Save some for me!

A very stormy, blustery night and when I checked the rain gauge this morning it showed we had 15mls during the night. Although the day wasn't as good as I had anticipated from the forecast, it was sunny for the most part and not too cold. The garden however, remains very damp, chilly and uninviting.

I looked forward to my walk in the sunshine today, but before I set off I noticed that the bird feeders were busy, particular the one with niger seed. I haven't seen many Goldfinches this year and so it was a real treat to see these three enjoying the sunshine and discussing who should retain pole position. The one at the right hand side eventually flew to a feeder below and was looking up as if he was trying to see if there was another way he could get some food as the other two seemed firmly entrenched. The photo was taken on Intelligent Auto through the conservatory window, so I was quite pleased with the clarity.

I decided that today's walk had to be beside the river as both dogs had come home really caked in mud yesterday and needed a good swim to clean their coats. I shouldn't have been surprised but I was - the river was huge and flowing very swiftly and in some places I had to scramble up some banking because the water had completely flooded the path. There were a couple of trees which had fallen right across the path further on and I suspect this was due to a combination of recent high winds and very soft ground which couldn't hold onto the shallow root structure.

Once home I was able to complete the planting out of some winter pansies and finish off heating the shed, which at last is beginning to look dry. My hands were really cold and wet, even with gardening gloves on, and so I came inside for a warm cuppa and to check up on blipworld. It seems the storms of last night were widespread.