THE RAMBLINGS OF A STRUGGLING ARTIST ON LIFE WITH TWO TERRIERS, A PONY WITH ISSUES AND OTHER WILDLIFE AND BIRDS THAT CROSS OUR PATH

23 November 2012

NUTHATCH AT LAST AND A BREAK FROM THE RAIN


Those of you who have been reading this for a while will know the problems I had earlier in the year capturing our pair of breeding Nuthatches with my previous camera. On Wednesday, I was skulking in the kitchen photographing Great Tits feeding on our bird porridge, when this little beauty appeared in the viewfinder. I couldn't believe my luck. They are so stunning; like dull coloured little kingfishers I think. I'm hoping they'll be back nesting next year so the new camera can work its magic then too. By the way, in answer to a couple of queries on the subject, yes - I do take the pictures through the window, which is not that clean I'm ashamed to say!   Here it is again from behind and some of the Great Tits....







Taking off!

The rain and wind yesterday were like nothing I've ever witnessed before. When I took poor Trigger his hay at dusk, he nearly took off as the wind got under his rug. He just stood there looking horrified and unable to move. I had to shout to get him to snap out of his weather induced trance and get him to follow me under the trees. I nearly got blown over by horizontal hailstones and was drenched in seconds when I left the house. This morning, in the calm before the next battering, there was a channel left by the cascading water in the field through the fallen leaves which had scoured the earth of any vegetation. Our neighbour's greenhouse has been shattered and there are bits of snapped tree everywhere. Snippet and I had our first decent walk for days but I fear it'll just be some frenetic stick throwing fairly close to home again tomorrow. It was impossible to use a camera yesterday so here are some pictures from today's more clement moments....



Strange skies early this morning


Rainbow over Kestor


Rainsmudge



Not to be fallen into!




The rain coming the day before yesterday


A cloud caterpillar escaping from a grey cloud this afternoon


The tiny figure on top gives a sense of scale to the tip of Kestor in the distance


Close up of where he was standing


And Snippet does the same scale thing for the stone rows that looked monolithic in the last post but are actually pretty small 


Before I go, a word about our hopeless car. It's a Renault Megane and we bought it new when Origami boy was a baby because it came top in the safety tests at the time. Neurotic first child nerves!  However.....what a nightmare it's been. Just after the warranty ran out, the entire (diesel) fuel system failed on the way to a hospital appointment on the A30. After much wrangling with head office, Renault agreed to pay 90% of the costs because it had only done 15,000 miles which still left us with a bill of over £1,000. The total costs were almost as much as the car cost in the first place! For the nearly eight years we've had it, the electrics have been useless. The electric windows don't work for weeks at a time and then spring back into life. The front left indicator bulb blows within a couple of days of replacing it so we just don't bother any more. The headlamps blow every six months. The air-conditioning doesn't work any more. Half the dial illuminations don't work so that you have to grope about in the dark to adjust the heating and usually end up turning up the radio by mistake. Then to cap it all, the wind screen wipers stopped working on Wednesday which, given the rain we've been having, mean't it was not possible to drive it. Luckily, we also have a fairly beaten up Land Rover Defender which gets us out of here if we're otherwise snowed in, so I was able to drive that. Then the wipers sprang back into life later that day. I wish we had the money to replace it but we just don't, so the electrical saga will carry on. I wonder if anyone else has such problems with their vehicles??? Do tell! Until next time, sorry about so many pictures but, believe me, they were heavily edited! Have a great weekend and I hope it isn't raining wherever you are because it will be here...........




9 comments:

  1. Lovely photos - I love the moor in any weather (though it's drier to look at your photos than be out in some of the weather we've had in the last couple of days!)

    Poor Trigger with the wind under his rug - I don't blame him for being so horrified.

    Great bird photos. What make is your new camera? When we finally move I intend to get a much better one than I have that does decent close-ups too. Glad that you got the Nuthatches at long last.

    Sorry to hear about your Renault Megane. Sounds like the car from hell and I bet you can't wait to replace it. Meanwhile, much gritting of teefs . . .

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  2. The pictures are beautiful, Em, as always.

    Earlier this year I rescued a baby nuthatch that had got itself caught by its foot in the frame of the greenhouse. Gorgeous little thing! It revived after 5 minutes or so on the bird table and flew off.

    But I noticed it had a strange white patch above one eye, so I can recognise it now when it returns.

    Take care in the weather, as you say more to come.

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  3. First off your photos are fantastic per usual, and I can't imagine how long it takes you to upload them on to here. Secondly I surely hear you on your vehicle woes.. my Crabby Cabbie had 3 major problems with 2 of our vehicles all within 24 hrs ! He had barely made it home last nite as the transmission was going and the other one was still in the shop! and a new employee to be starting today. *Sigh* the one we are giving up on as it would be like throwing good money in after bad ... yes very costly vehicles are to have and there always seem to be a Lemon or 2 in the bunch. Keep the faith Em, you are not alone xx

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  4. Lovely photo of the Nuthatch! I must confess my photos of the birds and deer are through a window also! Only way I can get close enough to the deer, otherwise they would smell me and be off.

    Your Renault definitely is a lemon. Don't they have "lemon laws" across the pond? A car with all those problems would fall under the lemon law here and the dealer would have to make good the problems or replace.

    We've had a lovely warm week but it's to change tonight~

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  5. BB - It's a Fuji again; a Finepix SL300. It's a bridge camera which suits me very well. Teefs definitely gritted!

    Rusty Duck - Perhaps you'll get a picture of it sometime; I'd love to see it.

    Cindy - Thank you....glad I'm not alone and at least it's still got a working engine....touch wood.

    Gail - I think the problem with the lemon is that it's now nearly eight years old and isn't considered the responsibility of the manufacturer any more.

    Glad I'm not the only window photographer! Hope it doesn't get too cold for you!

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  6. beautiful photos again Em! My camera ids also a Fuji, its my second one and ive always been happy with them...

    Leanne x
    talesofsimpledays.blogspot.com

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  7. I think you get used to a camera and tend not to want to test out anything else. My partner has a Nikon but I'm not to be tempted away from Fuji.

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  8. The weather sounds terrible on the moors and poor Trigger must have had a fright.
    I like a good old fashioned car, with gears, no electrics; for instance one heated seat in our car does not work anymore, three hundred pounds to put it right, which will never happen at that price, but why put it in in the first place? I used to see the ground through the floor of my old mini years ago ;)

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  9. I remember being able to see through the floor of my mum's mini in the late sixties too. Agree with you about the gears. I ponce tried driving an automatic....never again!

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