Hobbies and Crafts

I've just been watching a family of thrushes 'learning the ropes' from mum as to what to eat in my garden :-D then she flew off and left them to it for a while, lovely to watch them discover the water ( in a large flower pot saucer) and try it out :-D

Today I can hear the swifts moving about in the eaves, so hopefully there will be some youngsters around in a few weeks.

Jude the Squirrel is still here :-D.Everyone thinks it was born with no Ears.Remember that awful fire we had burning for a couple of months giving off the most noxious stink.It makes me wonder if that has caused deformities in new born wildlife,

BC ,you wicked woman you ,turfing out those poor pigeons ;-).I'm sure they set up home somewhere far away lol.

I just hope all this dreadful wind and rain doesn't wash out little nests.I don't want to find poor little drownded babies on my lawn :-( :-(.I know there are a lot of nests in my Yew hedge.The wind had blown the fat filled coconut off the branch and it is rolling around at the edge of the patio.I am afraid there is no way I'm going out in this to put it back up.

Well I was pretty ruthless when those pigeons built their nest in my lovely jasmine...am afraid I hacked the jasmine back and got rid of the twiggy nest. Since then the pigeon and her hundred relatives have flown elsewhere. BUT now I see that a blackbird has started building her nest in said jasmine and I hope she will be safe from a passing moggy!

I had to stop feeding the birds as got a mice infestation so am not quite sure why birds are visiting my little patio this year! Yesterday a yellow bird (think it was a yellow wagtail) was on my back wall puffing and wagging and generally making an eejit of himself while he bored looking female friend looked the other way!

Endlessly fascinating :-D

Morning:))

Well this weather is horrendous, l'm really fed up with it....grrrr
Same as you Linda, not beenout for ages, although saying that Vic mowed back lawn yesterday....very quick he was too...lol

Vic saw swifts on the 9th April and l saw them yesterday flying over the Monnow Bridge on the A40, loads of them....lovely sight is'nt it:)

We've had a pr of longtailed tits most days for about 2 weeks now, a a pr of greenfinches for simular time, neither have been regular for a couple of years so thats brilliant.
My Crow visits most days, he fascinating to watch drinking from the bath.

Lesley....you is a lucky girl:) l made one some years ago, with mosaics, but it died a death last yr:(

Starlings are more regular but only a few, definate decline and also the House Sparrows...probably about 6 instead a couple of dz:((

Atleast one pr of Dunnocks and a Wren flits about.
Black birds in abundance....3 - 4 prs and all the other usual tits.

Fat balls are atlast going and they have started using the coconut feeder too....mostly the longtailed tits.

PICTURES ON MY BIRD BLOG NOW:)

Jane ....hows the Squirrel??

Take care
jude x

Morning everyone from a very soggy Berkshire
Still filling sunflower seeds daily. They have finally decided to peck at the fat balls and they are disappearing too. The poor things must think winter has returned.
The garden is taking a hammering and I can't really get out there to sort things out either. The tomatoes are soon going to be too big for my dinning room, but it's too cold at night to put them out even in the unheated greenhouse.
Have we had summer already?

Linda xxx <3 <3 <3

Saw my first swifts of the year today. The weather must be a bit disappointing for them.

My BIL and SIL have just bought a me new bird bath.

How lucky am I.

:-D :-D :-D

I suppose that's possible .The Squirrels we have had over the last few months have all their ears.Maybe this one was just born without them??OH will be gutted if he thinks there are going to be more of the little devils to dig up the lawn and flower beds :-S :-S.It certainly looked very porky lol and didn't move as swiftly as you would expect.
I'm keeping an eye open now.It was late afternoon yesterday that it was here.It managed to dig out the last big lump of fat from the coconut.New one up now :-D
Jude I will have to make sure with the new Olive tree that I look after it better next winter.The 'dead one' has now had a severe hair cut ,and looks rather pathetic :-|

Is it possible that the squirrel was born without ears?

Jane...she/he has got quite a big tum. The ears look like they have gone or been removed very cleanly, its all very even!!

Good luck with your olive tree's :)

jude :-)

Jude one of my friends thinks it looks very pregnant :-D.Not sure about the trouble with no ears though :-S.I'm hoping it will be back later today once we have finished in the garden.
I bought a new Olive tree this morning as the one I had has been killed off by the cold winter.I thought it was £60.Turned out to be £90.....oooops!.But it does look nice :-D :-D.OH is doing a massive cutting back on the 'dead one' just in case there may be still a bit of life in it.I'm not hopeful but it's worth a go.

Jane....awww he looks so cute bless him, l wonder why this is??

Will add to blog asap, must do dinner first,l'm starving.

jude

Afternoon.... :-P

Just in from work:))

Thanks Ann got the pics, they are lovely:)

Jane...look sort of forward to your photo's too!!

Vic saw 2 Longtailed Tits in garden earlier....trust me to have missed them, not seen them here in a couple of years.

We also got a pair of Green finches quite regularily now and a Dunnnock is back.

Not many HOUSE SPARROWS though, RSPB are quite concerned about their decline:((

Off to check emails now.

jude xx ;-)

Ann .I just had a google and it could have Squirrel Pox!!.It's eyes looked bulgy too like rabbits with Myxomatosis :-S.
I look forward to seeing your Crow.
Just before the Squirrel arrived on the coconut fat feeder I was watching a Robin feeding it's baby with the fat.The Baby was huge and much bigger that the parent lol.I missed getting a snap of that.

Haven't any idea Jane. Do you have a wildlife rescue place in your area? Maybe they can help you.

I have sent Jude some photos today of a huge crow sitting in our apple tree eating the fat from a large bamboo container that we have hung there. None of the smaller birds have gone for this and it has been there for at least 2 moths. the crow had a good feed early this morning and has just come back for another feed, his long beak can get inside the bamboo easily. He/she is fascinating to watch.

Hi Jude and all
Does anyone know why the Squirrel in our garden seems to be missing it's ears?????.I'm thinking it could be some kind of disease.It didn't actually look that fit.It seemed slower than usual and looked quite old.I have tried to get a photo of it showing the head and it does look very odd.Jude I will send one to you,maybe someone will know the answer.Oh dear I will be all worried about it now :-(

l bought some items from this website, so l now get emails, butt his one says about them being on face book and chatting about wildlife, incase anyone is interested go to your FB page and then search the link below:)


http://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/

jude xx

l'm gardening and just popped in for lunch:) ;-)

Hallo Amanda, sounds a lovely way to pass the day. As well as all the digging of course Lol

I haven't visited this lovely thread in ages and ages .

On our allotments I started feeding the birds a few weeks ago , I have a regular pair of Dunnocks , a host of Tits , at least one Robin and a Mrs Blackbird ( but she does seem to feed , she has a nest in the thorn hedge that backs the plot ) .

I don't think that anything beats sitting very still in a chair , with a cup of rapidly cooling tea , watching the small flitting and trying to work out who one is seeing ........ lol