Robin in a bird bath
London,  The Changing Seasons,  Themed galleries

Gallery: a June selection

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June

L. M. Montgomery

Although I canโ€™t be sure, I suspect the above quote comes from Anne of Green Gables, or one of the other โ€˜Anneโ€™ novels. It sounds like the sort of thing one of my favourite childhood heroines would have said!

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June certainly is often a lovely month in England. This year it has brought us a short heatwave (temperatures topping 30 degrees, very unusual so early in the year), and plenty of pleasanter sunny days. But typically for Britain, we started the month with a cool, sometimes wet weekend that coincided with a public holiday for the Platinum Jubilee. Queen Elizabeth II was marking seventy years on the throne and even if youโ€™re not an especial admirer of the monarchy, that has to be seen as a remarkable achievement. The country was rewarded with a double Bank Holiday and lots of events both national and local. We didnโ€™t get very involved but did go along to our local Prom in the Park. It proved to be a bit of a damp squib in several ways, with drizzly rain and some disappointingly un-Prom-like music!

The middle of the month should have been more exciting for us, with a city break in Sofia. Iโ€™d loved the city when I was there in 2019 and was keen to return and to introduce it to my husband. We also had plans to meet up with a Virtual Tourist friend who lives there. But two days before we were due to leave, Covid finally caught me! Fortunately a) I had a very mild case (mainly just a cough); b) my husband didnโ€™t get it; and c) we were able to reschedule Sofia for later in the year without losing a penny, thanks to our very accommodating apartment host there. And the bonus is, we have it still to look forward to!

I didnโ€™t totally isolate but I did restrict myself to outdoor activities so most of my photos this month are of local scenes. As always I am linking my photography highlights to Ju-Lyn and Brianโ€™s Changing Seasons challenge.

Technical notes

As I was staying local many of my shots were taken with my phone. But I did take my compact Panasonic Lumix out with me on some days. Again as usual, Iโ€™ve enjoyed playing around with others. Those ones were edited with Nik Color Efex, or in a couple of cases Nik Silver Efex. As I always say, itโ€™s pretty obvious which ones have been โ€˜fiddled withโ€™, but I probably did less in the way of elaborate editing this month.

  • Red, white and blue triangular flags against a wall
  • Man in a Union Jack hat in a crowd
  • Small drawn figures on a wall
  • Monochrome photo of a seated Buddha statue
  • Soft focus shot of a yellow rose
  • Ladybird on a leaf
  • Soft focus macro of the centre of a hollyhock flower
  • Two blue damselflies on reeds
  • Brown duck and six ducklings
  • Robin on a fence
  • Red flowers and a white shuttered window
  • Looking up at a blue sky between tall buildings
  • Bright purple flower
  • Poppy among cornflowers and daisies
  • Windows reflecting blue sky and a tall building
  • Steel sculptural balustrades and blue sky

38 Comments

  • Ju-Lyn

    Glad to hear that your bout of Covid was manageable. Hope you are coping with the heatwave as well. My London aunt keeps us updated daily and it sounds horrendous! I can’t believe you are experiencing higher temps than here in Singapore!

    Younger Child & I are admiring your images of Robin in the Moon … it is so cute.

    Happy to have you at The Changing Seasons.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Thanks so much ๐Ÿ™‚ The heatwave was definitely horrendous, but thankfully broke last night and we are back to more normal summer temperatures although at the high end for us (high 20s) Glad you liked our cute robin!

  • wetanddustyroads

    June certainly gave you plenty of opportunity to take lovely pictures (even if it’s just around from where you live). I like the simple things – like that yellow rose, the sweet ducklings and the oh so cute robin (and with ‘simple’, I mean outstanding ๐Ÿ™‚). I can’t wait to see with how many beautiful photo’s you’ll come back from Sofia later this year!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Thanks so much ๐Ÿ˜Š I’m especially glad you like ‘our’ robin. We see a lot of him so expect to see him pop up in future posts perhaps!

  • Suzanne

    Yes, I too enjoyed your shot of the cute Robin. In the North Island we have the robin or toutouwai which is more similar to a sparrow and not colourful like the UK Robin. Our covid numbers are increasing as is the flu, luckily not had either. I suppose it is mask up or take a risk?

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Covid numbers are high here too (but not flu, as it’s summer over here). A handful of people are still masking but most of us are carrying on pretty much as normal and taking that risk, me included!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      I’m not a fervent monarchist, far from it, but it did feel like a significant milestone in history and I wanted to get at least a little bit involved

  • Suzanne@PictureRetirement

    Sarah, Montgomery obviously never spent time in South Florida in June to have written such a wistful statement. June also seems to have been the month for ‘Blogger Gets Covid’. Glad yours was short-lived. The Bunting is my favorite – crisp, simple, happy. Cheers to having something to look forward to.

  • Heyjude

    If I could pick a month it would have to be May, I always find May so wonderful in the way that everything suddenly comes alive. A lovely gallery, the robin does it for me, they are such friendly birds and so willing to have their portrait taken ๐Ÿ˜Š glad your illness was mild and short. My non-covid illness lasted about 3 weeks before I was back to normal.

      • Heyjude

        Just got to cross fingers we stay away from Covid! I am sure our booster must be waning now and the tourists are beginning to arrive…

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Thank you, I always appreciate getting feedback about favourites – I find it so interesting when everyone chooses different shots, but also when one image seems to stand out above the others. So far this month the jury is out ๐Ÿ˜†

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Thank you ๐Ÿ˜Š Yes, not too bad and already on the mend. All being well I should have some shots from slightly further afield for July as we’re heading to East Anglia for a friend’s garden party later in the month!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Thank you Malcolm ๐Ÿ™‚ That was a lucky spot – we went down to the water’s edge to photograph the ducklings and then saw several damselfly pairings on the reeds!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Thank you ๐Ÿ™‚ I love that window box and always smile when I pass it. Actually they have three, around a bay window! Sorry to hear yours aren’t thriving. Ours are doing well this year, although not as good as these perhaps.

  • Yvonne+Dumsday

    Thanks for cheering up a dull day here in the Pennines with such a gorgeous selection of vibrant June pictures.

  • margaret21

    I do hope your recovery goes well. I had it in March – a very trivial bout, But three months on, I’m still far from robust with frequent dizzy spells. And that’s after four jabs! A lovely gallery, and so varied. But Mr. Robin steals the show.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Oh dear, I’m sorry to hear that Margaret ๐Ÿค— At the moment my only legacy is a stubborn occasional tickly cough. We were able to get away for the weekend to celebrate my nephew’s wedding so I was very relieved to be over it in time for that! A couple of friends did have to drop out because of Covid infections unfortunately, but all the family were well and could attend ๐Ÿ™‚

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