The last fruits of the garden

Although I have felt better today, without a sore throat and not coughing so much, I haven't bee able to concentrate. I had hoped to break the back of the sorting of the music gig images which I need to send on to others, butI kept getting distracted. I've managed to do some chores though which is a good sign.

In the middle of the afternoon I decided to make a late lunch for myself, but once I got downstairs I suddenly had the urge to go outside with my camera for a few minutes. I brought a collection of hazelnuts down with me, with a view to placing them outside and photographing them. I gathered the equipment and even got my tripod set up which is a rare event, as the light was quite dark under grey clouds although it felt quite warm.

I filled up the bird feeders as well and then once I had started out in the cabin I had to fill the watering can in order to water the plants I keep in there to protect them from the frost. Then I saw that some of the banana plant's leaves were withering and decaying and so needed cutting back to stop the any spread of fungal growth inside. Having got the secateurs out. I couldn't resist cutting off some rose hips next to the water butt, and so it went on, until I had collected a whole range of plant life from the garden which I then decided to make into a still life.

I laid a single banana leaf on the patio table and placed the rose hips and hazelnuts on it. I then thought it appropriate to cut the last two medlar fruits off the tree at the bottom of the garden and whilst there I saw the large hibiscus hip. The last raspberry fruits needed to added and then the whole lot roughly assembled. I rather like the hazelnut shell which a mouse has eaten into which you can see at the back of the scene. I took a few shots before my battery failed and experimented with a very narrow aperture to get a good depth of field, which my macro lens normally severely restricts.

Bomble joined me and then Illium, the neighbour's cat came out to play, so I watched them for a while. I dismantled the set up and changed the battery and then noticed that the birds were now returning to the replenished feeders. I sat down on a chair in the cabin and waited there, as I thought the birds might not be so wary if I wasn't so prominent. I was delighted to find a good range of little birds came quite quickly and most pleasing was the gaggle of long tailed tits, which are some of my favourites. So my next endeavour will be to blip a few of them in flight around the feeders.