Great Tit on Bird Feeder

I have taken blips of squirels, a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker and a vareity of other garden birds today, but decided to use this one of a Great Tit which I have cropped a little in order to see greater detail.

Moth

This moth was sitting on a leaf, but did not sit still for very long, so this is not as sharp as it should be. I took several images, but it kept moving about; as they do. It has grey wings with pale yellow edges; if I find out what kind of moth it is I will add the information later.

I have a busy day today, my grocery shopping was delivered before 0900 hours and put away very quickly after. Later I am having lunch with a colleague who I worked with for over twenty years. Then later this afternoon I will have physiotherapy for my back, which has improved slightly. 

Even later this afternoon, around tea-time, I will be looking after my grandaughter while my daughter watches my grandson play cricket.

Not sure where I will find any time to read a book on my new Kindle.

My New Toy

Today I went shopping with my daughter as this was the last chance we would have for a while to shop during the week. She starts her new full-time job on Monday at Addenbrookes Hospital.

I took her out for lunch at John Lewis where we always go and then I purchased my new toy. I have been looking at these, almost since they came out, but could not quite decide whether to puchase one. Friends tell me that once you have one you never want to go back to books; only time will tell.

This is not a particularly good blip; this is the box, as I have not yet removed it from its packaging; I am saving that for later when we have had supper!

William

He needed this mug of tea after mowing almost an acre of grass in this heat. Admittedly some of it was mowed using the ride-on-mower, but some was also done using a petrol mower which had to be pushed; not bad for someone who will be seventy on Friday.

I back blipped for yesteday as I went to the sea-side with my family and did not get back until late.  

Family and Friends on the Disco Ride

A visit to the seaside produced 458 images, how do I choose just one? In the end I went for one, which shows the happy faces of my family and some friends on the Disco ride. This was a fast action ride with the ride coming towards me and going away again so I feel I was lucky to get them all looking in the right direction and all smiling at the same time! It was a good day, very long, very hot, but certainly action packed.

 

Grey Toadstool

Another garden blip today, but from my daughter's garden and not a flower!

I found this grey toadstool lurking under some lavender bushes and nestling in with some clover plants; this is the underside of it.

I am child sitting today for my grandson Oliver and two Italian children from Livigno who are staying here for the summer. Victoria as gone to the Kent International Judo competition with her parents. It is held in London so I am not sure why it is called the Kent International! 

Tomorrow will either be a very late blip or even a back blip as, weather permitting we are all off to the seaside.

This was a tiny toadstool, the white stalk being only about two inches high and the top was just slightly smaller than a fifty pence piece. About an hour after I had taken this the sun came out and it disappeared almost as soon as it got warm. This has been identificed on iSpot as Coprinus.

Honeysuckle Flower

Another flower today. I had planned to take a picture of a rose bud with greenfly on it, which I noticed after I had posted my blip yesterday. Unfortunately the ladybirds got there first, the rose bud is still there; the greenfly have gone! Well done little ladybirds for eating the pests.

Rose of Sharon

Another flower today and this is the first Rose of Sharon to bloom in the garden. I have a large area of these, but they are not yet out. This one is in a more sheltered spot so as it had bloomed during a dull and rainy week, I thought it deserved to be included here. I still needed my Wellington boots on to take it though!

I did not notice the little bugs on the flower until I downloaded it to my computer, which shows that I still do not look carefully enough at what I am taking. However, my first excuse is that it has been very dull again today, although the sun made a brief appearance this morning, so I wanted to take something outside before it rained again. 

The second reason is that although my back problem has improved immensely, probably due to the physiotherapy I am having, I do not want to risk to much exercise at this stage.

Pink Flower

It has been raining on and off here again today so I have just dashed out in my Wellington boots, to capture something close by. That generally means a flower, when it is wet, as the insects have more sense than to be out in the rain.

I do not know what this is, it is growing in the flower border and although it looks a bit like a wild mallow, it is too low-growing to be a wild mallow.

Pink Everlasting Sweet-peas

This morning involved a visit to the dentist for a check-up, but fortunately no work needs to be done. Then this afternoon I have been working on my images for my Open University photography course.

Then, a walk round the garden to see what I could find for today's blip. I was not aware that my everlasting sweet-peas were out and there they were, some pink and some white, difficult to decide which to choose, but finally settled on the pink ones. The white ones are still in bud so you may get them tomorrow.

They are called everlasting sweet-peas here in England, not because they last forever, but because they are perennials and come up every year, unlike normal sweet-peas which have to be replanted each year.