Sunday 26 October 2014

Animals




For this entry I thought I would post some more animal photographs.  I won't bore everyone with unnecessary wording this week.  There are a couple which do make me smile.

I hope you enjoy.


Boxer dog on guard





























Patience is a virtue
 
Watching the lawn mowing





















Chico, our neighbours' cat on the woodpile.

Patch, our neighbours' rescue dog and one of the nicest dogs you could meet.

Sunday 19 October 2014

Housebound

 
I'm currently off work at the moment due to problems with my back which has greatly reduced my mobility (hopefully the consultant will be able to shine some light on the matter tomorrow). I can't walk very far or stand for very long and the medication leaves me dull of thought and dopey (although friends will say "no real change there, then").

All the photographs in this post where taken in the last ten days.  I've tried my hand at "Arty" pictures and last night we had a fantastic sunset that I managed to photograph from the back door.  In fact, most of these pictures were taken from the back door.  I hope you enjoy.

The Wisteria on the front of the cottage.

Silver Birch being buffeted by the autumn winds

The kitchen window

Full moon through a gap in he trees

Squirrel scoping out the bird feeders

Sunrise through the bedroom window

The sunset yesterday (Saturday 18th October)


Sunday 12 October 2014

Camera Shy




























In the very first post on this blog, I mentioned the Tawny owls that regularly roosted in the large conifers that mark the boundary of the garden.  They are a pair, one of them is more skittish than the other and will fly off if you hang around to long.   It's mate, tends to pretend you aren't there while keeping a half open eye on you but does tolerate me trying to take photos of it.   We were fortunate a couple of years ago to take some pictures of branching chicks in the trees (you can find that post here) but the adults themselves are elusive.

Tawny owls in the area appear to be thriving.  You can hear them calling when darkness falls and their calls come from all directions, warnings for others to keep out of their territory,  Our neighbour has told me that he can hear eight or nine of them when returning from the village pub.  We see them land in the tree outside the bedroom window but they are gone before you can get a camera trained on them.  They have a couple of trees in the garden that they favour to sleep in during the day.  At this moment in time, they have also added our neighbour's willow tree as one of their roosting spots.

They've chosen well as they pick the most photograph unfriendly location.  High up, in the gloom and blocked by thin branches (the camera tends to focus on these so the owls almost always manage to be out of focus).





The picture below is one of the better shots I've taken as it the owl decided to sun itself in a different tree that was relatively unobscured.

Hopefully, one day I'll get the opportunity to get a perfect shot of one or both of them.

This post is dedicated to my older brother.  Every time he pays a visit, the owls aren't around and he was beginning to think they were fictitious.



Saturday 4 October 2014

The High Life






















Last week there was some building work going on at the house to rebuild the chimney.  With the scaffolding erected it was the perfect opportunity to see the village from a different prospective.

As I am currently crocked again with back problems, Terry took to the scaffolding to take the photographs.  You can see that autumn is well and truly with us here in the UK.