TAKING A BREAK

Hello everyone! I haven't made a post this week, and have made very few visits. The reason being I have spent most of my time with my grandson, who has been staying with me this week, and is going to stay another two weeks. He is very good company, and it is lovely too enjoy a meal whilst having an interesting conversation. My grandson Pedro is 31 yrs old, and loves the countryside, and my garden, where we have spent many happy hours. I thought it best to let you know before more time has passed, that I will be taking a break for two weeks, but will leave you with a couple of photos taken one evening on the balcony.

See you soon.:=)

A RETURN VISIT TO THE SARA MOREIRA PARK.

My daughter Eva and I did make a return visit to the Sara Moreira Park , but instead of driving all the way there, we decided to park the car in town, and walk along the board walk to reach the park another way. It was about 5.00 pm when we started our walk and we arrived  40 mins later. It's a walk that usually takes 30 mins, but I stopped many times to take photos. It's a very pleasant walk and here are a few images I took along the way, and some rather dark images taken in the shade inside the park. I am going to press the little pencil to add more to this post that I should have mentioned earlier.

I must tell you that we visited the park before the heat wave,  some time in April, when it was much cooler, and before my accident. The result of the xrays I took two weeks ago, show that my ribs have not healed, and there is a misalignment in one of them. I knew that something just wasn't right, but have to wait to see the doctor again.

  

All the photos I took are of the narrowest part of the river.

It widens considerably inside the park. You can see how late in the day it is, by the shadows on the grass.

There are many of these kinds of sculptures inside the park.

A colourful duck in one image, with eyes open, and the other with eyes shut.

This photo was a combined effort. I didn't see it, until Eva said look up to your right, and it was only then that I saw the Wood-pigeon. 

There are always fishermen on the banks of the river.

  

On our arrival we saw a Blackbird in the distance so I was pleased to see one in the sun

The Jay was in deep shade. As you can see, food on the ground was plentiful.

The Tree-creeper took me by surprise, before I could take another shot, it had moved to the other side of the tree, and moved quickly out of sight into the branches..

Another dark image of the Nuthatch. I was very pleased to see it however.

The only butterfly I saw, a very pale Speckled Wood.

Some wild flowers caught my attention.

As I approached the water, I could see two Cormorants.

One seemed to be drying it's feathers, whilst the other preened it's feathers.

I tried to get nearer to them, to get a better image, but I did not succeed. I really needed to be facing them on the other side of the river. I prefer morning light to take photos, not late afternoon. It was a pleasant walk however, and we both enjoyed the experience, even seeing birds in the shade, did not spoil a wonderful nature afternoon,

WILDLIFE IN MY GARDEN

Here are some creatures I see daily, and others I see only now and again, All these images were taken in the garden, where I see fleeting glimpses of Jays, and images of many more Blue-tits than usual this year, and of course the Red Squirrel. One day this week there were  five on my balcony. There were enough peanuts in their shells for all of them, and once they had eaten and left, I fed the birds. Sometimes one or another will return but they seem to know that the peanuts they had eaten were for them, and the shelled peanuts are for the birds. Perhaps it's because I have said "Ah," so many times when they have attempted to eat them, that now they just look, and then drink water before leaving again. It's been unbearably hot this week, on some days between 39-40 degrees, and in some areas even hotter.

A field with wild flowers near my garden.

The Great Tit.

The Blue-tit on my balcony.

Same as above.

The Red Squirrel climbing up an Oak tree.

Nicely settled in the shade.

Still Climbing.

A Blue-tit looking right at me.

I saw this Jay from a distance.

I kept it in my sight, focusing on what it would do next.

It stayed where it was.

Then to my delight I saw two Jays. Do you see the one in the shade? 

I  watched the Jay in the shade fly away, whilst the other watched.

All the goings on took only a few moments, and then I saw another Jay in the shade.

Another bird on my balcony.

These damselflies appeared in the garden near the pool

I was overjoyed to see them in my garden, as I couldn't go in search fof them.

They were extremely beautiful,...

and I managed to get some decent shots of them.

You can't improve on nature, and of course that was not my intention, but I had fun playing with this shot, just to see what I could do with it. I think it's quite pretty.