‘Poly’ Tunnels

I was out and about in the country side near Canterbury today when I saw this field of Polythene Tunnels. That would make a good photograph I thought.
So with my little ‘point and shoot’ camera I took a photograph:

I thought the image looked rather uninteresting in colour so decided to change it to black and white to give it a bit of life.

I think I have achieved a more interesting image.

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Gathering of Our ‘Clan’

Last Saturday we had a gathering of my brothers, sisters and spouses. Being such a ‘far flung’ family it is not often that we get together but with a sister over from Australia it was an ideal opportunity to gather.

As you can see, we are a large family!

The weather was kind to us and the food and company could not have been better.

The title of this post is relevant as our maternal Grandfather was a Scotsman.

My children wonder why I like the bagpipes but don’t understand why porridge is not a favourite breakfast dish.

Answer: You can put the pipes away but the porridge stays with you for the rest of the day!!

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The Cat and Frog

No, it’s not the name of a trendy gastro pub!
One is a casual visitor to our garden, the other a resident.

The Cat.

It did not take long for a new cat to dominate the territory (our Garden) now that Pheobe and Tim are no longer with us but I am surprised at it being this cat as he has not been a previous visitor.
He (?) sits under the trees where the birds feed and I think he will dissuade the birds from feeding in our garden.

The Frog

This little chap I found in our pond. He is the first one I have seen all year. I thought our pond was frog free but clearly it is not!

These were not in our garden but I was! (tenuous I know).
This pair of Magpies were making a fair bit of noise in a garden some way from us.

A quick look around and there was this little chap sitting close by:

I think this might be the pair that nested in our garden this year and their youngster. Nice to see them with their healthy offspring though. Not the best of photos I know but they were a long way away and I have cropped the image quite severely, so, please forgive the image quality.

Now I am faced with the problem of a cat and a frog. The latter I think I will just have to put up with but the cat……what can I do?

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George & Dragon Fading Before Our Eyes!

This Pub sign is on the side of a wall in Ramsgate Town Centre:

George & Dragon Public House was a popular pub numerous years ago but is now a private dwelling.

I think it a shame that signs like this that are the history of Ramsgate are disappearing and I would guess that lots of people pass it by without a second look. That’s if they know it is there!

Does anyone reading this post know where it is?

These are works of art and should be preserved so I thought I would preserve it. It will gradually fade and be lost.

Another bit of Ramsgate Town Centre gone.

What a shame!

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These Are All Mine!

I have written in a previous post about my next door neighbour’s fruit trees and what a temptation they were.

Well – part of his garden is unkempt and overgrown with brambles that have intruded into our garden and are now in fruit.

The brambles may be his but the fruit is in our garden (well, with a little stretch) – that makes them mine!!
Picking them will not be as much fun as the gathering of the illicit fruit would have been but I am sure they will taste just as nice in an apple and blackberry crumble!

If I remember correctly the recipe for a crumble is 4;2;2.

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Dishes, Cakes and Coffee – Bobby Moore Charity Fund

I wrote in yesterday’s post that on Friday evening I was obliged/had to help Mae in the kitchen as she was baking cakes for a charity event on Saturday and that is why the post was entered a day later (if you haven’t read the previous post please do so now – the start of this post might make sense to you then).

A friend was having a Charity Coffee morning in aid of her son Mark and his efforts to raise funds for the Bobby Moore Fund. This Fund is to help tackle Bowel Cancer.

Mark will also be going to South Africa to help renovate a school and football pitch in a remote village.

I spent the evening washing pots and bowls and every time I washed one it was immediately used again. The automatic dishwasher (that could be either me or the machine in our house!) was empty because if I put anything into it the cry went up “Don’t put that in there – I need it!”

There were plenty of cakes:

Lots of friends, colleagues attended and enjoyed the cakes and coffee, and more importantly, raised money!

I made a dent in the cakes, boosted the funds and my waistline, all in a good cause you understand!!

Mark has a lot more fund raising to do if he is to achieve his target of £4,000.

If you can help him by donating to these worthy causes then please follow the link above.

Thanks for reading this.

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I’ll Be in Trouble for This!

This post was due to be entered yesterday (Friday) but I was obliged to do lots of washing-up (a bit more on this tomorrow – Sunday).

I failed miserably to get the house-work done today (Friday) and I expected comments . It was such a nice day again that I allowed myself to get side-tracked into doing some more Bird Watching. It was the Sparrows that initially caught my attention but then other birds joined them and I sat for two hours watching and photographing them. Then the newspaper had to be read, lunch, tidy the cupboard under the stairs (a shelf collapsed this morning) but no dusting or hoovering – hence my apprehension!

This is my bird watching log for today then.

Yesterday I named a little bird as a Long Tailed Tit:

I thought he was a Long Tailed Tit but I was wrong. He is a she and is a Sparrow Fledgling. The markings seen here rather confirms that:

Her Dad and Mum were keeping watch close by:

‘My’ local Starling Fledgling made a return:

I was then mystified by the next bird I saw. Any guesses?

I watched this little bird for a while and he(?) would sit on his perch then take a leap into the air, fly a short way, and return to his perch. This is the pattern of a Spotted Fly Catcher as it catches passing flying insects ‘on the wing’ and is not a usual visitor to an urban garden but lovely to observe so it is.

My last image is, even if I say so myself, a little beauty:

I only got two chances to photograph him. Once when he hadn’t seen me but heard the camera shutter and the second time when he realized where the sound of the shutter was coming from, spotted me, and flew away.

What a marvellous end to the morning.
The housework didn’t get done and it wasn’t mentioned – why did I worry so?.
The dusting can wait till next week when it really will begin to show!

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Today’s Garden Visitors

I was at a ‘loose end’ this morning, not knowing what to do. The choice was housework (as usual) or getting the camera out and seeing what was occurring in the garden. It was the best day in a long while so the latter won! (It wasn’t an easy decision to make but it had to be made – I’ll do the housework tomorrow).

My first visitor was this little bird:

I think it is a Long Tailed Tit Fledgling but it hid amongst the foliage and was difficult to photograph.

It was a bit of a wait then before I was visited by this Sparrow:

I understand that the Sparrow population is on the decline. Certainly they are a bit ‘few and far between’ at the moment but I still have regular visitors and I do have a nest in the corner of my house that they use.

I was then surprised to see this little fellow on my greenhouse roof:

It fluffed itself up and also had a preen. The little chap’s parents were not far away. One was keeping watch further along on the greenhouse:

I have only seen one Dove at a time for a while in the garden and wondered where it’s partner might be. There’s the answer – looking after the child!
The other parent was sitting on a tree some way off:

An earlier visitor returned and sat for a while preening itself:

How pleased I was to see this little bird. I still think it is a Long Tailed Tit but I am not too sure because of it’s colouring (an adult Long Tailed Tit has pinkish markings – so my book says). I would be grateful for any corrections.

It is so nice to see the birds back in the garden again. I think the Magpies kept them away but they have now moved on and I hear the constant chatter of birds in the garden – and I get to take photographs of them.

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Where will you find this in Ramsgate? – One

As a ‘young’ Probationary Police Officer in Ramsgate during the days when walking the beat was ‘proper policing’ (I did it for three years before getting behind the steering wheel of a Police Car and it took even longer to drive the emergency response car) the Duty Sergeant would give me a task to achieve during my patrolling. Sometimes it would be to find a particular road or simply to report what I could see there.

One ‘task’ was to find this:

Do you know where this wall is?
It used to be a Tobacconist but is now a private dwelling.

If you know where it is let me know.
No prizes.
Please Note: I have not made the same mistake I have done in my other picture puzzles by saving the image using the answer!!

This a good way to learn Ramsgate (akin to learning ‘the knowledge’ in London). I think you will be surprised when I tell you where it is – that is if you don’t already know.

Happy looking but do drive carefully while doing so!

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Fuschias and Spiders

I invariably set myself a goal in my photography forays and this has been a challenge that has not been without it’s set-backs. But in the end I got there.

Got where you might ask?

I have managed to get a couple of half-decent photographs of a Fuschia ‘Happy Wedding Day’ flower.

I had many disappointments on the way. Rain ruining the flowers. The wind blowing a pair of buds off the stalk etc. The results are OK but I know they could be better.

Isn’t that the joy of photography though. I consider myself no more than a ‘Happy Snapper’ and am in my element taking photographs and if I manage to achieve a reasonable image then I am pleased but I know I have enjoyed the ‘getting there’.

There are some more buds developing so I might try a more staged setting with the next flower.
Keep watching. (Please).

My next challenge is a Spider and it’s web. I have had several ‘goes’ already but the b****y spiders keep running off and hiding when I approach. Camera shy probably!

Any tips will be gratefully received.

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