The day after Dave came

Cheers to Rich in the Lake District for another lovely picture from his front garden (possibly a contender for our nicest view from a front garden award). He told us yesterday “It’s a fairly nice day today, wind has dropped and only a sprinkle of snow on the highest hills.”

During the storm they did have a power cut which lasted as long as it took them to find the candles and torches, light in comparison when during past storms they’ve had them for up to 5 days. Blimmin’ eck!

Good to hear Storm Dave didn’t kick off too much or create much trouble (as some Daves do when they get angry.)

Happy Birthday Rich and good luck to all gardeners if they’re doing some Bank Holiday gardening today.

Disclaimer: * We are not getting at any Dave in particular and have mentioned it for purely humorous purposes. We know a few by the way (Mad Dave, Tai Chi Dave and Dave across the road) and all are lovely Daves.

Northern beaches and birds

Many thanks to Rich in the Lake District for sharing a couple of photos he took from his recent break in South West Scotland, where he visited Gatehouse of Fleet, Portpatrick, and the South Ayrshire coast. As he put it, “Spectacular, but cold.”

Above is a great picture of Ross Bay, while below is an ace shot of a red kite in flight, showing its distinctive long, deeply forked tail (we have just read about the tail so didn’t have a clue about it before). More information about the red kite here.

Weather report from the lakes

It’s been damp and overcast down here in SE23 today so the gardening we were planning to do was confined to repotting some seedlings indoors. Thanks to Rich R in the Lake District for letting us know about the weather up there. “Still some snow on the hill tops this week. Biting winds but lovely sun and it’s light until nearly 6.30pm.” Great stuff Rich and ta for the picture, we can’t wait for spring.

A view from the lakes

Cheers to Rich in the Lake District for sending this lovely snap today and don’t it look great up in the background? “A lovely day here, freezing and sunny.” It wasn’t bad here in London today either, bright and sunny. And no rain for a change.

Do you reckon sping is on its way? Or not very far away?

 

Things that appear in your front garden (a new series)

A big cheers to Rich in the Lake District again, for sending this picture of what appeared in his front garden the other day. Wow, that is one mad “male Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), also frequently called a Ring-necked Pheasant.” as AI told us. Cheers Rich, anything else mad that turns up as mad please let us know.

A cosmos a month before christmas

A big thanks to our good friend Rich R up in the Lake District for sending over the photograph of his cosmos (and a shout to Debby H too, as the seeds came from her plants). Rich writes, “Really cold here today, wind chill feels like 2°C. With hard frosts and snow on the way, I thought I’d better send you this pic of the cosmos before it’s too late.”

Brilliant stuff, Rich – thanks again (and to Debby H) for sharing!