I think this is a duck of some species or other — it doesn’t look bulky enough to be a goose, but I might be wrong. Either way this huge but dead tree is certainly a good lookout post in the ongoing duck-pigeon conflict and was being protectively employed as such this morning.
On went the weekend. The only bad thing about weekends at the moment is that they only last two days. The weather wasn’t great, though it was hardly a natural disaster, despite the hysteria which now accompanies any period of low pressure that the Met Office decide is worthy of a name. I can still go walking in the woods, right guys? Is that OK?
He’s not doing much, just posing. But I got the focus right, which is by no means always the case, and so I hope he’s happy with the portrait, not that he’ll ever see it. (Unless these birds have an internet life about which we are ignorant.)
I’ve never been to the ground of Dearne and District FC before but something tells me that this dog spends pretty much every home match in this position: he certainly did today. We all have to stand on the outer side of the fence, but this chap is clearly much more important than us. At least, in his head.
The turf roof atop the extension to the Nutclough Mill is a very familiar part of the view from the house — so much so that it’s surprising to realise it’s younger than this blog. It was only completed in 2014, as attested by this photo, amongst others. Looking at all the posts tagged ‘Nutclough Mill‘ I see I pretty much did the same shot last year, but on a day working at home it was this or a shot of my laptop screen again, and this is more interesting.
One’s things for sure about the weather of 2026: our fruit have loved it. The apples are the last in the series but like everything else, there’s plenty of them and they taste very fine. The ladybird seems content enough, too.
We both had work to do. Mine involved reading, and eventually giving a grade. The insect perceives the notion of ‘work’ rather differently and would rather be off this slidy glass surface and back somewhere with, I guess, food, or maybe just less light. Our paths coincided for a short instant.
Any intimations of drought round here were washed away some time ago, and if there is to be any ‘Indian summer’ this year then it ain’t turned up yet. This Sunday was a day full of showers, including the one pictured here. But it’s probably good for the roses — as is sometimes said. (I assume this is a rose, though I’m hardly one of the world’s great botanists.)
I mused the other day that pigeons were one of a few species who I feel do alright out of humanity, and I think that one reason is that we provide them with so many useful little places of settlement. And I pick the word specifically, because these two look very settled to me, able to rest and not worry about some cat or hawk feeling that they’re a possible source of dinner. Home is under a railway bridge, many feet above the road: I only spotted these two because I was on the top deck of a bus. I like the various colours and textures on this shot.
One suspects that, like pigeons, rats and algae, fungus are (collectively) species that ultimately benefit from dealing with the wastes of humanity. There may be more than we suspect of these little colonies, awaiting the moment to launch the takeover.
