A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'L'

My A-Z posts this year are based on my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies - with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat somewhat – a sort of wish they were here.

L – Linnet, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Lupin, Lily

Hail to thee, blithe spirit!

It would have been easy to find a verse for a skylark but I haven’t seen this bird for years. However a species that appeared in the garden this winter is another that inspired Wordsworth to write:

Linnet

Thou, Linnet! In thy green array,

Presiding Spirit here to-day,

Dost lead the revels of the May;

And this is thy dominion.

Bird strikes are quite common on the windows of our home. 

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

This fellow was a bit worse for wear as a result. At the time I had been surprised to see what I thought was a female lesser spotted woodpecker clinging to a sturdy foxglove in the garden. Unfortunately it flew as soon as it sensed my movement at our lounge window. Then I saw the male bird, stunned on the path beneath the window, which it had apparently struck leaving a small contact outline. Initially its head was hunched in its shoulders, its eyes were closed and its beak gaping open. Over the next three-quarters of an hour it slowly recovered. During this time I managed to get a number of photos including the one above. However when it became more lively and I tried to get one more shot, it clung to the adjacent garden wall and within a few seconds it had gone. Its flight path was straight in the same direction as the earlier female bird.

I still see woodpeckers from time to time in adjacent sycamore trees and even attacking the peanuts not put out for them. You will have to wait for ‘W’ to one of those.

Lupins

My corner thronging with lupins bloom

Today I slouch here, with the dispelled gloom.

Colourful nostalgic thoughts fresh as morning dew

Lupins-- my first love its no one but you!

With the lupins, a single flower competes:

Lily

 The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.

OK! OK! I’ll acknowledge that my lily is not white so please accept this one instead

Lily

 Poems:

• To a Skylark – Percy Bysshe Shelley
• The Green Linnet – William Wordsworth
• The Lupins Corner – Supratim
• The Lily – William Blake

Photo attribution:

• Linnet - Mindaugas Urbonas; CC BY-SA 2.5

Somewhat worse for wear - Thematic Photography

Currently we are being warned of a potential disaster for  ash trees in the UK. The Chalara fraxinea fungus may cause millions of ash trees to be lost from what is becoming known as 'ash die back.'

The tree in my first picture is an ash tree that is somewhat the worse for wear, battered by storms and apparently dead.

Dead Ash Tree - Kirklevington hedgerow

This tree is not a victim of ash die back as there has been no cases reported in the area. However on closer inspection the tree is not as dead as it looks supporting as it does -

Fungus on the trunk

Beefsteak fungus

The tree's bark may be the worse for wear but the fungi are not.

This little fellow has appeared before when Carmi's theme was red but he was definitely somewhat worse for wear when he flew into our lounge window early one morning.

Lesser spotted woodpecker

He recovered after a while a flew away, but not in a very straight line.

Recovering but still groggy

We can't claim to have had the winds of Hurricane Sandy but a Cornish storm had this effect on a garden shed.

Fowey 2008

I've written about my daughter's dogs before. Currently Lily is somewhat sorry for herself.

Lily (plus Elizabethan collar)

This was after an overnight stay at an animal hospital where she went somewhat worse for wear with a nasty injury.

Lily's back leg

She was found in this condition when my daughter arrived home from work. We have still to established how it happened.

To see if others are worse for wear don't forget to visit Carmi at Thematic photographic 219

 

Seeing Red - Thematic Photography

In meeting the weekly themes set by Carmi I'm seeing things and interpreting photos in a different way than was intented when they were taken. Here's some that have me 'Seeing Red.'

Anemone

This plant has been in our garden for a long time, but decided to flower this past summer.

Cody has been around a long time too but is always ready for a game. When his coat is long then he is reddish as well.

Cody, waiting for the kick-off.

He's is only pretending to be alseep.

Also at the ready at Stockton's riverside was this fire engine with the high reach ladder and hose.

Simon Snorkel

Fire practice

A pedigree Border Collar with her red prizes has a water connection as well.

Elemark Waterlily (Lily)

This house in Yarm maintains both the red and and the water link.

Flood Cottage, Yarm

 And finally there is this fellow, definitely seeing red after flying into our lounge window early one morning.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

 If you want to 'spot' some more then please visit seeing-red