Picture(s) of the day....

[mickthemaverick]

I've been playing with my own birds today! SWMBO was given this to keep her occupied but she gave up after the first few bits!!

Own work - at least 97% of it !

[myglaren]

This came up yesterday

[NewcastleFalcon]

POTD Random trivia link.


Alcock and Brown Sculpture
Ethan Doyle White, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

and

The Open Top Motoring thread

Neil

[CitroJim]

POTD Random trivia link.

A good one Neil

From my run this morning...

[mickthemaverick]

That looks like it was a pretty uniform tree Jim, until it decided to bow out!!

[CitroJim]

That looks like it was a pretty uniform tree Jim, until it decided to bow out!!

It does indeed look like it's bowed out Mick, it's not showing any signs of life yet...

[NewcastleFalcon]

POTD Fruit Growing Club

Adopting the "let nature take its course" horticultural method, but with the occasional interfere with over-zealous imprecise pruning, the old plum tree has been a very variable producer of fruit. It was a £5 out of Lidl or Aldi tree many years ago and I have no idea if its one of these self-fertile things. Of course the pre-requisite is the flower, and right now its in flower, and the potential is there for a decent crop.

No 1 The Plum Tree in mid-April 2023

the desired result, although even in a duff fruiting year we are probably more than self-sufficient in the plum department!


Neil

[mickthemaverick]

A couple from me today but I have decided to put the second one on the Whatsthisthen thread as a wheresthisthen! So just the tulips for here and they are definitely not from Amsterdam!!

Own work

[CitroJim]

A very wet Bury Field Common this morning following heavy overnight rain...

Happily not on the parkrun course I was busy checking but parts of that were marshy too, ensuring wet feet

The part in the above photo is the start of an excavation for a railway cutting that was never completed. It was originally planned to extend the 'Newport Nobby' line all the way from Wolverton to Olney and indeed a viaduct - now long demolished - and some earthworks across the common were begun before all work stopped due to the incredible difficulties in building this line across challenging terrain near Olney. The line terminated at Newport Pagnell until Beeching axed it...

That same challenging terrain prevents Olney having a bypass to this day and thus it remains a significant bottleneck on the busy A509...

The line between Wolverton and Newport Pagnell is now a scenic part of the MK Redway shared cycleway/footpath System with the remains of two intermediate stations and some bridges remaining extant.

Here's Great Linford Station..

[myglaren]

A one-year-old Lily. She is wary of men at first, other than her dad, but became very friendly later.
Weighs a ton.

[NewcastleFalcon]

POTD Horticulture Club

Tulips unfurling at 55°N ish 17/04/2023

NF Original

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

POTD Number-Noticers Club

Just clicked the Falcon post-o-meter onto all the 2's with this...on one of the FCF's finest threads
viewtopic.php?p=752683#p752683

Click to enlarge
Screenshot Trivia Investigation Thread

Neil

[CitroJim]

Maybe this has potential for a thread all of its own...

Kangaroos can be found in Paggers

I'm sure there's loads more worthy thatched roof decorations around...

I have a vague feeling such things have a name...

[NewcastleFalcon]

I'm sure there's loads more worthy thatched roof decorations around...
I have a vague feeling such things have a name...

This lot call them Straw Finials and they should know...6 times best thatched house competition winners

https://www.dodsonbrosthatchers.co.uk/straw-finials/

Geograph has many images, this one from Thurby, Lincolnshire

Straw animals
The pair of thatcher's models on the western end of the roof of TF0916 : Thatched Cottage. Occasionally called a 'thatcher's dog' or a 'thatcher's dolly' these would once-upon-a-time been a signature, identifying the thatcher for the next decades. But these days they can be bought ready-made, and people ask for a wide variety of models on their roof. In this guise they are sometimes called a "Finial".

Neil

[CitroJim]

Straw finials is good enough for me! Thanks Neil