Rain

Of the softly dripping constant variety - just what the thirsty soil and plants needed.  Then we had a brief very heavy downpour late in the evening.

Squatters?

I'll add a picture of the 'neighbours' from Mill Pool Cottage

all ready to fledge in early May! 

More birds...

Moor-chicks, and goslings - greylag geese (?) at the boating lake. A goldfinch on the telegraph wire in front of next-door's house.  Lots of martins flying around, though none has claimed the nest under our eaves so far.

Then two red kites who disappeared as soon as I thought 'camera'.

Middleton Railway

 Inside one of the locos in the Engine House.

It's changed from the 'everyone heaped in an open truck' days - oh - 35 years ago.

On Saturday you can ride by diesel power to Park Halt, where you have the chance to see the loco uncoupled from the carriages and routed via points to the other end of the train. On Sundays the train is pulled by steam.
We had a wander through the woods, where the bluebells were pretty well over, the odd red campion was showing, and speedwells were plentiful.

I finished the day with a cup of tea and a couple of postcards, and stocked up with mini biscuits before taking an almost hidden slip road to the M621, heading East, via the M62 and then the A1 South.

A bullfinch

In Golden Acre Park, Leeds.  The first I have seen for some time, and startlingly bright, with a black head.  I was chuffed to get a recognisable photo of it, though small,  but alas it is blurred. Too blurred to keep, and post.Two other birds - I think were green woodpeckers, though I'm more used to seeing these singly in more open ground.

So here's a pic of the fountain near the cafe area.

and a blast from the past:

Alas, he didn't have hair of such a glorious colour - more of a dirty blond at the time. ;-)

Gliding

At Sibbertoft, near Husbands Bosworth, Leics.

My second time,  pulled up from a winch to 1600 feet in a few seconds.  The crack of the cable releasing. The glider flattens, and you grab back your stomach to watch the scenery around and below.
Views as far as the Malverns, Bradgate Park and Corby.

Coming in to land

Glider down below

...and a poem from prompts (19.6.2011)

by any reckoning

this was no weather to fly

cross-winds meant danger

to an unpowered machine

wait a week, they said

so we did

by their reckoning

it was fair weather to fly

the wind was head on

giving lift to glide

come along this evening, they said

so we did

strapped inside

glider wired to the winch

stretched, tense, taut

the machine moved

faster

up

steeply

stomach?

a thousand

fifteen hundred

feet

bang

the wire drops off

we float on air

no noise but wind

below us

a tapestry

stitched with silks

and woolen thread

the earth

the wings tilt to turn

nose down

or up

and round

ready to land

with a bump

so short

and now

it’s time to sing in doorways

and wait for the next time.

Easy bird-watching

This guy must be the one from two years ago who lost all his head feathers - skullcap we called him, though maybe capless would have been better.
Bold as brass, and perching on the shed roof waiting for raisins.

This hen may or may not be his mate, but they certainly know where the food is.

Leicester

A new shopping mall, the old Guildhall and cathedral complete with notice 'Parking for the Bishop'.
Posh restaurants and an empty pub with soft white rolls to eat.
Watching the traffic while walking across the bridge, part of New Walk.
A pause in the park - an Oval oasis.
A trip to the Art Gallery and a tiny bit of shopping.
Photos by the man in the computer shop - nice close-ups of a moth and a frog among others.
Variety - I shoulda taken my camera too.