Sunday walk

 

 

It's Sunday and time for a walk on this beautiful sunny day. No butterflies today and few insects now that most wildflowers have died out. There are some interesting birds but most I am unable to identify. I startle a wren hunkered down in the roadside grass as I approach and wonder if it was in a nest but find nothing. Several very small mystery birds tease me, flitting from branch to branch as I try unsuccessfully to capture them.

The unmistakable call of woodpeckers is everywhere. A great spotted woodpecker hammers the bark off a tree, bits flying everywhere, no doubt in search of insects. I also see a green woodpecker and take some shots, but either I forgot to focus or the auto-focus failed. Either way all I am left with are ghostly images of a green fuzzy thing with a long beak perched on a tree stump. Undoubtedly a green woodpecker, if not a prize winning photo.

Meanwhile walking through a forest of ferns a European glass lizard emerges from the undergrowth below my feet. It stops to pose briefly then moves on and disappears back into the undergrowth. I guess it was about half a meter long but by no means the biggest I have seen. All in all fairly uneventful but the fungi are still thriving and back home my tomatoes taste amazing, just how I remember tomatoes used to taste. They are small but really pack a punch!