Another shooter

MrC, MrB's brother-in-law popped by after sitting in the forest for a couple of hours hoping to shoot something. No real success but before you all rejoice, MrC has a new Canon5D with 720mm lens and not a double barrelled 20 Bore Purdy (MrB would be delighted to hear from anyone wanting to give away a Purdy).

MrC is an almost professional wildlife (& other things too) photographer hence the camouflage camera and personal outfit. He can of course make use of MrB's high chairs in the forest. Today he only had a stoat in his sights but after two shots, it spotted him. Normally he is underway on his push bike and when he arrived with his car, I asked him why - he then opened up the boot and revealed the massive lens and tripod. Question answered. He is still getting to know the new camera. I have reported previously that in winter he might look at "Blip" more closely and perhaps join up.

Shortly after MrC arrived, Mr & MrsB also turned up with a barrel of (last years) chestnuts which had been soaked in salt water. We put them through my garden shredder as they will be one of the ingredients in the winter food he needs for his deer. He will add things like grain as well as "waste" products out of apple and beer manufacturing to make a mash. Shows how much he cares for the animals on his hunting patch. The hunter responsible for the forest adjoining our house would not dream of feeding the deer in bad weather. As it was a test if the shredder worked (it did), he will return tomorrow with a few more barrels. He employs "child labour" to collect the chestnuts in autumn but I suspect they are well rewarded and have a bit of fun. Wonder if they have conker fights in Germany. Will have to ask. Suspect if salted and then dried they count as illegal.

After the shredding action, the five of us enjoyed a glass or two of Pimms outside although it had turned dark & cool.

In other news, I spent hours trying to get the lawn tractor working properly. Managed to get so far that my part time gardener (Angie) was able to do an hour or two of mowing, important as a bit of rain forecast Thursday before it gets better again for the weekend.