Stretching

Reggie was giving his neck a bit of a workout as he stretched up into the canopy for some vetch leaves and flowers. He also has a small passenger on his back.

I hadn't seen him for a few days, lost in the overgrown flower beds. The familiar nagging worry was building - did he escape from the garden on the last warm day? I needn't have been concerned, it was a much more seasonally warm day today, and there he was on manoeuvres trampling a route through the bed and out into the tall herb rich lawn. As soon as he saw me with the camera lying in the grass, he came towards me menacingly at speed.  If he was scaled up to giant tortoise size, he would be a seriously scary reptile. Gus finds him frightening enough as he is, he keeps well out of the way.

He is eating like there's no tomorrow: Magnolia petals, sweet woodruff, dandelions and the vetch. He still has a slightly muddy look from his 7 months underground. A few more heavy showers and he'll be pristine.