SEPTEMBER BITS AND PIECES

From 600 to this. Still too many but I may carry on editing as I caption. I imagine you will have to whisk through them - sorry!  

We saw these lovely Highland cattle yesterday. It was pretty warm in the sunshine so they must have been sweltering.

These next ones are the various evening skies I captured during the brief walks after supper with the dogs. During the real summer months, M has time to take them out for much longer ones but now that's all over and they've slipped into winter mode, sleeping all evening by the fire.

A ruffled Wheatear:

The Great Spotted Woodpecker appeared briefly on the feeder:

And a male Chaffinch; the breeding colours faded now:

The Meadow Pipits are flocking at this time of year, with over a hundred of them soaring around Kestor. This did not photograph well but here are a few on what I thought looked like 'The Singing Ringing Tree', if you remember that Euro-classic TV programme:

A couple more Pipits:

A Magpie eating ticks off a sheep's back:

Crow:

Green Grasshopper:

Meadow Grasshopper:

Bright Eye. These are SO tiny as to be nearly invisible unless you're deliberately looking for them:

Jess from Rusty Duck ( http://www.rustyduck.net/ ) on a visit here. We had a lovely walk to the river. I realise, having blown this up, that it looks as though she's weeping but is actually taking a very lovely photograph:

Scorhill (pronounced Scorril) stone circle that day. There was someone sitting to the right so you don't get the full effect:

She had her eye on us.....

Speckled Wood on the washing:

I only put this appalling photo in because It's the best I've achieved in I don't know how many years of of Snipe hunting, and I mean that in a photographic sense obviously, not for the pot. I disturb them constantly and have never even got a blurry image until now.....could do better:

Enchanting sheep:

A pair of Kestrels have been breeding up at Kestor this year and I've been watching them with their two surviving offspring, hunting together over the summer. The last month is the first time I've managed to get any pictures of them though, and not brilliant ones at that. Obviously they're all ones of them hovering; such an awe inspiring sight:

This is my absolute favourite. The bird was at least a quarter of a mile away and the background is at least two miles away:

And to lower the tone, some beautiful dung fungus. they seem to grow exclusively on cow dung. No accounting for taste. 

The deciduous grasses are fading fast:

OB's Christmas decoration....there will be many more I hope:

I think this is a Sea King; I love that heat haze around it:

Ponies on the move:

Meerdog on the right:

Snippet just before everything started to go brown and it was still seriously hot:

More recent; a lot less green but no shorter:

Jack with a good vantage point:

I love the Meadow Pipit in the background here:

If you haven't fallen asleep by now after all that, I'll talk briefly about the Skype call from GOSH. It too over an hour, which was impressive in itself, and they went through all the results of their tests and observations. We now have and absolute and definite diagnosis for Aspergers, or a high functioning ASD as I believe it might be termed now. All this changing of names for things drives me mad. This means we can go forward with trying to get OB a statement of special educational needs. Ah - no - that's changed and is now called a DAF which apparently stands for Devon Assessment Framework. What it means is that, at the point where OB changes schools, there should be access to someone to help him through it, should it be necessary. Previously he would have had to have three statements, one for Tourettes, one for Aspergers and one for his amazing maths ability so I suppose this will be better....we hope. It feels scary to have to go back to our local services to do anything after our previous experience but, with back up from GOSH, we're hoping we might achieve results a bit quicker. We only have 11 months and they'll be gone in no time. They will send through a written report very soon with their recommendations which will be sent to everyone down here. 

So, if you're still with me, have a great week and until next time, here are those naughty boys speeding towards the camera.

BITS AND PIECES 7

For the past few days, despite the forecasters speaking of mini heatwaves, we have been shrouded in mist until just before dusk, when the sky clears for a few hours until the mist descends again. We wake in Autumn, retire in summer again.

The building of the scaffolding tower went well and the gutter is clear, if in need of fixing properly, which is the next task. I'm not going to include a picture of scaffolding so here are the birds who are pretty miffed at having had their feeding station moved, though not as miffed as I was to find half my hardy geraniums dug out so as to accommodate the mighty tower. Hmmm. Most were taken in the mist or rain, hence slight blurriness - sorry.

One of the young Great Tits

If Chaffinches did vanity, this one would be very upset about this picture

I like the raindrops bouncing off her back here

One of the young Blue Tits

A fraction of the Sparrow flock

Seeing off a Chaffinch

That Chaffinch is not scared of Sparrows

My hoop

Foal B - it's been a while since I saw any of those early foals

I remember thinking I would remember this one because of its tiny white hind socks

Fungi have started appearing, not in huge numbers yet, but lovely to see. I have no idea what they are. I wish I did. The only certain one is the second: the ubiquitous Dung Fungus. Nice. 

I spotted some of these lovely red flowering lichen yesterday. They are absolutely TINY. Cladonia Bellidiflora I think.

Yesterday the moor looked like this:

Today, like this:

Much nicer. 

Flying dog:

A tree nearby has fallen over the stream and I was able to get close to the fabulous lichens growing on the twigs and branches.

I'm sitting here cursing as the digital TV signal keeps dropping out as I try and watch the Great British Bake Off. The tea-loaves have gone but I can still hear them talking....no - lost the sound too now. Grrrr. What was wrong with an analogue signal? 

Until next time, here are two pictures I found on a CD which I think you may like. Why did I ever think Snippet was going to be short haired? He was three months old here and had been with us for a week.