Day 236 - The Mighty Tree Sparrow

case to rest

I don't know about you, but I thought I detected a hint of scepticism in Andy's comments on a recent post about local birds.

I'd mentioned that we have tree sparrows in the garden, but had failed to provide documentary evidence, and so apparently had not done enough to offload the burden of proof. 

Tree sparrows are much less common than house sparrows, and so I suppose it was fair to demand photographic evidence of my evidently bold claim.

Well, it's taken a while, but as I was getting dressed for work this morning, I spotted this little chap sitting high in the hedgerow just a few metres from our bedroom window.  

"I'm sure that's a tree sparrow!", I exclaimed, immediately failing to grasp the significance and rushing to grab the DSLR...fortunately Anna was there to point this out to me, so I dashed downstairs to get the camera and rattled off a few shots.

It seems I still had a reasonable dose of the usual morning fuzzy-headedness, as I completely forgot to adjust anything at all on the camera...so the pictures aren't great, to be honest...

...but that is definitely a tree sparrow!

cheeky chappy

This is a juvenile, but still you can clearly see the brown cap and the tell-tale dark dot on the cheek.

Thanks Andy, I accept your apology!  ;-)

Moving on...our walk down the lane this evening was notable in a variety of ways.

Firstly, it was distinct from our usual walks in that we hardly walked, instead deciding to travel by skateboard (or is it technically a long board...or both?).

This was good fun, despite getting a slightly scary wobble on at the steepest, fastest part of the lane, trying to avoid random stones thrown all over the road by recent harvesting traffic. 

Down at the bottom of the valley (sans decent camera, of course), we came across the beautiful sight of a pair of deer wandering across the stubble in the evening sunshine. 

At least I had my phone with me, so I got the proof (cough, Andy...) although pretty much failed to capture any hint of the atmosphere...

not too dear

Finally, I got my first 'boarding injury!!

ouch stings

As it happened, this wasn't from careering (or is it careening? Actually, both!!) down the hill, out of control...it was from doing tricks outside the front door...or trying to, at least.

Ok, ok, I was failing to do tricks outside the front door...or is it the back door?  That's a matter of some controversy! 

"What on earth are you doing skateboarding?!" I hear you cry...

Well, I'm not really sure, but I think it has something to do with my age...and a hefty dollop of denial thereof. 

Bah humbug!

B-/