After His Bath

Today’s brisk north east wind carried a much cooler breeze than the sunshine promised. Fooled by this deception we took a circuitous route taking in

Keyhaven Harbour at low tide on our way home.

Some moored boats sat on dry land;

others, with buoys bobbed

on the rippling shallow surfaces while winds whistled through their bristling masts.

A lone oyster catcher picked its way among the drying weed,

 

like this black headed gull

quite unfazed by a black crow’s attempts at menace.

Several of the walkers who stepped out along the open freezer that was the sea wall commented on the tingling temperature.

There was not much activity at the end of Saltgrass Lane with its bridge to Hurst Spit over which

gulls swooped no doubt wondering why two gentlemen kept their prescribed distance.

One of the black headed birds rested on a rock contemplating

a cluster of yellow wild flowers on the opposite bank.

It is always risky for me to disembark with a camera while Jackie stops along a narrow winding lane like the one named

Agarton, because if any other vehicle comes along she will have to drive off and wait for me at the next available spot. Today we were lucky. Until we ventured into Lymore Valley.

There a most unpleasant stench beset our nostrils.

Rounding a bend we came nose to tail with a waste disposal tanker draining a domestic septic tank.

There was no way round it and Jackie was forced to back up until she found a place to turn. Difficult to do when you are holding your hooter.

Later this afternoon Jackie embarked upon a necessary watering session in the garden, where Nugget was having difficulty taking a bath in the somewhat reduced water feature. She refilled it and turned to her tray of potted plants. Her familiar followed her and indicated that he would rather swish around in that while keeping her company.

Looking rather tatty after his bath,

he was determined to hide. “Where’s Nugget?” (77) and

eventually emerged a little drier

to gather provender

for his offspring.

In addition to these pictures of her resident robin Jackie photographed the rose Paul’s Scarlet now scaling the wisteria arbour.

Fortunately The Culinary Queen prepares plenty of her delicious pasta arrabbiata for us to enjoy a repeat sitting today and other days. She drank Hoegaarden with her helping and I drank more of the El Zumbido Garnacha Syrah with mine.

74 comments

  1. The scarlet rose on the background of bight blue sky is breathtaking.
    Mr Nugget is hiding before the plant in the very front of the photo (sorry, I am totally ignorant of plant names).

  2. Poor Nugget – take pity on a lad stepping out from his bath and not yet dressed properly. Thank goodness for the daisy! He is such a character and it must be a delightful to have him drop in now and again when he can escape the children for a bit. He finished an otherwise chillingly smelly day off pleasantly 🙂

  3. We’re having unusually cooler weather ourselves. I can never recall having the windows open during May – but I love it.
    Nugget sure looked ragged after his bath. When I first saw the picture, I thought he was molting.

  4. That was a close encounter with the tanker. Your resident robin looks too cute. I see where the name comes from with his breast exposed

  5. When you got babies demanding attention, one has trouble finding time for a proper bath! Glad Mr. Nugget got to clean up before getting back to his Dad-work! 😉 😀
    You might want to suggest a hair conditioner for Mr. Nugget to use after his bath…’twould settle down his hair issue! Ha! 😛

    “…holding your hooter…” I snort-laughed! 😀

    All of your photos and all of Jackie’s photos are so beautiful! A joy to behold! 🙂
    I especially like the ones in B&W…the crow, the rippling water, the walkers. 🙂
    (((HUGS)))

  6. Oh, I love all your photos. I am so pleased you took the scenic seaside route today.
    Those tankers do not smell good!
    I do enjoy watching birds taking a bath!

  7. I see little Nugget behind the potted plant! He is such a dear little bird, good companion and family man. 🙂

    I love those shore photos, too. We are up in the Cascade foothills, a good 2 hrs from the Pacific, and don’t get to see it that often. Your shot of the rippling pattern of the waves is very artistic. Nice composition!

  8. Great photos of Nugget – they really show his personality! I really like those yellow wild flowers against the soft blue. Looks like a busy day!

  9. Nugget is such a character. I just read that residents of the Isle of Wight are participating in testing a phone app that may be used in tracing contacts of people with Covid. I never realized there were 140,000people there–at least that’s what the news report said.

    1. The island is well populated, Lisa, and served by a very expensive ferry. Some people commute to the mainland. Quite grand houses are cheap over there, but there really isn’t much going on. Thanks very much.

      1. There’s a place called Washington Island off Door County in Wisconsin. Not sure whether it’s in the Bay or Lake Michigan side. My cousin and her husband thought about moving there, but decided it would be boring after a couple months, so they built a house on the mainland.

  10. Mister Nugget is looking a bit on the bedraggled side today! I have three favorites out of today’s photos: the second one for the bands of color and texture in the landscape and the misty mountains in the background, the water ripples as a study in texture, and Jackie’s rose against the brilliant blue sky, which for me immediately conveyed a sense of hope.

  11. Thanks for the outing, Derrick. I am sure we have managed to surprise the gulls and crows with our recent demeanour. Isn’t Nugget hiding in plain sight?

  12. It is really a always a treat to see the amazing photographs including the life of sea shore and the sea gulls just enjoying their life. Thanks sharing Derrick sir.

  13. Hello Derrick, please could you let me know were you in film as it appears it’s you. I inboxed you on Facebook.

    Andrew Lishak

  14. That tall one of Nugget is hilarious. I was frantically trying to like it, using Safari (you know how that went), so I had to come straight back in Firefox and laugh at it some more. If he was a comic book character (which he very well could be), a sketch of that one would have to feature.

Leave a Reply