Chasing round an imaginary bend

At last a sunny day, all day. Hooray. It was very cold and frosty when the curtains were drawn at an earlier than usual time b Helena who had an early start at her work today. I could potter, and I managed to start a new book as I lolled in the bath with a strong coffee and a delicious toffee waffle like the ones Helena bought recently in Wales, which happen to be available in our local shop too.

I had to walk into town to countersign some cheques for the council, and I chose a parallel route on the way home which I don't often use. I ended up on Horns Road, named after the valley on which our house is also built, which was originally a very old track leading up to the woodlands, the limestone quarries, the limekilns and then later a small farm, which has more recently become a riding school and stables.

At the end of the Victorian housing, before the road heads out into the country, lies Daisybank, the public space which the town council is responsible for, and which I talked about a few blips ago. When I through the beautiful iron gate in the railings, I spotted a young woman with two dogs and gadget to hurl a ball for the dogs to chase. I stood at the bottom of the park and just followed the dogs chasing the ball and each other. The little one was very loud and aggressive towards the collie, although only it seems in fun. The collie tended to win the race and grab the ball, and was then harassed by the other dog. But I did notice at one point the little seemed to be allowed to get the ball first and the collie meekly followed it back up the slope to their owner.

I went up to her and chatted, and it turns out the collie is named Alfie, is only 9 months old and had come from a farm where its owners couldn't keep it anymore. The smaller dog is about seven years old and rules the roost at home but they all get on well with the nine month old baby and her twelve year old sister. Every day they have a two mile run with the dad of the house, and a six mile walk across the Heavens and The Horns valleys as well as a bit of ball fun in Daisybank. What a good life!.

When I went home I did some more bird photography and saw masses of them, including blue tits, coal tits, longtail tits, a nuthatch, goldfinches, a robin and several other unknown small birds all visiting the feeders. The many magpies and crows can't manage the feeders, nor can the various pigeons despite numerous attempts by them to grab something. A late surprise at teatime was the re-appearance of a jay which landed in the elder tree above the feeders and then made its way down to the feeding table next door. I grabbed my camera just before it took off and managed a couple of more shots after it flew off to the tree at the bottom of the garden. A short while later the same thing occurred and again I went out of the back glass doors to film it, and to my surprise saw it fly past the first jay which was still sitting on a branch of the ash tree. So we have a pair! Hooray again.

If you enjoyed yesterday's picture of a Jay, I've now added a few of today's bird pictures on my Blipfolio, including two more jay shots.