spiders and finches

some amazing garden spiders this year.. some of the girls are absolutely enormous!!

This girl was the size of a 20p! Amazing to see her toes on the web


Sooooo many finches today. During this shot there were another 4 in the tree, and another 4 on the nyger seed feeder. Chaos

6 of 11

Half of our huge Goldfinch flock.. unusually mostly on the nyger seed today. Before I took the shot we had 4 on the sunflower hearts and another 3 in the tree, they never seem to go far from each other. We think its the winter flock of 4 we had, plus their young.

no room at the inn!

not felt like posting for a while, due to our upset a few weeks ago. But looking out of the window today made me want to share!!

There were another 3 or 4 in the tree waiting their turn. We just ordered a 2nd feeder!


The goldie at the top looks totally confused as to why theres no seed!

The Early Bird

While putting out food this morning, this little chap came to say hello.. certainly the tamest and most un-bothered robin we've had so far.

Taken at only 4 feet with a Canon 250mm @ f5.5
(should have been slightly bigger aperture but he got me so excited I forgot to bracket!)

exhausted

well Im absolutely exhausted.. finished at mothers today after driving all the way to devon and back yesterday to get the rest of Kerry's things from storage. We took advantage of hiring the van and cleared the non burnable rubbish from mothers patio area.. old CB aerials from when I was a boy! and 2x 17 year old car batteries. Took it all up the tip so its all out the way now thankfully.

I still have alot to do here next week before work starts the week after.. sometime through this I need to try to do some proper planning for teaching as well! who knows when Ill fit that in!

We're going to bed at about 9 every night at the moment.. straight to sleep usually too.


Was nice to sit in the garden with a cup of tea this evening and watch the family of greenfinches having their dinner. The baby is the size of his/her parents now but still not coming into full colour. They disappeared almost entirely during nesting so its lovely to see them back, and in greater numbers. I have a feeling that we shall have very good numbers during the winter.

Some of the baby goldfinches have started to roost on the feeder during the day.. its covered with a rain cowl and under the dense foliage of the smoke bush tree, so they seem to feel quite safe. Its very often you see them perching there just looking around and not eating anything. Its satisfying that they feel safe to do that.

Arent they just adorable?? the bottom one was having trouble retaining balance while working out how to feed... it was quite funny!

the finished patio

the house looks twice as wide now, not to mention its not as dark as a cave inside any more! Much more sellable now. Most people had been put off by the garden access.. and probably alot of things they didnt realise such as light levels.






we built the patio wall out of stone reclaimed from the garden about 25 years ago, which is when we paved it. Its made of lime and sandstone. Amazingly the pointing was still intact!

Quite proud of my steps really. Not quite finished yet, a little bit of tidying up to do and I want to rebuild a little of the inside edge wall.

This is the jasmine mother planted 20 years ago. the main base of the trunk is about 4 inches thick. I left it in as its quite a feature.

the stonework looks lovely.. even wet

the biggest most out of control Jasmine in the UK? possibly

there's a patio wall 1 meter behind the leaning fence posts, and a boundry fence a further meter behind that. This was one small jasmine plant trained on a hoop that I gave mother around 20 years ago.. its now 12 feet high, and 35 feet long and has killed a leylandii hedge... its a monster. we estimate it to have layered itself maybe 20 times along its length and in places the stems are over an inch thick... half-hardy? yeah ok.



the dangerous steps and undergrowth before clearing. this used to be an amazing patio and garden before Mother lost quite a lot of mobility due to arthritis.

Ill post post-operative pictures once we're finished.. thats if Im not killed by tigers or pigmy tribal warriors beforehand.

Quince Honey Farm

On our way back from a Devon wedding planning weekend, we stopped by at Quince Honey Farm. Amazing place where you can see working hives of all shapes and sizes.

Post Box Top


Brick Wall


Globe


Post Box

BBQ Summer

Another burger anyone?

couple of new pics

Just a few shots really :) for some reason the butterflys were staying put this morning which was great!

Peacock Butterfly


Droplets

an unbaffled squirrel

Mrs Nutkins showed amazing acrobatic skills by totally defying the baffle on the feeder today... to be quite honest.. if shes capable of this, shes welcome to the seed!!

Nuthatch

finally he decides to come and eat while Im outside with the camera! Hes real sneaky.. seems to know if Im going to take pictures or not!

Nuthatch


Painted Lady.. managed to get a better shot of one this time.

Playing with black and white

Ive converted a few of my shots into black and white.. think they work quite well. Feedback appreciated!

Rose


Bluebells


Dew


Pylon


Kerry

some photoshop jiggery pokery

Ive merged my other photographic blog with this one as everyone seems to follow both! it also makes it easier for me! Hope noone minds that


been playing with some of the more advanced techniques in photoshop to create most processed mood and lighting. All of these pics you've probably seen before, but in their raw form as it were.

Had alot of fun in the digital darkroom yesterday.

Criticism greatly received!!

'To see the train'


'Sleeping in the Catnip'


'Lady's Mantal'


'Clematis'


'Contemplation'


'Tranquillity Bay'

a few more

been playing about a little so thought Id post a few more that Ive found lurking in my RAW folder for today.

Landing Pad


Green fly!


Fuschia


I prefer the lighting on this one


Cricket.. oh hes so greeen

some nice shots of today

Our Japanese Anemone's are in full swing and are bringing in hundreds of hoverflys which is quite stunning.

Here's some shots I took this morning.

Hoverfly


Hoverfly's on Japanese Anemone's


Pink! (Hydrangea)


Japanese Anemone


Lily and Hoverfly


Feeding Station


Clematis and Hoverfly


Painted Lady Butterfly (Thanks to Steve for the correction!)