Feathered friend

A late start to the day after a bad night's sleep - or, rather, not sleep. Lay there for hours, neither properly asleep, nor fully awake enough to read for a while. Saw 3.45am, then fell in to a deep slumber plagued by disconcerting dreams - not that I can remember any of them now, of course.

Brunch and lashings of coffee worked wonders! I spent most of the day working in the 'yard, re-potting plants in to bigger pots, and cleaning up the concrete. The wind hadn't dropped quite as much as the forecast had implied, and 6ºC felt much colder than that - by the time I eventually came indoors, just after 5.00pm, I was feeling decidedly chilly. But it was a tonic just being outside for a while after all the stormy weather. My feathered friend, the leucistic (his white feathers are more apparent on the extra) blackbird, kept me company, hopping around in the 'yard for most of the time I was out. He's becoming increasingly bold, and when I took this shot he was less than 1m away. Occasionally he flew up to the feeder and pecked at the seed, but mostly he hopped around on the soil in the containers, flicking it out on to the concrete. A feathered friend and garden pest in equal measure!