King of the Birdtable

or maybe Queen





The Magpie is now a regular visitor.

Yesterday I heard a Mistle Thrush singing. The first time this year.
Hearing one and actually seeing it are two very different things.

Prickly Colour

Nice to see a bit of colour indoors as well as outdoors.



Cheers me up no end.

Monday Mystery

Some good guesses for last week's mystery object



I do have a couple of wheelbarrows but this



was correctly identified by Adrian, The Veg Artist, Kris, Ellen and A Brit in Tennessee as a garden cart / wagon / barrow. Well done and many thanks to all who had a go. I find it much easier to handle than the wheelbarrows. Less strain on the arms and I don't have to tilt it round corners or balance it when the load shifts. This version has a nice tipping action.



A new puzzler for you



It you think you know what it is please leave your guess in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

That Fallen Tree

At last a bit more of the trunk has been removed.
The footpath is now clear.



Also it now clear as to why the tree was weak enough to be felled by Storm Ciara.



One can see right through the bottom section.
Also most of the roots are rotten through.

Magpie at the Bird Table

When there is food about a Magpie will find a way to get at it.



Especially when it is a suet block filled with dried mealworms.
No sound on this video.

Monday Mystery

Well, here we are, still in one piece despite storms Ciara and Dennis.
Locally we have suffered mainly from strong, gusty winds with just an inch of rain.
I'm sure I heard that, at the time of writing, there is the highest ever number of flood alerts.
Combined flood alerts, warnings and severe warnings total over 600. Just for England.

Anyway, on to the mystery photo from last Monday



which was correctly identified by Adrian, the Veg Artist, Ellen D, A Brit in Tennessee and Kris as part of



a hanging basket / planter. Well done and thanks to all who had a go.

I had three of these. As each storm approached I took them down to store safely in the greenhouse as the plastic 'ropes' didn't look very strong to me. In fact one broke as I lifted the hook from the bracket dumping the contents on the ground and smashing the plastic pot. A lesson to be learned there. Stick to using traditional metal chain hangers.

For the new mystery you have five close views



of what?

If you would like to make a guess please leave it in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

A Hairy One

Moving a few items round in the garden so there was less chance of them taking off in the strong winds from Storm Dennis I was quite surprised to see



a hairy caterpillar curled up among the inevitable scurry of pill bugs.

One possibility is that it is the caterpillar of the Ruby Tiger Moth.
I have previously seen the moths in my garden but  I could well be wrong.