Wayne Manor | quercuscommunity

Today, as usual, I had such plans. But that was 14 hours ago and apart from cooking and washing up I have frittered the day away in watching TV and eating cake. And it was meant to be such a productive day . . .

My email system is playing up again, showing duplicate messages then going haywire when I try to access them. I’m not sure why it happens, but it was randomly done this since they had a major programme of “improvements” several years ago. I would change systems, but it would involve a lot of messing about changing the email addresses that I use for various things.

It’s the same sort of reason I avoid several necessary changes in my life, and is something I need to address this year. If we move in the next few years it will be forced on my anyway. Same with our landline – we are going to full fibre internet with BT and can save money by having the landline removed. As it is basically only used by nuisance callers, one of the neighbours and Julia’s older brother, that will be easy enough to change.

Eventually I suppose that if I use my mobile number more it will become infested with the verminous nuisance callers, but I will cope with that when the time comes. I will have to learn to use the call blocking feature and hope I have better luck than the time I tried to sort out my email spam problem. It did work, but it also cut out everyone using a gmail account, which was a touch inconvenient until I realised what I had done.

A local fox has been hitting the headlines recently – the video quality is poor but the content is awesome. And when I say “awesome” I mean it in the proper sense of inspiring awe, not the typical debased modern usage. Julia saw it on the news and passed the link on to me.

She also provided the header picture, which is Wollaton Hall, or Wayne Manor in the The Dark Knight Rises.

I’ve never seen a Dunnock on a feeder before, but after several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to catch a picture of this one on the floor and in a willow arch I was lucky to catch it on the feeder. It took several beakfuls of peanut, hiding behind the feeder all the time, before striking this pose and then flying off.

One chance. One shot. Sorry it isn’t more interesting but it’s all I could get.

I’m sure it’s not the only Dunnock to use a feeder, just the only one I’ve seen. Has anyone else seen them on feeders?

Last week, whilst walking to work, Eddie spotted a group of four parakeets near Wollaton Park. They seem to be growing in numbers, having been reported in ones and twos over the years. We saw a single bird on the farm on two occasions a few years back. (If the Hall in the link looks familiar you may know it better as “Wayne Manor” from the latest Batman film.)

These photos are some I took in the Mencap Gardens yesterday. The snowdrops aren’t showing and there don’t seem to be any crocuses, but the daffodils are coming on nicely. This calls for a planting binge at some point in the year.