Here’s another bird picture, by way of an apology for my lack of posting. I seem to have been super busy lately, and I’ll have loads of new plans to tell you about very soon.
In the meantime, my baby blackbird is growing up!
Here he is, fresh from the bird bath.
I’ve been trying to catch a snapshot of a pair of goldfinches for ages, but they never seem to sit still for long enough. This afternoon I established my position as bird paparazzo extraordinaire when I saw this little fellow on the fence, grabbed the camera, spun around and caught him just seconds before he flew away!
Now I feel less bad about failing to chop down the enormous great weed that’s been growing vigorously in one of our abandoned flower beds. The goldfinches obviously have a very important use for all the fluff that it’s producing.
Being based out in the garden, I’ve noticed that first thing in the morning is a really great time for birdwatching. The weather’s much cooler, especially at the moment, it’s nice and quiet, and there aren’t too many people around.
This young fellow was sitting on my fence for ages, happily singing away.
I’ve labelled him on Flickr as a young song thrush, because of his spots, but looking back through my pictures I’m thinking that it might actually be the fledgling blackbird.
What do you think? Are these guys both the same bird?
When we got up yesterday morning, Paul said “let’s go to the zoo”. So, we bundled the cameras into the car and headed off to Marwell.
It was a scorchingly hot day, so most of the animals were doing the sensible thing and hanging out quietly in the shade. Unfortunately for us, this meant that we had to take most of our pictures through glass or mesh, but I have a few that I’m quite pleased with.
I particularly enjoyed the part where you can get up close and personal with the Kookaburras – there’s a section you can walk through where they’re flying free. The two that we saw certainly weren’t shy! They were quite happy to sit still and pose for the cameras, from a distance of only a couple of feet away.
The bat house was pretty amazing too, although we didn’t take any photos in there on account of it being dark.
I managed to come away without smuggling any of the animals out in my handbag, which is always best. Although I’m sure the Gentle Lemur would have lived in my Shed quite happily.
Image © Tom Hunter
I was reading the Big Issue yesterday, and suddenly did a double-take when I saw this picture. It’s from the “Travellers” series by Tom Hunter, who has several current exhibitions in London and around Europe.
When I was at University I harboured a sort of a romantic notion that I would somehow land a lovely job with a publisher in London, and live in a tiny little flat which I would paint purple. Sadly none of those things materialised in the end, but this picture is extraordinarily close to my imaginary living space.
Occasionally Paul and I will discuss the possibility of getting rid of all our belongings, and living a more minimalist lifestyle. We both like the idea of Container City, and I am madly love with these pod houses, by Eco Hab. They look like something Wallace and Grommit might build!
Usually we end up shaking our heads sadly – we’ve already built a twelve foot square shed in the garden because my sewing had drastically outgrown the house, and one look at our bookshelves will tell you that we don’t really know the meaning of the word “minimal”.
In spite of my over-developed hoarding tendencies, I do sometimes think it might be incredibly freeing, to just get rid of all the things we collect and hold on to but don’t really need. There’s so much unnecessary consumerism in this world that it might be nice to somehow step outside it and start again.
