Johnston Road Pond

Smithers didn’t feel great today, so he stayed indoors in the warm this afternoon and I went out for a walk in the fresh air on my own. It was lovely to see a bit of blue sky and sunshine for a change, which can be seen reflected in the Johnston Road pond. There was a definite nip in the air and Smithers was wise to stay indoors because he suffers badly from the cold – so much so that he decided to light the wood burning stove this afternoon for the first time this winter.

Whilst loading the dishwasher after lunch I surprised Smithers by suddenly darting out of the room and rushing back with my camera with the long lens. (Why do I never have the camera at the ready on the one occasion when I really want it?) He’s used to my strange behaviour by now, and was unperturbed, although with his poor vision he couldn’t see what had gripped my attention. It was, I think, a lone redwing sitting on a branch of our cherry tree. From her colouring, I’m assuming she’s a female. She doesn’t actually have any red feathers on her upper breast, but she has the distinctive flash over her eye, so I do think it’s a redwing and not one of the rarer thrushes. There’s a very poor shot in extras, if anyone can identify it properly for me.