Tuesday 7 December 2010

Deep and Crisp and Even

Redesdale enjoyed something of a thaw last Saturday but the days since have seen the winter's grip on the valley re-tightened. Thankfully, there's been no more snow but today, having to travel five miles outside the village to the nearest Post Office, I thought the roads quite unpleasant to drive along. I was glad just to buy stamps for my Christmas cards and, once back in the village, some vegetables and a woolly Peruvian-style hat at the mill shop before returning home for my lunch-time soup and a sandwich and an afternoon with Patrick Barkham's enchanting The Butterfly Isles, which I am very much enjoying and can thoroughly recommend.

When leaving the mill, this view of sheep feeding in an adjacent field caught my eye ...


And in the garden, the birds return again and again to the food I put out for them at their temporary feeding station on top of the wall at my front door. Here's another of the Brambling pictures I took from my living room window last week ...

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)

And a Christmas-card Robin ...

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

8 comments:

holdingmoments said...

That first shot is just how the morning was here; a very thick frost.
It looks beautiful, but so cold.

Stewart said...

Emma, I'm getting that book for Christmas! I hope its good....

kirstallcreatures said...

Another lovely shot of the Brambling Emma, and recommendation duly noted. Linda

Nellie from Beyond My Garden said...

Br-r-r-r-r. We've just received a fresh 2 inches here in western West Virginig.

ADRIAN said...

It is producing some beautiful pictures even if it is a pain getting about. Hope your Bramblings keep hanging around.

Empty Nester said...

Love the winter scene! We don't usually get snow here but, when we do, it's beautiful!

The birds shots are lovely...and that Robin? I've not seen one like that before!

Anonymous said...

Another lovely Brambling shot Emma and nice but chilly looking scenery.

The Wessex Reiver said...

Hi Emma,

Just to let you know the strange "fungus" on my blog is actually a slime mould - difficult to identify exactly from a phot, but not a fungus. Mystery solved.

Regards, Andrew