Richard Bell's nature sketchbook since 1998
This camping chair from Aldi folds up ingeniously into a handy tote bag but as I’m 6ft 4 and almost 180 pounds, I’m pushing it a bit beyond its limits. As I sat down in it, one of the back legs pushed its way into the lawn and I lurched backwards. I had to dig out the rubber cap that got stuck six inches deep in the turf.
It’s not going to be stable enough for the rough ground where I’m likely to want to sit and draw.
We haven’t grown peppers for years but one of our neighbours offered us seeds so we thought we’d give it another try. Like our tomatoes, they’re taking their time to ripen.
A suitably dishevelled end-of-the-season sunflower which has grown from a spilt sunflower heart from the nearby feeders and which we’re now leaving to go to seed for the birds.
The feeders attract the local sparrowhawks and yesterday fluffy breast feathers were scattered across the lawn and the pond, probably marking a kill, the victim of one of our regular wood pigeons, which often peck around beneath the feeders.
A blue dragonfly whizzes past and makes a quick search by the cordon apples then returns and heads over the hedge into next door’s garden. From its predominantly blue appearance, I’m guessing that this was a migrant hawker.