Chilly Start - Fire On

Beer in the Sun to Finish 

Fri May 28th

It was disappointing to wake to grey overcast day, as the forecast looked more promising.  No more scats in the garden and no overnight visitors.

The early walk was a repeat of yesterday afternoon, primarily to try and find my Nikon lens cap that went astray between the start and end of the walk.  No luck - order placed for two more.  Not the first time I've lost one!

The male Rufous Hummingbird pitched up again this morning and spent a large part of the day topping up on the homemade nectar (to BC's nectar standards!).  He was great to watch, though he moved pretty quickly to catch a decent picture. 

In the end I used a feature on my camera where, set up on a tripod outside, I could control it through my iPhone inside in the warm!  This meant the camera was close and not me!  

[For fellow Nikon users I was able to set the mode, (A,S,M,P), and then speed, aperture and ISO as appropriate.  I did ditch autofocus and fix manually as it was taking too long to take the picture and the bird had moved!  I failed to catch the wings in anything other than a blur, despite trying several speed settings.]

The female did not show up today, so perhaps there is a nest of hungry young hummingbird youngsters being cared for somewhere.  More images at the bottom of the blog.

We caught up with some good friends in the UK over a Zoom call in the morning and then checked out a new trail in the afternoon with a viewpoint over Lake Sakinaw; only we could not find the viewpoint.  We did see the lake through the trees, just! 

The trail was more of a service road for power engineers to access grid powerlines and services to the north.  A bit uninspiring ..... 

Slightly frustrated and hot we retired to John Henry's cafe down on Hospital Bay, in Pender Harbour.  It's rapidly becoming our favourite destination for an afternoon beer.  It is one of the most idyllic spots we have found on the Coast.  Although we'd prefer to be based nearer the ferry at Gibsons an hour away, Pender Harbour is beautiful.  If the right property came up we could be tempted ........





When Fred popped in to fetch some fresh water for Jack, the waitress asked to come out and see our 'pup' and it turned out she was brought up with a Cocker, so she got her cuddle.  Jack unusually, obliged!  Clearly she was a dog person.  

Before we left we discovered one of the local fishing boats sells fresh prawns to order directly off the boat at $14 a pound for a minimum of 10lbs.  Order being placed for early next week, fortunately the freezer is empty.

Before we left Jack put on a swimming display for the locals, off the boat ramp before we headed back to the ranch.

Plans being laid for tomorrow over a glass of wine.

Tongue Out!








Irredescent Bib































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