Bath time

The starling family were enjoying a puddle bath as I walked to the shop at lunchtime.

Late-afternoon walk in Happy Valley - usually little more than a 5-minute drive away, but took a little longer today due to a traffic jam, Wooler-style (extras)! It's a very pretty, steep wooded valley by a river, that opens out after a short distance in to rough grazing land. 

Quite a slow journey home too! MrM had to keep on slowing down to avoid rabbits hopping on and off the verges, partridges deciding whether or not to cross the road and a young red squirrel that was much more interested in climbing the tree on the opposite side of the road than getting out of the way of traffic. We stopped and watched it climb safely up the tree...