During these rainy days and nights the rain swamped my balcony as the water would not drain away quickly enough through the small hole which was made for this purpose. I hardly ever have this problem,except when we get storms with constant rain. The storms were violent, and uprooted three of our driveway trees which are enormous.It took my men several weeks to remove them from the road where they had fallen. Finally we had to call in a man with his team of workers to help cutting the wood into logs some of which we sold, and the rest is enough to see our three houses through the winter. For those of you who don't know what I mean, my son and his wife have a house on the property and my foreman lives in the farm house, and I live higher up the mountain, and we all need wood for our wood burners.
Going down the driveway you can see how large the trees are and how tall the branches are
The branches should have been pruned a long time ago. Another image going up the driveway.
It was too dangerous for me to get near the trees as I could have fallen, so Eva took these photos on her phone.
Eva said that they are not very good, meaning you can't really see the tree trunks on the ground for the branches. The one you see is split in half, but all the branches fell. Eva couldn't get near enough to get a good view, that's why I shared the first two images so you can imagine them on the ground.
I found this red toadstool near the studio, it's name is "FLY AMANITA" Amanita muscaria. A muscaria is a fungus with several known varieties or subspecies, and can be rounded or oval. It can grow to 20cm across and 30cm tall. Long ago it was broken up and placed in a jar to kill flies, as it is venomous and that is how it got it's name, and musca means fly in Portuguese.
Back on my Balcony.
The dull light does not do justice to the Chaffinch, a regular visitor to my balcony for sunflower seeds.
The Coal tit
Usually the Blue tits fly in and out of my balcony with a peanut or a Sunflower seed in it's beak, but
this one paused enough time for me to get these two photos.
This Blue tit was a sweet wee creature-
The mischievous squirrel with the red brown body and black tail eats the most, and raids the peanut feeder even after eating all the sunflower seeds I leave out for the Greenfinch, their preferred meal.
The Great tit, and although it's stripe is uneven, I think it might be a male.
I have been seeing some Jays recently, but they haven't jet ventured on to the balcony-
This is a juvenil Chaffinch, sweet little creature
Another image of a juvenile Chaffinch both images were far away and not very clear in the early morning light
The Juvenile Chaffinch.
Misty morning in my garden
One more Jay before I stop making my post, which I will be sharing on Wild Bird Wednesday and Saturday's Critters.
35 comments:
These are particularly beautiful photos today, the birds are very pretty and sweet.
The trees on the driveway are really big and have long branches.
Wish you a very nice evening
Dear Sonjia :)
It sounds scary about the storm that has been in your area. I'm glad you got help to remove the big trees. Yes, firewood is always needed.
As always, you have taken beautiful pictures of the birds that have been on your balcony. The blue tit is so beautiful. Yes, squirrels eat all the bird food they can get their hands on.
I wish you all the best, and take care of yourself. Stay warm and well.
Lots of hugs.
Marit
I always find muscaria very eye catching with that sheer red and sugar white dots.
this is so sad, I love trees and yours were so beautiful. all you sweet birds will miss those trees. I am happy to hear you have all the wood to burn for 3 households. I had no idea you lived on such a lovely estate. I did remember your son lives close by. glad you are not alone.
A lovely post and photographs.
Seeing your blue tit reminded me of the one that seems to like sitting on my windowsill every morning before he flies off to the seeds ...it's as if he is saying good morning to me :)
All the best Jan
Beautiful bird photos! Being in the dumpster rental industry, I spend a lot of time outside. Seen a lot of birds over the years. These photos are some of the best. Thanks for sharing.
It wouldn’t be easy to fell one of those huge trees. Amazing strength required for sure. Amazing!
I didn't know that FLY AMANITA can kill flies. Is it also poisonous for humans? Those birds are so gorgeous. There are so many birds that I have never seen over here.
Dear Sonjia,
What a beautiful series of photos this is.
What a big garden you have, too bad so many trees were blown away by the storm.
The bird photos are also very beautiful.
I wish you a beautiful Thursday.
Greetings Irma
Hi Sonjia, oh what a storm and rain you have had. It get wood for your fires thats the good thing about it. Ans what a fantastic garden you have, and of course your balcony is something special with all these beautiful birds. Take care, Lasse
I admired those first two photos for a long time. Of course, they should be trimmed down a bit. Greetings.
Seeing the destruction brought about like storms like this is heartbreaking. I hope your balcony will/has drained quickly and that no water entered your home. The property looks absolutely gorgeous with those tree flanked roads. The wind had to be dreadful to take one down. I'm so sorry about that. (And of course, loving your birds.)
Lovely critters! It’s sad about the trees.
Dear Sonjia,
First of all I would like to thank you for your nice comment and your good wishes - both for the New Year and for my "new" Sony. How nice that you are happy with yours for so long - that gives me hope. I have now bought a book for this camera, which contains some practical tips and tricks. I have learned a bit so far, but of course not "everything" 😊
Your animal visits to the balcony are great as always - how sweet of the blue tit to stay sitting for you for so long. A really beautiful little bird. There are also blue tits and wood tits in our area, I know that from my bird song app and sometimes I see some in the forest darting from tree to tree very quickly, but I can hardly photograph any of them. But I have noticed that there are particularly many great tits here this year! I was Nordic walking today and on that occasion I saw real "extended families" of great tits darting through the floodplain forest!
It's terrible what the storms have done to you! There have also been heavy storms here where I live and a power outage recently, which was probably caused by a fallen tree or fallen branches, but with such magnificent trees like yours, that is really particularly sad. So sorry!
I still wish you as many happy moments as possible. Luckily there are animals that give you these.
Best wishes and hugs, Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2025/01/september-wochenende-in-der-wachau.html
PS: You mentioned a Wild Bird Wednesday - can you please send me the link to it if I can photograph wild birds again?
Los árboles son muy grandes y tuvo que ser una tormenta muy fuerte, una tristeza que los arrancara. Los pajaritos son todos muy lindos. Me alegra que estén todos bien. Abrazos.
I enjoyed your post so much! All the birds are just so cute little critters. And that squirrel is gorgeous. Ours are just plain gray. But they do love to eat all the sunflower seeds I put out for the birds. That's such a shame about those beautiful trees being knocked down. They look so old. That must have been some kind of storm that roared through. Sincerely, Leslie
Wow, what a storm!
Sounds like a lot of work getting those trees cleared.
Eva’s photos still give a good sense of the size of those trees.
I love hearing about the birds visiting your balcony.
Happy Monday, Sonjia!
Hello Sonjia, What a beautiful driveway you have!! I love the mature trees and beautiful cobble stones. The view of your garden is also beautiful. It sounds like you live in such a wonderful place. I am always sad when trees come down. Often they leave an ugly stump and our mature trees are so tall here that they usually take three or four smaller trees with them. I am sorry to hear you have had stormy weather and lost some trees. We have actually had a really quiet start to the year here, but we do have a storm forecast for Friday and Saturday. We certainly seem to be having a lot more storms than in the past, and it always worries me in case yet another tree comes down. I still haven't finished clearing up some branches that came down last year. We have two stoves, so burn a lot of logs, but I really need more dry storage space. I incorporated an overhang down the side of the garage which is 12 metres long by a metre and then built a shelter about four metres square, but still I don't have enough cover!!
A lovely trail full of trees, and the birds are wonderful! Thank you Sonjia, wishing you a wonderful day!
Hello,
I love the scene with your driveway and the beautiful trees.
It is sad the storm took down so many trees. On the bright side it is good you have a lot of wood for your wood burners. I love all the birds you have seen, the cute little tits, the Chaffinch and the Jays are favorites. The squirrel is cute too. Wonderful photos. Thank you so much for your critter post and sharing your link. Take care, have a great weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.
Lots of clean up work, but what an enormous green garden you have ... and the toadstool is amazing. Wishing you a relaxed and peaceful Saturday. :)
Lovely shots! Your balcony looks like a great spot for birdwatching.
...I was in the landscape-nursery business for 50 years and I'm a tree LOVER! Like everything, trees need maintenance and if delayed they can become dangerous. Those trees along your drive are majestic, but contain a bit too much "firewood!" Let's hope the your weather improves, take care and be well.
Querida Sonjia me imagino que daría miedo la tormenta, tuvo que ser horrible para derribar esos enormes árboles, da pena verlos caídos, pero contra eso no se puede luchar. Precioso lugar y preciosas fotos. Muchos besos.
This winter has been hard on a lot of places in the world. I hope you quickly recover from the damage — sounds as if you are well on the way to cleanup.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
It is so sad that you lost such beautiful trees. I hope the rest of them stay strong.
It is wonderful to see the pics of all your balcony visitors, Sonjia.
The birds are all so distinct and beautiful. You have a nice variety there in the winter. That's sad to see the trees breaking off and being uprooted. We have high winds here in Florida that does a lot of damage too.
Great shots of your balcony friends, they must give you so much pleasure. Sorry to hear about the trees. We lost power for 17 hours and had no water until the next evening. Lots of damage in parts of the country and some people will be without power or water for this week.
Dramatic with the old trees :o
Nice birds visiting.
Have a great week!
/Irene
Oh what a mess that storm created! It must have been scary to see and hear the storm passing through your area! The Blue Tits are adorable, we don't see them in my part of the world. Look forward to seeing what you share with us!
Stunning photos.
www.rsrue.blogspot.com
Dear Sonjia,I hope this works!!! Great pictures of your garden and birds. David
Sería cuestión de quitar las ramas, para evitar el peligro de tropezar.
Me gusta las imágenes de los pájaros y de la simpática ardilla.
Buenas Noches.
Hi Sonjia!! Lovely birds and shots... Regards
It sounds like the storm really caused quite a bit of damage, but it's impressive how you managed to turn it into a solution for the winter. The image of the enormous trees falling and the effort required to clear them shows just how powerful nature can be. It's also lovely to hear how everyone in the family, including your foreman, benefits from the wood. I imagine the trees, once pruned, would look far more manageable and add to the beauty of the property. The whole process must have taken quite a lot of effort, but at least you'll have plenty of warmth for the colder months!
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