shed photographing birds or squirrels.
So I did what any right minded person would do I stayed inside with a book, my sleeping bag and a hot water bottle.  I did go down to fill the feeders and the nut box so they didn't go without food. I realised that we had run short of some things when Mrs Squirrel looked in the box this morning, slammed down the lid, looked up to the window and glared at me with a look that could have turned me to stone.
Tony and I went out to pick up some supplies. We came back with, nuts suet balls, shredded suet, suet blocks, mixed seeds, mealworms and oops I forgot the sunflower seeds. I will have to pick those up when we go to the doctors tomorrow.
So I replenished all the feeding trays and settled into the shed. I waited, and waited. What happened? Nothing! for 30 minutes what gratitude.
Then I saw movement at the bottom of the garden, a Wren, no 2 wrens, no 3 wrens. They move so fast, I couldn't get them all in the same place at one time. They were so far away, I fired a few shots off just hoping for the best.

I had a look when I came back inside only 2 were worth keeping and I had to crop them really close to get them anything like decent. So here are the 2 photos of the day.

I never expected that..

We had a bus ride into Wakefield today to have a look at The Victorian Market on the precinct.

There were quite a few stalls and lots of people looking around. All the stall holders were dressed up in victorian costume and were enjoying playing the part.

I took a few photos and may go back over the weekend to take some more.

When we arrived home Tony shouted to me to look out of the window, "there's a parrot in the garden", he called. Oh yeah I thought. I looked and would you believe it there was. I had to capture this on camera. I grabbed the camera and snapped away. This is the result.

I never expected to see a parrot in the garden so I don't think anything would surprise me now.

More raking, wrens and pills...

More raking and bagging up of leaves has taken place in the garden, when is this tree going to be bare?

No matter how many times we do it they seem to come back as soon as I turn my back!

The Starlings are calling again in force and squabbling over any food they see,  but it is nice to see them back. On an evening they gather together and fly around above the houses, I will have to try and get a photo of them to show you it is certainly a spectacular view when they are up there.

The Wrens are coming out more, I have managed a couple of snaps, I was lucky really I had just gone into the shed when I spotted them on the fence. I grabbed my camera and fired off a few shots not sure if they would come to anything but I was quite happy with the results.

Tony's back seem's to be a bit better, the painkillers must be doing something. The thing is are the just masking the pain what happens when he stops taking them? Does the pain come back? I hope not for his sake but I don't have a lot of faith in tablets they don't cure anything in my humble opinion they just make your brain think they do...

A visit to the A & E

We paid a visit to the A&E this morning arriving there about 9:45am, we left about 1: 00pm . Tony has been having problems with his back and legs for about 3 maybe 4 weeks now.

 It all started when he was trying to murder a bush in the garden, yes you heard me right, murder a bush. Tony had managed to cut the bush down to a size he thought he could finally handle. He put his foot against the bush, pushed to uproot it, the bush fought back, it was bush against man, as the bush felt it's roots leaving the earth it gave a mighty push back, Tony fell backwards and landed flat on his back on the ground. Tony hurt his back but he had succeeded in murdering the bush!

Anyhow back to A&E Tony was seen by 3 doctors, prodded and poked, sent for an x-ray and the outcome of this was :-
Doctor number 1 said
 he had a small abnormality (well we all knew that ) at the bottom of his spine, so he would need an MRI. So he would need to get his GP to refer him for that.
Doctor number 2 said
the x-ray was fine but he would write to his GP asking him to refer him for an MRI just to make sure everything was fine, then gave Tony some painkillers to help with the pain.
Doctor number 3 said
it is a muscle problem that Tony should take the painkillers plus some more painkillers he named and see his GP if it didn't improve.
I wonder if this is the little abnormality? Tony's "cheeky" tattoo.
                                         "The last great act of defiance"

 I feel a warm bath, hot chocolate, a cookie and a good book calling!

Garden centres and cowboy boots

So much for raking the leaves up yesterday! I opened the bedroom curtains this morning to be greeted with a garden covered in leaves. (Tony had warned me of this but he can sometimes be known to be a wind up in such things )   The sycamore tree in the school grounds at the bottom of the garden may be the squirrels favourite playground but it takes some keeping up with at this time of year. Never mind it wont be long before all the leaves are gone, although it never looks like the tree has lost any.
Tony and I decided to have a look in a couple of garden centres this morning just for inspiration, it didn't really work. We left one with a new top for the bird table which was fine, but the second one we left with jelly babies, biscuits, jars of pears and peanut butter. At least the peanut butter was for the birds and squirrels.

A trip to Tesco was also made for basic essentials we didn't get from the garden centre. I have to have my home comforts for watching the X-factor.
On the way home we spotted two cyclists one of which was wearing cowboy boots, I don't know why but for some reason this amused us both so out came the camera and a very shaky shot was taken. I blame this on the fact that we were traveling at the time and there may have been a bit of laughter involved! Another shot was a Volkswagen Beetle but it looked more like a wasp than a beetle.

Some old and new sightings

This morning Tony (my partner) and I decided it was time to rake up the leaves in the garden. We spent an hour or so doing just that when I spotted an unusual bird in the hedge, a female Goldcrest. I have never seen one in the garden before of course I didn't have a camera with me so no photo.
After raking up the leaves Tony and I went back up to the flat for a cuppa where I stood looking out of the kitchen window. I couldn't believe it there on the shed roof was a Grey Wagtail it looked like a juvenile. We have not seen a wagtail in the garden for months, again no camera to hand so no photo.
I decided to go into the shed for a while as there seemed to be something in the air, I had only been there about ten minuets when a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew onto the fat-balls, at least I got some photo's of that even if they were not very good!

On the buses

This morning Tony (my partner) and I went into town on the bus. It amazes us how the older age groups manage to hold conversations with so many people at once. They seem capable of listening to their own conversation and everyone else's as well. It is a shame you can't photograph a conversation.

 I didn't manage to take any photo's today but here are some I took a while ago.

How to begin...

At the start of the long and dusty road I suppose. I am going to take you on a walk with me along a road of words and photographs. Most of it though will not be along a road it will in fact be in a garden shed. That is where I do a lot of my thinking and photography. A lot of people do not realise how much wildlife use their gardens. My partner and I moved here just over three years ago as well as the usual garden birds we have discovered that we are visited by hedgehogs, foxes, bats, shrews, owls and a variety of birds we never expected to see including a pheasant. All in the back garden of a council house on an urban estate.
As well as photography in the garden I like to photograph wildlife in parks or nature reserves, we visit Donna nook and similar places as often as we can, but sometimes my disability or money can be a bit of a hold back on that front.
I always say you can always find something to photograph a building, a tree, a flower I very rarely leave home without a camera. Photography can be enjoyed by any age group, I hope by sharing photo's with my family that maybe one or more of my grandchildren will take an interest and enjoy the pastime too, my youngest daughter is beginning to enjoy photography now she is older and is traveling a bit more. I hope by sharing this blog that maybe it will encourage others to take up the hobby too you never know there might just be a budding photographer that could be another David Bailey or Eve arnold out there.