A charm of goldfinches

I worked this morning - mainly preparing a couple of blog posts and writing the article that I have been working on since just before Christmas. Then, after lunch, Katherine and Jack called round to spend the rest of the day with us.

First on the agenda was a bird walk. In beautiful sunshine, and with the trees still bare, the conditions were fabulous for spotting many different birds (and a rat!) We saw bluetits, blackbirds, bullfinches, chaffinches, crows, goldfinches (six blipped), great tits, greenfinches, grey wagtails, pigeons, robins, siskin, and wood pigeons (and probably some others that I will remember and add to this list later). However, the star of the show was a female woodpecker high up a tree in Warriston Crescent (see the extra).

Our route took us past the site of my recent accident. Now that I have taken a good look at the state of the tarmac, it's quite obvious how I tripped and hurt myself.

We ended our walk at the corner of George Street and Charlotte Square. Here we enjoyed a very tasty early supper at Baba.

The last treat of the day was to watch the live performance of The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by the National Theatre of Scotland broadcast from Leith Theatre to the Odeon Cinema on Lothian Road (and to other cinemas across the country).

Exercise today: walking (15,582 steps).