Straight up

Today’s guest picture comes from Mary Jo in Manitoba. She is hoping that the rabbit in her front yard is a signal that things will warm up a bit soon (-9° windchill there at the moment she tells me).

We had another fine and sunny day here, and once again Mrs Tootlepedal spent most of it in the garden. After doing a little shopping, I joined her in the morning, sieving some compost and helping prepare the flower bed that is going to be used for vegetables.

Over our heads, aeroplanes passed at regular intervals!

As usual, I found time for a wander around. The bumblebees love the dicentras.

The pond is full of life at the moment. There seems to a snail in almost every lily leaf pool, and pond skaters were having a regatta.

We took a break for lunch, and then went out again. I sieved some more compost as Mrs Tootlepedal had used the morning sievings when she had put some potatoes in.

Once again there were a lot of busy sparrows about. A blackbird and starling were happy to poise for a while.

After a while, I left Mrs Tootlepedal planting out more vegetables, and went off for a cycle ride. After some serious discussion with my legs, I decided to take my e-bike, but I picked a route with some views to make the most of it.

I headed northwest out of the town up the Esk valley to Eskdalemuir and beyond. There was no shortage of views on my way to Eskdalemuir village . . .

. . . and once through the village, I passed this handsome wooded knoll . . .

. . . and the Tibetan monastery at Samye Ling . . .

. . . before taking to the hills when I had got to the back of beyond.

I see that you can book an Airbnb at a cottage right at the head of the valley, if the name doesn’t put you off.

It looked very attractive today.

At the top of the valley at 1100ft, I left Dumfries and Galloway and crossed over into the Borders Region for a mile or two as I wanted to see Loch Tima.

It was created by an environmentally conscious forester in the days of blanket conifer planting, and I like to stop for a visit if I am near it.

That was as far as I went, and I was soon on my way home back down to Eskdalemuir and then onwards through Castle O’er and Bailliehill on the opposite bank of the river to my outward leg.

When I got to Enzieholm bridge, I crossed it and went down the back road to Bentpath, hoping to swap the views for wild flowers. I wasn’t disappointed, as I saw stitchwort, violets, and primroses.

Nearer to Bentpath, I was treated to bluebells, and at one stage, the road was lined with bluebells and other wild flowers among which a good number of orange tip butterflies were fluttering about.

Unfortunately, the butterflies weren’t in the mood to settle down where I could get a picture of them, but it was very good to see so many of them about.

Once through Bentpath, I put my phone away and concentrated on getting home in time for our evening meal. Mrs Tootlepedal was still in the garden when I got back, but luckily for me, she had taken a break to do some cooking while I was out. I had worked up a good appetite over 43 miles.

The good weather looks set to continue for most of next week, so in a way, I am very grateful that my wrist operation was postponed, and I am able to make good use of this opportunity. Spells of fine and calm weather don’t come our way very often.

The flying bird of the day is a bumble bee.

Another bonus

Today’s guest picture comes from my Somerset correspondent Venetia. She is back in Somerset after a visit to Sardinia, and kindly sent me this picture from her visit to the Newt today.

After another clear night when the temperatures dropped to near freezing, we enjoyed another brilliantly sunny day, and the temperatures climbed rapidly up to what can only be described as hot by the middle of the afternoon.

Apart from an interval in the morning when we hung precariously on the banisters to clean a Velux window at the top of the stairwell, we spent most of the day outside.

I sieved some compost and did some watering in the vegetable garden. Mrs Tootlepedal has looked at the state of the world, and rightly decided that we need to grow more potatoes. As the solar panels take up the spot where our old potato beds were, new space in a flower bed needed to be found, and we dug up a poorly performing potentilla as a start.

Needless to say, I found time to wander about while Mrs Tootlepedal worked . . .

. . . and there was a moment for a little rest on the bench at the end of the front lawn too.

The star of the morning for me was this tulip.

We were out in the garden again after lunch when I looked up and saw some most unusual clouds. I had taken a picture of a rather wispy cloud earlier in the morning which you can see in the top left panel below, but by the afternoon wispiness had been taken to a whole new level.

I think it is possible that they are not really clouds at all but contrails from passing aircraft. The winds were very light today.

After a while, I left Mrs Tootlepedal developing her new potato bed, and took my push bike out for a short ride round my familiar 20 mile Canonbie circuit. It was another perfect day for a pedal, and after a brief argument with my legs, who were wondering if I needed another bicycle ride after yesterday’s effort, they got used to the idea, and we pottered along together in harmony.

Unfortunately I discovered when I got home that my phone camera had a smear on the lens so most of the pictures that I took had to be discarded. I have put this rather fuzzy one of a large lorry reversing into a farm entrance on a very small road just because it is so unusual.

And this one of my favourite tree at Todhilliwood shows that wispiness was still around, but even more importantly, leaves are coming out.

I couldn’t miss a brilliant show of marsh marigolds, but I might have passed this first glimpse of greater stitchwort if I hadn’t been going quite slowly at the time.

A monkey puzzle tree near Canonbie came out quite well.

I have cleaned the lenses on the phone camera and hope to do better tomorrow.

I got back in good time for a cup of tea before the regular Zoom with my siblings, and there was even sufficient time for a walk round the garden before the meeting.

I took a picture of a plant which we have always thought of as a euphorbia myrsinites, but when I looked it up on the internet after seeing an item on euphorbias in Gardeners World this evening, it looked as though it might possibly not be a euphorbia at all but a rhodiola rosea. I would welcome any help on this.

Sparrows were perched on our solar panels and a siskin rested for a while in the rowan tree.

I went out for a last look after the meeting and enjoyed the ballerina tulips in the low sunshine.

That same sun shone through a window in the house and lit up Mrs Tootlepedal’s potted oxalis on the windowsill.

I rounded off the day with a rather odd picture of a flying bird going across the garden. I don’t know what that patch of white is.

Compensation

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary. She found some busy gulls on her visit to the river today.

After a clear and starlit night here, we woke to a frosty morning, and it was still pretty chilly when Dennis arrived for scones and coffee. As usual, he provided the scones and I provided the coffee. We play to our strengths. I had to answer a phone call at one point, but as this was the hospital making a new appointment for my wrist surgery, I was quite happy about the interruption.

Dennis has got a new battery for his camera, so I’m hoping for a future guest picture of the day from him. Mrs Tootlepedal joined us for coffee, and when Dennis left, she went back out into the garden, and I got my pushbike out and went for a ride.

I noted a family of sparrows and a burst of wide open tulips before I left.

It was a perfect day for a cycle ride, the best of the year so far, and if I had had to spend today resting with my wrist bandaged up after my operation, that would have been a tragedy. All things considered, I take the view that in a way yesterday’s cancellation was a blessing in disguise.

I set off with the gentle wind behind me, and got to the top of Callister at a good speed. It was clearly going to be a good day.

Sometimes the camera cannot see what the eye can. It made a very poor job of a delightful bank of celandines, bluebells, and blackthorn at Hottsbridge.

I probably saw hundreds of thousands of wild flowers on my ride today, and I would think that ninety nine percent of them were dandelions, with some daisies thrown in. They were everywhere.

In particular, they lined many of the roads that I followed today. At times, I must have passed several miles of continuous dande-lining . . .

. . . though there were bluebells and spring foliage to please the eye as well.

I passed a very big funeral in Waterbeck. They were just coming out of the church, and a little later on, I pulled over at the bus stop in Eaglesfield to let the cortège past . . .

. . . on its way to the interment in Kirkpatrick Fleming.

I followed them down the road past many clumps of bright yellow cowslips . . .

. . . and then carried on to Gretna Green. In spite of a determined but failed effort to run me down by a driver coming out of the side road that I was turning into, Gretna Green was very quiet today, and I was able to take an uninterrupted panoramic view of the old blacksmith’s shop and the road junction.

Going down the service road from Gretna beside the motorway was a treat for the senses. The abundant gorse blossom was fully out, and I was accompanied by the sweet scent of coconut as I pedalled past it.

It takes a good sunny day to release the coconut smell from the gorse, and this was definitely a good sunny day.

I took a devious route from Rockcliffe, involving the Carlisle by-pass cycle path, a beautiful rhododendron at the Quaker Cottage, Justicetown . . .

. . . flowering cherry, some abundant garlic mustard, and a field of rapeseed on the way to Longtown . . .

. . . and then, while heading home by way of Battenbush,Cubbyhill and Milltown of Sark, there were many more dandelions to keep me company.

The wind was polite enough to give me a helping hand on my way back, and I arrived home in a very cheerful state of mind after 60 miles, mostly extremely flat. Thanks to the kindly conditions and the lack of climbing, I did the 60 miles in exactly 5 hours of cycling, though to be fair, another hour had disappeared along the way while I took pictures, had a couple of rests, and ate a tuna sandwich, a banana, several dates, and an energy bar at various times.

Mrs Tootlepedal had accomplished a lot in the garden while I was out, as well as cooking a silverside of venison for our evening meal. Unlike yesterday, this was definitely a day to enter on the credit side of the great ledger of life.

To round it off, I had a sunny stroll round the garden, admiring Mrs Tootlepedal’s tulips . . .

. . . and the silver pear.

A small flock of jackdaws flew over my head, and they are the flying birds of the day.

I felt no pain

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Caroline. She complains that bluebells pop up everywhere in her garden whether she likes it or not.

We had another day of lovely sunny weather here, moderated once again by a brisk and chilly east wind. However, the weather didn’t matter to us much, as the day was taken up by driving over to the hospital in Dumfries where I was booked in for a carpal tunnel operation.

The drive went smoothly, and although we had a terrific battle to find anywhere to park in the enormous car park, we arrived in plenty of time. I booked into the day surgery unit, and Mrs Tootlepedal went off for a walk while she waited.

She came back to the hospital and found that I was still waiting for the operation. The wait went on for so long that in the end they ran out of time, and I was sent home with a nice drawing on my wrist . . .

. . . but no actual scar. The surgeon apologized very nicely, and explained that a knee replacement operation had gone on for much longer than was scheduled. These things happen, and he said he would make every attempt to get me rebooked in as soon as possible.

As I had spent 5 hours sitting in a very uncomfortable chair dressed in a hospital gown and Mrs Tootlepedal had spent so much time waiting downstairs in the hospital atrium that she had lost the will to live, it can’t be counted as a day to put down on the credit side of the ledger of life.

The consolation was lovely weather for another smooth drive back home, and a nice cup of tea when we got there.

Just to put a picture or two in today’s post, I went out into the garden and noted how far behind the other fritillary plants are which went in at the same time as the flowering one.

We hope that these too will flower in due course.

It remained a lovely day.

A blackbird on a neighbouring chimney pot filled the garden with its song . . .

. . . and a half moon hung in the sky.

I should say that although the operation postponement was disappointing, I remained very calm. My wrist is quite usable without any great pain at the moment, so a month or two of waiting will not be a big problem. Getting our National Health Service properly financed is a big problem and one which, if past form is anything to go by, the richest people in our country will do everything in their power to stop being sorted out, so I’m not holding my breath about that.

The flying bird of the day was particularly high in the sky.

A good day for the garden

Today’s guest picture comes from our son Tony. He met a peacock butterfly while walking his dog this afternoon.

We woke up to a day of sunshine and clouds here, and it was warmer than it has been lately in the morning. The clouds blew away as the morning went on, and left us with a sunny day. However, as it was a very brisk east wind that had blown the clouds away, the day never got as warm as it looked as though it should be.

I was expecting a visitor for coffee, but when he didn’t arrive, we went out into the garden and had a busy morning.

We think the new fritillary is now fully out.

It has lived up to expectations so it is a pity that it came out several weeks ahead of the other five that Mrs Tootlepedal planted at the same time. The others are now growing, but we are not going to get the continuous circle of colour around the chimney pot planter that Mrs Tootlepedal hoped for. Why this one came up so early is a mystery.

The tulips were enjoying the sun as much as we were.

Ian from the Archive Group, my expected coffee visitor, turned up at lunchtime having excusably slept in after working late into the night. I gave him some sheets of the newspaper index to enter into the Archive Group database, and he went off again. We will arrange coffee at another time.

I had hoped to go out for a ride on my pushbike after lunch, but the very strong and chilly wind persuaded me that spending time in the sheltered garden helping Mrs Tootlepedal was a more comfortable option, and it took me until three o’clock to summon up enough willpower to get a bicycle out. I sensibly took my e-bike.

With the wind behind me as I went up the Wauchope road, life was very warm and pleasant. I stopped to chat to the three bulls which have appeared in the field at Wauchope Schoolhouse . . .

. . . and I noted that there was hardly a cloud in the sky once I had got over Callister.

The pleasure of being blown along by the brisk wind for the first part of my ride had to be paid for by meeting a crosswind as I followed the stream down to Waterbeck . . .

. . . passing fields full of lambs.

I stopped to enjoy the view . . .

. . . and then I paid the full price when I turned straight into the wind to make my way back to Langholm, passing the red roofs at Kennedy’s Corner.

I was grateful for the shelter provided by the twiggy tree tunnel at Solwaybank . . .

. . . but judging by the branches above my head . . .

. . . I think the tunnel will be green the next time that I pass through it.

For the time being, there are plenty of bare trees about.

To give myself a break from battling into the breeze, I took a diversion down the road to Tomshielburn . . .

. . . which added a couple of miles to my trip but gave me a crosswind instead of a headwind for a while.

The last three miles straight into the wind back home down the Wauchope road were a struggle even on an electric bike, and I was glad to get back and sit down for a rest. I shouldn’t grumble though, because the e-bike let me have a fairly relaxed 25 mile ride on a day of beautiful sunshine, which I certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed at all if I’d been on my pushbike.

Mrs Tootlepedal made me a cup of tea, and refreshed by that, I went out and mowed the middle lawn. When I went out again just before our evening meal, the skies were absolutely cloudless . . .

. . . tulips were glowing . . .

. . . and the lawn looked a lot better in the photograph than it does in real life.

I am going to hospital tomorrow to have a minor operation on my right hand which may make using my computer a bit difficult to say the least. I hope to be able to put out a short post of some kind when I get home, but time will tell.

Perhaps because of the strong and cold wind, there were very few birds about in the garden this afternoon, and an unidentified flying object was the best that I could do for the flying bird of the day.

Wrong footed by the forecast

Today’s guest picture comes from my Sussex correspondent Elizabeth. She has the good fortune to live not far away from Wakehurst, a wild botanical garden managed by Kew. Like my brother Andrew yesterday, Liz was in reflective mood today.

Our spring weather took a step back, and in spite of some sunshine, an east wind made it feel quite chilly here. I had to put a warm coat on when I cycled up to the town to collect some venison which we had ordered. A blackbird, not the clerk of works I think, kept an eye on the garden while I was gone.

There was still sunshine about when I got home, and it made the flowers look brighter than the day felt.

After coffee, we got out into the garden and I did some mowing. I didn’t last long, and when the sun went in, I went in too, and put a week of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database. This was just as well, as Nancy had brought round more sheets from the data miners. Mrs Tootlepedal went off to do some shopping.

I would have liked to have gone for a cycle ride in the afternoon, in spite of the chilly wind, but the rain map on the weather forecast suggested that it was going to rain more or less all afternoon. I took a picture of our magnolia to cheer myself up. We think that this is the best that it has ever been.

The philadelphus beside it is looking very green.

Having decided that I wasn’t going to bicycle, it became plain after a while that it probably wasn’t going to rain at all. This was a bit annoying, but I made the best of it by going for a walk round the pheasant hatchery while Mrs Tootlepedal did some gardening.

I wrapped up against the East wind, but I was cheered up by blossom beside the Wauchope and the Esk.

There are few waterside birds about at the moment, but I saw a gull and a mallard, which were easy to spot, and a grey wagtail helped me to find it among the grey stones beside the river by singing loudly. I added a thrush to my bird count later on in my walk.

In spite of the chilly wind, it was cheering to see green shoots on every side on the Castleholm . . .

. . . and apart from having to leap over a very big puddle . . .

. . . I thoroughly enjoyed my walk round the pheasant hatchery too.

There were carpets of golden saxifrage and clouds of blackthorn, as well more modest amounts of primroses and cherry blossom.

A tree gives a good idea of how tall the grazing cattle are.

The bluebells were looking very blue in the subdued light.

After I had completed a circuit of the Pheasant Hatchery, I walked down the Lodge Walks and cut across the Castleholm to the Jubilee Bridge. The outfield of the cricket pitch had been mowed and there were more green shoots to confirm that it is indeed springtime.

The ownership and management of the Castleholm has recently passed into the hands of a community group, and I was pleased to read that they are intending to look after the ruins of the old Langholm Castle which gives the Castleholm its name. It certainly needs some TLC.

Once I had crossed the Jubilee Bridge, I walked round the Scholars’ Field where three simultaneous games of primary school seven a side football were taking place. I watched for a while, but to tell the truth, I was more interested in the Corydalis growing out of the wall at the end of the field.

I got home in time for a cup of tea before the regular zoom with my siblings.

Looking at the forecast for the week ahead, there is a lot of sunshine and no rain. We hope that it is more accurate than the forecast was this afternoon.

Mrs Tootlepedal has had our trail camera out, and she was pleased to see yesterday that our hedgehog looks to be in good health.

I saw two oystercatchers on my walk this afternoon, but they both rather rudely flew away as soon as I appeared. At least it means that I have an oyster catcher as the flying bird of the day.

Mrs Tootlepedal gets high

Today’s guest picture is a reflective study from my brother Andrew.

Although we woke up to another frosty morning here, the sun was shining brightly and the forecast was for it to stay dry for most of the day at least. As there was no church service at Langholm this week, we decided on another joint bicycle ride, stopping for lunch on the way. This was to be a local affair, going up the main road, crossing to Hermitage, going down to Newcastleton for lunch, and then coming back over the hill to Langholm.

We had set a start time of eleven o’clock which would let the day warm up a bit and still get us to Newcastleton in good time for lunch, and with the sun shining on fritillary and tulips in the garden . . .

. . . and a cup of coffee drunk, we were just about to set off when it started raining! Confusion reigned. Should we stay or should we go? After a short while however, the rain stopped, and we started, hoping for the best.

Being Sunday, the first eight miles up the main road were comparatively peaceful. Mrs Tootlepedal set a brisk pace though as she doesn’t like to loiter when there is any traffic about, and we were soon on the quiet back road to Carewoodrig and Hermitage Castle under alternating sunshine and clouds.

The road along the ridge climbs to over 1000ft, but the reward is one of the best views in our area looking back . . .

. . . followed by a steep descent to Billhope, where an entirely new bridge has been built to replace the old one . . .

. . . and a gentle ride along the Hermitage Water to Hermitage Castle.

The castle looks quite domestic when approached from the side . . .

. . . but the scale is misleading. You can see the actual front door in the middle of the right hand picture which gives a much better view of the size of the building. It is intimidating, as it was supposed to be when it was built.

With the light wind behind us, and the slope in our favour, we continued merrily alongside the Hermitage Water down to Newcastleton, where we stopped for lunch in the newly opened Mollies Café and Bistro.

Our one stop along the way was to photograph two goats in a field at a farm, the only goats we saw on our trip, as the wild ones were not to be seen as we crossed the moor after lunch.

After a good meal, the alternating sunshine and cloudy skies continued as we climbed out of Newcastleton, and headed across the hill, and another 1000ft summit, on our way home.

When we pedalled across the Langholm Moor, we passed many cars in lay-bys, where people with binoculars, telescopes, and cameras with big lenses were looking out for raptors and other bird life. We paused to see if we could spot a hen harrier, but like the wild goats today, they were not to be seen.

It had turned into a lovely sunny day when we got home after 33 miles and over 2000 feet of ascent, so we had a walk round the garden.

After a pause for rest and refreshment, I cycled up to the town to get some milk, and then I walked through the park and up to the bluebell wood. Unlike the hen harriers and the goats, there were a lot of bluebells to be seen.

I came back along the riverside among many wood anemones and a single wild garlic flower in a bank of possibilities.

It was a golden afternoon.

Mrs Tootlepedal has really enjoyed our two joint rides this month, first to Moffat and then to Newcastleton today, so we are going to have to do some good planning to find equally good rides to do in May (and hope for more good weather).

It rained later in the evening, so we were lucky with our good weather today.

The flying birds of the day are a pair of our holly tree starlings.

Off and on

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary. She visited Kew Gardens today and enjoyed the bluebells.

We started the day in leisurely fashion, planning the menus for our evening meals for the next two weeks. After coffee, we got out into the garden.

It was a warmer morning and the plants looked grateful.

Mrs Tootlepedal’s broad beans have been doing so well under their mesh protection that later in the day she took the mesh away, and put in a small wind protecting barrier beside them.

Everything is still pretty wet, and the rain drops weren’t as well organised as they were the other day.

Mrs Tootlepedal spotted a very dark frog beside the pond, and I took a picture of it to add to the ones that I had already taken of a tadpole in the pond and the lichen on the bridge over the pond.

The frog was so still and so dark in colour that we thought it might be dead, but it had moved on by the next time that I looked.

Our neighbour Kenny has very kindly cleared the grass off the concrete at the edge of our side of the dam behind the house, and I thought it only right to mow the grass strip to make everything look neat.

He has a fine garden on his side of the dam, and we have dandelions and lady’s smock with added insect on our side.

There was enough power left in the battery when I finished for me to mow the greenhouse grass and the drying green as well.

Some sparrows were making a terrific racket in the garden, and Mrs Tootlepedal thought that they might be the first new family of the spring. Two of them perched in the amelanchier for a moment.

There were spells of sunshine, and we got out into the garden again after lunch. Flowers were definitely appreciative of the warmth when the sun shone.

I gave Mrs Tootlepedal a hand for a while, and then I left her gardening while I went out for a ride on my pushbike.

I had gone about 200 yards when it started to rain in quite a determined manner. I stopped and got my rain jacket out and put it on. By the time I had zipped it up, the rain had stopped, and the sun had come out. I took my rain jacket off and put it back in my bike bag. I could hear the weather gods laughing. The sun went in as soon as I started pedalling, but I had had quite enough of that and just kept going. When I looked back as I climbed the hill after 3 miles, things looked very positive . . .

. . . and I relied on the brisk wind to keep blowing the rain clouds away from in front of me. The breeze did a good job both of blowing the clouds away and helping me whizz down the hill to the bottom of the Canonbie bypass where it was pleasantly sunny.

I wasn’t convinced that the showers had completely gone away, so I pressed on through Canonbie on my way back to Langholm, only stopping to admire a good clump of Jack by the hedge . . .

. . . before pausing for a snack at Hollows Tower, where the flags gave a good indication of the fresh breeze.

I took a couple of cloudscapes as I ate my snack . . .

. . . and as it seemed likely to stay dry, I stopped a little further on to photograph the dandelions at the end of the bike track at Hagg-on-Esk.

As this particular bike path only lasts about 100 yards, it seems a bit over the top to refer to it as a bike route. It decants the passing cyclist onto the old main road, now bypassed.

I got home to find that Mrs Tootlepedal’s gardening had been interrupted by several little showers while I was cycling around in the sunshine. That made me feel even better about what had been a very good ride.

In between the showers, she had managed to fit a wind guard to the fence up which she will grow her sweet peas. The tender plants are sitting in individual hi-tech greenhouses at the moment.

After a cup of tea, and a change of clothes, I had a last walk round the garden in beautiful early evening sunshine.

The first lamium flowers had appeared . . .

. . . and the garden was full of birds and bees. I managed to capture a siskin, a dunnock, a chaffinch, and a bee among the winter heather.

It really did feel as though spring is taking itself seriously at last.

The flying bird of the day is a starling.

Puffed up

Today’s guest picture comes from my brother Andrew. He was cheered up on a very wet walk today by the sight of this glorious cherry blossom.

I thought that I was going to get a wet walk this morning too, when, after having dropped Mrs Tootlepedal off at the Langholm Initiative offices, I drove down to Longtown with my punctured bike on the bike rack. I had to take the whole bike down to the bike shop in Longtown to get the puncture fixed because I can’t take the back wheel off easily, thanks to the complicated electrical wiring attached to it.

It was raining quite heavily as I drove down, and since I was going to wait while the bike was being mended, I had taken my umbrella to cope with the conditions for a walk while I waited.

However, as is quite often the case when a southwest wind is blowing, by the time I had driven 10 miles southwards, the rain had stopped, and leaving the bike in the bike shop and my umbrella in the car, I set off to cross the Longtown bridge and walk down the river.

I had to navigate the ongoing work to improve the pedestrian path across the bridge . . .

. . . before dropping down to the river bank on the upstream side of the bridge. I took a set of pictures as I went under the bridge and looked back.

As I walked down the river, I spotted some good blossom, the local oystercatchers, early wild garlic, and a distant view of Arthuret church.

Although it was a grey day, the ponds in the old gravel pits beside the river looked quite cheerful . . .

. . . and I could see a few birds about. In the absence of my bird camera, my phone tried its best.

I circled round the ponds . . .

. . . and came back to the Esk at it headed for the Solway Firth at the far end.

Turning to go back to Longtown, I passed a group of men and parked cars. They told me that they were going to fish for rainbow trout. I was a bit surprised, but as I walked up the river . . .

. . . and looked back, I could see that arrangements had been made for fishermen at one of the ponds.

When I got back to Longtown, I passed a 250 year old coaching inn and the old railway station on my way back to the bike shop.

Just before the shop, I came across a fine show of the salt loving Danish scurvy grass that really enjoys life beside busy roads.

Adrian, the bike mechanic, had put a new tube into my tyre, and kindly helped me lift my heavy bike back onto the bike rack. As I headed home, it started to rain again, and it was raining quite heavily when I got back. That made my walk even more enjoyable.

Fortunately, Mrs Tootlepedal’s meeting went on so long that the rain had stopped before she came home for lunch. It was extremely windy after lunch, but the day had brightened up enough for Mrs Tootlepedal to get out in the garden, and for me to give my new inner tube a test pedal.

I went around my familiar Canonbie route, but heading down the river first and coming back across the country. The shelter of the valley to the bottom of the bypass, and the stout hedges along most of the road across the hill protected me from the worst of the wind, and the ride was more enjoyable than I had expected. Since I had already taken a lot of pictures, I only took a couple on my ride, and the second one was this view when I was nearly home, showing what a good day it had become.

I had a quick walk round the garden when I got back, and saw flowers . . .

. . . and birds.

After our regular zoom with my siblings, and our evening meal, the day was rounded off by a special treat, the first stewed rhubarb of the year served with custard. Considering the rhubarb plant has just been transplanted into a new bed for the second time in two years, it is doing fantastically well. Perhaps we should move it every year.

The flying birds of the day are a very poor picture, but they are seasonally significant. They were a small flock of swallows that rose up from the Longtown sewage works as I walked past this morning.

Tyred out

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary. She saw a lot of goslings today.

We had a much better day here than the forecast had suggested. Dennis was able to walk to coffee with his scones, and then back home without them, in sunny weather, and Mrs Tootlepedal did a great deal more gardening than she had expected.

After Dennis had gone, she transplanted some white hostas, while I sieved a little compost and did some shredding. Then after lunch, she went back out into the garden and stayed there all afternoon.

Before I went in for lunch, I was very happy to see a green veined white butterfly.

After lunch, I intended to go for a ride on my electric bicycle because it was very windy, but when the time came, I was extremely deflated to find that I had yet another puncture. I rang up the bike shop, and they will fit me in for a repair tomorrow.

It was too windy for a comfortable ride on my pushbike, so after noticing a pond skater and aiming an admiring glance at the magnolia . . .

. . . I went for a walk to visit the new ponds at Glentarras instead.

It was a good decision, and sheltered from the wind for the most part, I had a peaceful and enjoyable outing. It started with a grey wagtail seen from the church bridge, and as a bonus it was soon joined by its partner.

Then at the traffic lights at Skippers Bridge, I saw another jackdaw visiting its nest in a another hole in the wall. I watched it go in, and then it reappeared almost immediately. I think that its kind offer of nesting material had been turned down, judging by its expression.

On my way to the ponds I saw a charming selection of wild flowers, blackthorn beside the river, any amount of dog’s mercury, and a little patch of reindeer moss.

There was plenty of water going down the river when I got to the bridge at Glentarras.

The new ponds are settling in very well, and we were told at the annual general meeting last night that they may be in line for an award for environmental architecture.

I spotted a lot of small white objects swimming about just under the surface at one end of the pond, and horsetail emerging from the water and on the bank halfway along it.

I don’t know what the little white swimming objects were. Mrs Tootlepedal wonders if they might be mayfly larvae. I would be grateful for guidance from any knowledgeable readers.

I sat on a bench hoping to see a dipper, but there were none about. I took a picture of a willow and headed home.

I might have gone home through the oak woods, but I took the easy option, and went back down the same road that I had come up earlier.

Because I had already taken photographs on my way up, I tried not to take any on my way home, but a nice bit of grass, a field pond, and two oyster catchers on the Murtholm couldn’t be ignored.

(Well, they could have been ignored, but they weren’t)

Having seen a few bluebells along the Lodge Walks yesterday, I thought I’d better keep an eye out for more today. We used to see the bluebells in the first week in May, but they have got earlier in recent years, so it was not a total surprise to see some near the track today . . .

. . . and then a lot more when I scrambled up the hill to the Stubholm wood.

They’re not quite at their peak yet, so I hope to find a sunny day to visit them next week.

As a bonus, there was an unexpected patch of white ones.

Mrs Tootlepedal had only just come in from the garden when I got home. Among other things she had been doing some ingenious lawn edge improvements.

In the evening, Sue and Susan arrived to play recorder trios. Our fourth member, Jenny was unavailable tonight. The excellent tootle made up for the lack of a pedal in the day.

I didn’t catch a flying bird today, so a jackdaw, perched on a neighbour’s boiler chimney, is standing in.