Like a bird on a...twig

We went up to the allotment this morning for a concentrated spell of weeding and watering. The forecasters said there would be rain later, but you can't trust them. I meant to take a photo or two whilst we were up there, as there were lots of blippertunities, but was rather distracted by Mr H blowing up a red balloon and stalking round the artichoke plants. Eric, who was on his knees weeding just on the other side of the hedge, got a bit of a shock when the balloon inevitably burst on the jaggy artichoke.

On the way home we were remarking just how many goldfinches there are about the place - we have only come to understand this since learning to recognise their song. The place must be hoachin' with them, although they flit in and out of the branches and are quite hard to spot. At home I could here them carolling away in the maples out in the square (in between heavy showers - oh, the forecasters were right!), but they were mighty hard to spot. This was the only photo where the bird was in focus and didn't have his back turned.