Moorhen Chick

The moorhens have just one fluffy little chick and luckily they are frequently on our bank.  

At the opposite end of the size scale is this heron which was strutting its stuff on a diving platform on a boat opposite us.  Then it had a scratch and didn't look quite so composed!

Pigeon Pics

I enjoyed watching the pigeons tend their nest and the little chick hatch out and grow. After leaving the nest, it hung around the garden for a few days, and the parents came back to visit it.

Here it is quite fluffy, looking worriedly out of the nest, the first time the parents left it alone. 

Looking a bit tatty round the edges here. It grew quickly and was soon stretching its wings.

A few days after leaving the nest, it was back with one of the adults. They spent a while sitting together and hopping round the patio.

Grey Wagtail

The little grey wagtail is finished!  I am pleased with the result of using the tambour needle for the background and will certainly be using it again.   

Catching Up

I've been busy stitching my grey wagtail and realised I haven't posted any progress reports. 

So here is the little grey wagtail from a design based on my painting in the previous post.  The background is chain-stitch created with the tambour needle and now I've had some practise I can work at a reasonable pace with it.  The bird is being stitched in a mixture of stem stitch and long & short stitch for the areas which need a colour change.  

I've also been doing a bit of drawing and here is a pencil drawing of St Marks from a photo I took sometime ago.  

The photos below were taken during May.

An early morning photo of canada geese on the reservoir.

A swallow watches as another lands on the rail next to it.  

The last 3 pictures show a moorhen looking for a place to nest.  It decided against this tyre in favour of somewhere more spacious!