Last visit of the year to Rye Meads

And so my last visit of the year to Rye Meads.

The forecast for today had been better but by the time I arrived it was clouding over and by the time I left it was raining!

There wasn't a lot of bird life about either, highlights being Bullfinch, Lapwing and Little Grebe. There was a Buzzard  near St Andrew's church just before I got to the reserve.

The other highlight was a Stoat/Weasel.

Sorry not a single photo!

Not nice out there

Well I woke at ridiculous o'clock so I ended up having a very lazy few hours listening to Radio 3 and finishing my book.

So what to do ? The weather is grey and windy ........ so I ended up at Hatfield Forest for a brief look. I have to say although it was not nice out there it was also good to get out.

No that's not the lake! And yes there was someone fishing!

Not sure what's going on here!

A mini waterfall...........

Oh birds? Teal, Tufty, Cormorants, Mallards, Canada Geese and at least 4 Great Crested Grebe

Christmas come and gone.

And so that was Christmas...... I must admit the alarm going off this morning was a bit of a shocker.....

The weather was atrocious here.

Dad and I went for a ride Christmas Eve alas no pics but Dad enjoyed getting out. Christmas Day rained oh and it rained!

Went to the sales Boxing day didn't buy anything though. The sun was shining in the morning but by the afternoon the clouds had come up. I did venture out.

A lone berry!

Local war memorial.....

Local pub.....

The brook usually is just a trickle....

And that was that!

The telly was flipping awful boxing day! I did enjoy Dr Who, much better than last year.

Lets hope the weather is better this weekend.

Happy Christmas

Well a Happy Christmas to you gentle reader.....

I've adjourning to my Dad's for a few days.  I dare say it will be a lazy few days but if the weather relents my camera and I may end up somewhere....

Mistletoe Spreading

Apparently Mistletoe is spreading across Britain and according to a story I read in the I Newspaper this is due to the Blackcap spending its winter in the UK.

Apparently Mistletoe is one of the Blackcaps favourite food and  the Blackcaps habit of separating out the seeds and wiping them directly on to tree branches is helping mistletoe to spread.

The Streets of London

And so we come to the last musical Sunday of the year.

We didn't visit the nicest parts of London but I wanted to get a Camera bag.... mission accomplished!

Given all the money spent on Oxford Street ..............

The sign in the left hand window seems kind of apt....

St Margaret's Church is lovely......

The concert at the Wigmore Hall was the Heath Quartet playing

Mozart's String Quartet in Eb K428
Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No 3 in Eb minor Op 30

They are quite young but really interact well and felt like a unit not a group of individual musicians. One of the best concerts of the year for me.