Not sure what this sweet Portuguese warbler is but she had such a lovely song. And stayed quite still for ages perched in a thorn bush as we were walking along the river bank into Alvor.
These seagulls are not really under any threat
from this little pussy cat,
who made a beeline for us and a small group of tourists who were watching him with amusement
from the town wall.
I loved the wild flowers everywhere...
including these lupins which we don't see in November.....
but the rich caramel and ochre of the cliffs are always the same.
This morning.
7am - I wake to a white hoar frost covering the grass
and the roofs of garage and summer house.
It's definitely a morning for hot porridge for breakfast - Indian style with lots of cardamon, cinnamon, fresh turmeric and ginger, roasted nuts and seeds, coconut oil, tahini, almond milk and maple syrup.
It keeps me going all day - like that old 'Ready Brek' advertisement...
The early sun doesn't stay long though and cold April showers keep me indoors till midday when I return to the rose bed and continue my weeding - not in a sun hat this time but in coat and scarf and wellies.
Soon after my gardener turns up and lops down an old straggly fuschia bush and a leggy spirea outside my study window which has always obscured the view of the stream bank and the far end of the garden. I ask him to leave the lopsided lilac tree till it has flowered. And the hydrangea which is already coming into leaf.
I thought I'd feel more exposed on the patio without their thick screening but it feels clearer, lighter.
My main concern is that I've destroyed a bird habitat. They were always nipping to and from the bird feeders from the safety of the long whippy branches. At least they still have the leaning lilac tree.
The first bluebells in the bank outside the kitchen ...I know they aren't English but I still love them.
This afternoon I spotted a new notice pinned to the telegraph pole in the road outside my house. There has been an old one there since I came, informing us of the proposed building of the five houses in the field next door.(The men have stopped clearing the land for the time being so peace has returned).
This new notice is an amendment to the planning application - can be viewed during office hours . So I drove to the local council offices to see what I could find out.
Which turned out to be nothing as the website was rather confusing, the woman helping me wasn't very au fait with it all, I can't control a mouse with a computer any more and I realised I could have done it online at home anyway.
Which I will do when I've got the mental energy to do the research.
This evening, keeping warm in the kitchen with the oven on, I'm sitting at the table and look up from the email I'm writing to see this large shape swoop in and land on the hook of the bird feeder.
My camera is right by my elbow. It's the first time I've seen this bird. I know exactly what it is..
a sparrow hawk. A deadly hunter. It can capture a small bird, like a blue tit, in mid flight, with its quick yellow legs and razor sharp black talons.
Death, superior in speed and strength comes stalking out of the sky.
Out of the blue.
And death took Robin while he was in mid- flight.
All that life he still wanted to live.
With me.
And I couldn't catch his fall.
Only watch and wait and love.
I know you can't ambush death,
make a bargain with it,
but even though they told me it would be soon,
it came too soon for me,
out of the blue like that,
my man gone
snatched away
in sparrow hawk
claws.
Too soon.
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