Windy.

It's still windy but the wind is cooler than yesterday  making it feel more autumnal. It has been mainly overcast with a few brief sunny spells, in fact the sun is shining right now. I was playing the piano while the photos loaded (up or down, I'm never sure?) onto the blog and the moving shadows from the trees outside were making it hard to concentrate on the sheet music in front of me.

Today I got around to sweeping up the leaves that had gathered on the paving under the kitchen window. A job that needed doing as moss and algae were beginning to grow on the paving. When I'd done that I moved on to picking all the leaves off the gravel in the raised bed before I re-arranged the plants, mainly acers, growing in pots. One acer has grown so much it was blocking the way to the outside tap which is under the kitchen window. I kept moving the pots around, then going inside to check how they looked from the kitchen window until eventually I was satisfied. Being a bit on the delicate side the acers have to stay in that sheltered corner. Some have done really well this year while the red leaved ones have fewer leaves. If this windy weather keeps up they will have shed their leaves in a few weeks anyway.

This woodpecker has been emptying the bird feeder these last few days. He has got so bold that  he doesn't fly off when I stand and look at him through the stair window. The funny thing was that I told him to stop eating all the peanuts and go and peck trees for insects ... and he did just that.

Up in the outbuildings the young swallows sat very still while I took their photo. The parents were outside chittering crossly at me when I emerged from 'their' building.