It's Spring

A series of shots today, taken this week, of a nesting pair of Great Tits. They've chosen a stack of old tyres in my neighbour's garden, on the other side of the fence, near my kitchen window, as their nest site. Nest building started on Monday and has been fairly non-stop all week. Above is a lucky shot of the pair (male at the front, female behind). They landed momentarily on the rose bush outside the kitchen window.

A composite image showing the male on the left, carrying a small caterpillar which he fed to the female. His belly stripe is much thicker and he's bulkier than the female. He's been very attentive in keeping her well fed whilst she carries on the nest building. On the right, the female carrying a beakful of moss. This has been her main building material.

Above, the female again. I thought she looked rather charming in this shot, she has a twinkle in her eye, lol.

And finally, a shot showing her full plumage. She's just about to dip down to the nest site on the other side of the fence.

In terms of rehab, physically, I think things are still moving in the right direction. I recovered pretty well from the gym on Friday and coped 'ok' with a morning of housework on Tuesday (before a guest arrived). It did aggravate the left glute, lower back and shoulder pains but they were fine again by the following day. However, I did kinda overdo it mentally this week. By Wednesday, I was feeling very disorientated, my head felt completely frazzled (like I'd just sat a 10 hour exam or something) and I was tearful and drained through my therapy session on Thursday. I realised that on Tuesday, my stress levels had been through the roof - I really don't have the capacity to regulate them when I'm busy or have to get things done. My brain just goes to full throttle and that's that.

Yesterday morning, I headed to the gym again, hoping that the exercise would somehow provide some stress relief, and it did. I repeated the same routine as last Friday. I left out the plank exercise at the end, though, because I've got a slight abdominal strain deep on the right hand side. My left shoulder was quite sore after yesterday and I took painkillers again last night to be able to sleep. Today will be a rest and recovery day (and icing the shoulder).