Damp

Long-tailed tit

The new walking boots arrived this lunchtime and I'm like a kid wanting to play with the new toy even before it's out of the box. It's only raining a bit. Well a lot. Well, it's absolutely persisting down. But new boots… So I christened them by going to the shop for a loaf of bread and got wet enough for any Saturday.

I'll have to go shopping for bird food this weekend, the feeders have been hammered lately. The giant pine cones are a definite hit with the birds, and with me because they're a good way of providing fat food without it disintegrating in the rain within a day or two. I'm getting a dozen sparrows in each lunchtime, usually accompanied by one of the blue tits.  The tit flock is harder to connect with, they come into the garden like ninjas. Today I caught six of the long-tailed tits as they worked their way through the blackcurrant bushes, had a quick go at a couple of the pine cones and then disappeared deep into the roses.

Long-tailed tit

The blackbirds are still fighting over the rowan tree. The woodpigeons have given up on them; they, like me, have concluded the berries are past their best.