A visitor

I was walking past the landing window when larger than usual movement outside caught my eye.

If we're lucky we catch a bird of prey in action. Often we have a couple of woodpeckers, but the only evidence of this visitor is usually footprints in the snow or a ripped bin bag, if we're stupid enough to leave one outside.

Picture isn't great, as it's through glass.

He pottered about at the bottom of the garden for ages.

The hawk's deliberate stoop in air

Unseasonally warm at 12 degrees C today.

We walked at Saltholme and watched a Marsh Harrier hunting. She was too fast to capture on the wing with my camera, but posed at rest in the tallest tree.

Last week we saw Waxwings there, but they seem to have moved on, having stripped every tree of its berries.

A year in some pictures

Nearly the end of another year.

I don't really know why I stopped blogging - I enjoyed it. It almost feels like a friendship breakdown. The longer you leave it, the harder it is to pick up the phone.

2012 brought a year of consolidation, really. No huge excitements, but steady contentment, I suppose.

We reworked some areas in the garden, but got hardly any use from them as the summer weather was so bad.

We enjoyed the Olympic coverage, but less so the Jubilee.

One of our neighbours decided to tackle the squirrel situation with a gun, to our horror. However, they came back, which makes me very happy.

I eroded my fear of heights a little.

Our woodpeckers had a baby, who continues to visit most days, but is very difficult to photograph.

J and I explored more possible escape locations across Yorkshire.

I decided it was time to go grey disgracefully!

Awww...

And we thought we were in the clear!

It snowed quite hard last night.

When J went out this morning, the garden was full of fox footprints. We played CSI Fox tracking where they had been - there was more than one. The garden has a secret life all of it's own at night. I seem to spend so much of each night awake but still miss it.

Shivery!

Well, after wondering if we were going to get away without really having a winter, the weather starting to deteriorate a bit over the past week.
J and I got up early one morning to visit the RSPB Saltholme reserve in the hope of seeing short eared owls or marsh harriers. We didn't find them, but watched a flock of Barnacale Geese land on one of the lakes. It is very beautiful at this time of year.

 

In knitting news:

I finished a pair of socks for my brother, P, while on the train to and from the BETT show in Olympia. I enjoyed the show and it was a good day out with a colleague, but I know I couldn't do a really long commute like that every day (or even every week)! I did enjoy explaining how I got the socks to (more or less match) to the chap sitting opposite us on the return trip.

Then I finally finished my Hitchhiker scarf, in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga. This is gorgeous yarn. I was aiming for 42 points, but managed 36 - not quite the ultimate answer.

Next, I knitted up another hat - need to keep the wind off my ears these days. This one is in my hand-dyed, handspun yarn (merino, alpaca and silk). If I look wrinkly and knackered, it's because I am wrinkly and knackered all the time these days.

Stormy

J has gone off to repair a friend's fence, which blew down yesterday. Good to see he is getting such early use out of his new Christmas drill/driver!

Yesterday was so stormy. There was a brief lull in the wind and rain in the early afternoon. We headed out to the beach - I was feeling a bit stir crazy. It was deserted except for us and the sea birds. We watched a little colony of turnstones fighting to stay upright in the wind.

 

Delicious autumn

A lovely cold, crisp morning. Hardly a hint of a breeze for a change.
J and I headed off to Saltholme bird sanctuary for this morning's walk.