Playing in the woods down at the creek

In one of his books, Monty Don says that gardening is playing in the mud for grown ups. I agree. As a child I liked to play in the woods, I loved just wondering around and sitting eating a secret bar of chocolate in among all the greenery. Now as a so called adult nothing has changed. I still love to muck about in among the trees. I am so lucky to own the smallest wood in the world, with a creek running through it.
A few weekends ago I had a spare day with no jobs to do around the house, no bits of wood to rub down or oil, no meals to cook as Peter was at home. So I gathered together a few cutting tools, my radio in a handy basket and off I toddled into our wood, to spend the day clearing up.
I am glad I did, the previous few days winds had blown down a lot of walnuts, which were just lying around ready to grab.
I was not alone down there. Mr Blue Eyes the eel was interested in what I was up to.
Little Miss Fantail, was also not far away. Tweeting away in annoyance at every little branch I moved.
There were even a couple of Tui's hanging around. And I swear they were singing along to the music from the radio, 70's hits. Or maybe they were shouting at me to turn it off and stop spoiling there peace and quiet.
At the end of it all a good bonfire, to clear up all the dead branches. Which is when the rest of the family turned up with sausages, bread and ketchup. Wish they had brought some marshmallows too.

Happy Tui

While working in the garden today I heard a lot of splashing. Looked over my shoulder and there was a very happy Tui having a bath in the gutter of next door's garage. I rushed in got my camera and tried to take a snap before he flew off. Not a great picture, but a great experience.

At the bottom of the garden today

The wattle tree at the bottom of the garden is in full bloom and attracting the tuis.

I almost managed to get a clear recording of a Tui at the top of the wattle tree, but the next door neighbours kids screeched at the wrong time. You can still here the sound almost.

Birds

I promised somthing other than daisies. So here they are a couple of birds from my garden. A New Zealand Kingfisher and a Tui. The Tui really is there in the cabbage tree. I watched it for ages before Peter brought my camera for me. It then turned its back and flew off. One day I will get a good pic of a Tui.

Tui in the Gum Tree

Yesterday morning I spotted this Tui in our Gum tree.

More Autumn

Some snaps from my morning walk. thought about rearranging them, but then thought that they were better in a chronological order. As I took this pic the butterfly landed, and I did not even know the bee was there. If you can't spot the bee just click on the image to view
And the usual Tui fluttering around, I actually managed to snap this one before it disapeared off.

The Great Tui Hunt

The Tui's in our gum tree have been tormenting me every time I hang out my washing. They flutter around looking very photogenic, but the minute I sneak out my camera off they go hiding behind the branches of neighbouring trees. There are three in the picture below, can you spot them. Peter and Buffy decided to help, hanging out of the bedroom window, shouting its over there.
Then at last I managed to snap one of them, before they flew off over my head into the distance.

Just to finish off a mammoth load of posts today. A Tui in a conifer tree, eyeing up the plums in our garden. One day I will catch one close up. They sit in the plum tree all day, paying no attention to me in the garden, but as soon as I get the camera out they are off just almost beyond the range of my camera. Or do I just need a better camera, I think we maybe back in lottery winning territory again.

If you look really, really closely you can see a Tui feeding on a flax flower, honestly. Click the image to open a larger version of the picture.