Heron launch...

It's been a somewhat more relaxed day today. After the routine visit to Sainsbury's I did some gentle data entry and tidied round the downstairs, in preparation for the arrival of Chris's girlfriend. Pete tackled the bathroom - and I was amazed to see a complete transformation of Chris's bedroom, from tip into somewhere clean, tidy and welcoming. We produced a Mexican style meal, with guacamole to start followed by chicken in a creamy chilli sauce and fresh tomato salsa. Delicious!

I nearly blipped this photograph of a sunflower taken in the garden after lunch. I've always loved sunflowers and sowed a huge tray of mixed varieties in the spring, in eager anticipation of a glorious burst of late summer colour. What I hadn't anticipated was the intense spring drought, which meant that they didn't get planted out until they were tall and leggy. Or the voracious appetites of the slugs and snails, who seem to find young sunflower plants absolutely irresistible. This is the only one that's managed to flower so far, and although it's very small I just love the soft, smoky colour.

But in the end I couldn't resist this image of a heron taking off. I spotted it sitting on the top of a sculpture, and managed to get a decent shot of it sitting as still as a statue. But then it spotted the dogs and decided that discretion was the better part of valour, launching itself into the air with a fearful shriek.