Christmas combo

Another full day at work sifting and sorting but very pleased to say, it's all done now.  I thought it may take me 3 days to finish but happy to have it done in 2 :)

I rather liked the effect of yesterday's blip but for the glaring and unsightly 'dirty' bokeh.  Decided that a clean of the lens and another attempt would be in order tonight.  As I finished the water shots there was a right royal avian kerfuffle under the lemon tree......

I snuck up on the scene to see a couple of 'my' blackbirds being given a bit of a hard time by a few sparrows.  I've grown rather fond of the blackbirds that have been hanging around home for a while now but once they saw me, both sparrows and blackbirds alike disappeared.  Just managed to grab a few snaps of one of the blackbirds with a worm in his beak before they disappeared.

Putting today's image together it felt right to include Mr Blackbird in the scene.  The big disappointment though is that the bokeh is still 'dirty' so I'm going to need to spend a bit longer (a lot longer??) cleaning the lens again.

Maybe I can use the day I've gained from not needing to go back to work tomorrow to do it :)