It worked! No more squirrel feeding.

Woodpeckers organised getting the Christmas tree erected inside this morning, and started to hang the decorations. The room immediately felt warmer and snugger, and helped to breach my usual resistance to the upcoming festival. We don't enjoy the tendency to buy the 'festival', whose pre-christian origins fit more easily in my world. Hopefully we can enjoy the simple pleasures and celebrate the passing of the mid-winter and the coming of the light.

Talking of the light, it was really rather vivid outside this morning, when I got up to make tea. I took snapped some pictures before going back to drink the tea in bed, but I didn't manage to capture what my eyes were seeing. I think a tripod and longer exposures would have produced more accurate results.

Later I saw this squirrel, one of four at present who visit most days. They aren't my favourite pest, and mostly you hear me cursing them and chasing them away when I see them nest the bird feeders. But today I couldn't resist observing how it was trying to get at the suet in this 'squirrel-proof' feeder, which withstood all attempts to shake the food out. Woodpeckers will be delighted as she has tried so hard to find feeders that can keep the food for the birds.

I do hope that I will be trying for a more varied diet of blips in the near future. Yesterday's blip showed the type of users we prefer to help! But it has been good to watch and record the wildlife, and learn what I can achieve with the equipment I have.

That is about to change as a good friend, Dave C, from whom I bought my wonderful 70-200mm lens, has given me a set of Kenko Extension Tubes to fit my camera. All i need now are instructions, so a bit of judicious research is called for. Any advice would be very welcome!