Algy perched on the grassy banks of the Mill Burn, dangling his toes carelessly over the edge. Despite months of almost perpetual rain – not to mention the frequent hail and sleet – the water was surprisingly clear. It was fun to peer through the pattern of swirling bubbles on the surface to watch the flow of the water over the pebbles down below, and the dance of the sodden grasses and bits of weed that had been carried down the stream and were now caught on the trailing branches of the alder trees. But although he looked very carefully, Algy failed to see any fish. Perhaps the burn flowed too rapidly at this point; the fish were probably sheltering in quieter pools further up the burn. Algy wondered whether he should fly up the hill to look for them, but the bitter north-west wind was so cold and strong, and it was much more exposed up there… he decided that it was a better idea just to sit in this pleasantly sheltered spot, and watch the water flow.

Algy hopes that you will all have a very happy weekend, with plenty of time to sit quietly and watch the water flow 🙂

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Algy decided to inspect some of the other burns in the area, so he flew down to a pleasant spot on the Mill Burn, where a pair of old alder trees grew out of the bank, with their toes in the water and their lichen-covered branches sweeping low across the stream to the other side. The water in the burn was quite deep, and at this spot it swirled round and round in circles, in a way that Algy loved to watch.

So long as the winter sunshine lasted it was positively pleasant just perching on the bank, looking at the water, but although the sky was a spring-like blue and white on one side, it was entirely black on the other, and Algy was sure that another battering shower of freezing hail and sleet was approaching rapidly.

The few days of cold sunshine quickly passed, and the weather reverted to the norm. For a while the landscape was obscured again by dense Scotch mist driving horizontally across at gale force speed, but on Wednesday the skies cleared at times, and between the sudden showers of rain mixed with battering, icy hail, there were some pleasantly bright intervals.

Algy perched on the banks of the Blue Burn, and watched the water swirling quickly past him on its way to the sea. After a winter of almost perpetual rain and other precipitation, he was amazed that it was not more flooded. The land was exceedingly soggy, and pools formed spontaneously every time that it rained again, but the water drained rapidly away through the peat bogs, into the burns and away to the ocean. Algy guessed that this landscape had thoroughly adapted to excessive water over the course of many, many years of constant rainfall!

photosworthseeing:

PWS – Selfie Sunday

This very special Valentine’s card is especially for all Algy’s wonderful friends at PWS, who do so much to make life on Tumblr so enjoyable and rewarding for all the rest of us!

Algy sends you all lots of surprisingly fluffy Valentine’s hugs and kisses xoxoxo

@adventuresofalgy

Thank you for your fluffy and vers special selfie submission! We love it!

PAFBWS – Photo(grapher)s And Fluffy Birds Worth Seeing

Algy wishes all his amazing Tumblr friends a very Happy Valentine’s Day – he loves you all and sends you all lots of surprisingly fluffy hugs xoxoxo

On Saturday morning, Algy paid a visit to his assistants’ house. He was surprised to see that a large pot in a dark corner of the garden had undergone a sudden transformation… Algy was thrilled to see the little flowers glowing in the February sunshine, and as he gazed at them in wonder, a tiny wren started to sing in the bushes behind him. The ground was hard with frost and there was ice on the puddles, but Algy knew it was the beginning of spring 🙂

Algy wishes you all a very happy weekend, and – if you live in a cold, northern country – he hopes that spring will reach you very soon xo

The weather continued to get brighter and colder, and suddenly the world was full of colour again, and the light was so bright that Algy’s eyes could hardly adjust to it after months of gloomy grey half-light. He set off into the sunshine, and flew over to a high point on the north coast, where he found a fine spot to sunbathe which was sheltered from the bitter north-east wind. The sea had turned deep blue, and he could see for miles in every direction. It was a truly glorious late-winter afternoon!

There had been a sudden change in the weather, and although a bitterly cold north-east wind was howling across the sea, there were periods of bright February sunshine that almost felt a wee bit warm, if you could only find that most sought-after of Scottish locations, a sheltered spot out of the wind…

So Algy flew a little way inland, away from the biting wind, and found himself a mossy perch in the peat bog. Everything was still exceedingly wet, and he could hear the ground squelching to itself all around him, but he paid no attention to his soggy tail feathers, for his mind was on other things. As he leaned back in the welcome sunshine, Algy was thinking of a children’s rhyme he had learned:

Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake—
Catch it if you can.

It was Shrove Tuesday! Algy thought that maybe he would hurry over to his assistants’ house, and see if there were any pancakes to spare… perhaps with some maple syrup, banana and homemade vanilla ice cream…

If you are having pancakes today too, Algy hopes they are delicious 🙂

[Algy is quoting the children’s rhyme Mix a Pancake by the 19th century English poet Christina Rossetti.]

Oooops! Algy’s stupid assistant accidentally deleted this post from yesterday, so Algy said she had to post it again…

It was still blowing a gale, and the waves were taller than the rocks on the beach, but at least there were some periods of brightness between the driving showers of rain mixed with hail (a West Highlands speciality).

Algy tucked himself down behind a rock, and out of the corner of his eye he watched a group of oystercatchers who were sheltering in the lee of the next rock along. Each time a gust of wind swept through between the rocks the birds went tumbling and flapping across the wet sand, but each time they quickly recovered their balance, and took up the same positions again.

Algy tried to make his way back to his nest, but the storm force wind was much too strong for a fluffy bird. He dropped quickly down among the wet rocks at the end of the beach, and leaned back exhausted as the spray hurtled over his head. The sea in the wee bay beside his home was like a churning cauldron, and the surface of the water had turned entirely white, all across the bay. He had never seen anything quite like it before.

Algy was beginning to find the storms very tiring. The light effects were undeniably spectacular at times, and so were the waves, but an Atlantic storm was so much bigger than a fluffy bird, and trying to battle against a severe gale was simply exhausting. Algy leaned back wearily against a sheltering rock and closed his eyes, just listening to the sounds of the wind shrieking past and the waves crashing on the rocks all around him.