Let's Dance, Let's Bounce ........

Hello folks
I'm so grateful for the masses of helpful advice on starting my garden adventures.  Thank you all:)

Brrr, just when we thought it was safe to discard the thermal layer

it's sub-zero frrreezing again.  Ah well, no sign of snow here so at least we can get out and about.  Anyone not in the U.K. may be unaware that the slightest twinkle of white stuff is all it takes to bring this great nation completely to it's knees.  And then some.  Ah but we do love a nice wintery scene, be it a greetings card, calendar picture, or a blog post.  

We do have some signs of spring around magical meadows, oh yes.  
These include boy Blackbirds taking each other on in the my-beak-is-bigger-more-yellow-and-shiney-than-yours dancing competition for territory and girls.  
Very entertaining to observe through my kitchen window.  
And the Jackdaws are pairing up.  Up above the High Street on the chimney pots where they love to nest, I saw two Jackdaws kissing, as I waited for my bus yesterday.  Hey, that could be the start of a nursery rhyme....Two Jackdaws kissing....hmm.
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I'm still waiting to spot the first snowdrops.  I remember last year they were later than usual and that was a very cold and snowy winter too.  Shouldn't be long now though.  And best of all, the past three mornings I've had my wake-up call from the Dawn Chorus.  Each day a little louder and more exuberant than the one before. It really sets me up well hearing all the different birds chiming in with their part.  Marvellous!
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One of my favourite things is to go out and about watching the birds.  Most of my life I enjoyed being outdoors walking the hills and dales here in the north of England.  But somehow, when I was out in nature it was animals, rather, mammals that I watched for.  A walk was a disappointment if I didn't spot a weasel or a squirrel, or some reindeer.........

But birds?

Birds just didn't cross my radar (lol)!

Then, one day in August 2007 we were camping in the Scottish Highlands.  Up on the Cairngorm Mountains, we were holed-up in our car on a mountain road, eating our supper and playing scrabble (!) as we waited-out a dismal and very cold drizzle-and-mist evening squall.  Out of my window I saw a tiny bird.  I watched it for ages, as fascination grew.  I was knocked sideways by it's beauty.  I wondered at it's markings, the tiny orange legs and beak and black and white  face mask.  I marvelled at how something so small could possibly find it's way up onto this arctic tundra and survive. I was amazed. 
And, ok this might be the wisdom of age (I am very old), I tell you, at that moment, 

my quality of life soared.

And I finally got birds!
(I later found out this was a Ringed Plover, passing through on a summer holiday from Greenland or Canada!)
The following day we climbed to the top of Cairngorm itself.  Quite a busy spot, with hikers and munro baggers (strange breed of homosapien) and all.  And there on the rock-field, on a gale-blown landscape..........oh my word!

You'll have to zoom in really close, but I promise you - it's there,
 right slap bang in the middle a tiny snow bunting! 
One of only a hundred breeding pairs resident here.

Life without my birds? No thanks.

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Talking about quality of life, reminds me, something's changed around here.  

Over the past three or four years I've had to cut back on the walking and swimming and general enjoying moving around, keeping fit, getting fitter activities.  

Life got pretty miserable for a time.  

But yesterday, after a very difficult few months

and all thanks to the wonder that is the National Health Service,  

I finally got the eight-weeks-post-op all clear and fit to exercise I was waiting for OH YEAH! 

(Does that include trampolining, I asked :p Of course they said, no problem!)

So, my daily routine will pick up a bit of pace now.  Some speed walking.  A dip and a dive.  A bouncy turn or two.  And before you know it - look out mountains, here I come!

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Yes, ok, I'll take it slow to start with, don't worry.  After all, I am very old.

Have a good day all

See you soon;)

pamela

xxx

Birds and wildlife encounters today:

1.  A fantastic Sparrowhawk swooping across the gardens after a lunch of small birdies  (and staying long enough perched on a post for me and Dad to both get out our binoculars for a very good long look at impressive plumage, talons, yellow beady eyes and beak:)
2.  A near-miss with a fox streaking across the road in front of us on our full-moon-lit drive home - whoops! too close Mr fox (in pursuit of his first mate maybe?)