Courtship

I picked my daughter up from work this morning, which was quite a painful experience, as I had to drive past a lot of photo opportunities due to the valleys being full of mist. I eventually got her back home and jumped onto the bike to get a view down the river to the bridges at Plymouth. Unfortunately, I missed the mist! It was just withdrawing from the river. I took some shots anyway and then came back home again. Probably the best bit was hearing skylarks singing for the first time this year. There are lots of hopeful signs of spring.

With the weather being pleasant, in the afternoon, I thought I'd try a bit of gardening, so I put the macro lens on in case anything interesing turned up and just as I reach the bottom of the steps, four buzzards began circling over the village. Back up I dashed for the telephoto, but by the time I had got back out and changed the lens, they were higher than they had been. Nevertheless, I took some shots and managed to get the one above as a pair of them came together. It's heavily cropped and won't stand too much enlargement, but it shows how acrobatic they can be.

I spent most of the afternoon in the garden - cutting back the laurel hedge, pulling up some of the (spanish) bluebells which tend to take over, so that a little clump of lupins which I planted last year might stand a chance, and I actually dug over the vegetable plot. A very achieving day. And we've got even more frogspawn.