Hobbies and Crafts

It’s getting ridiculous here. Even the regular little flock of sparrows seems to have deserted us. The fat balls and seeds usually get eaten fairly quickly but even they haven’t been touched. The only food that goes quickly are mealworms. I put out a couple of big handfuls and the starlings appear by magic, wolf down the lot in a couple of minutes and disappear until I put out some more.

I’ve been trying to work out why we are so bird free. There is a variety of different food, a little pond and a bird bath for water and lots of trees and shrubs around and we are close to open grassland and the river. It should be birdie heaven.

Perhaps it’s the area generally. We don’t see a lot of birds round here at all. Oh well, maybe I’ll have more luck with the bees.

PS. Just to prove me a liar, a bluetit has just arrived and is having a good go at the peanuts, though he is having to hang on for dear life - it’s very blowy out there.

How strange the birds weren't scaed off by the Sparrowhawk Ann. Usually all the birds vanish for ages!. They must be tough cookies :-D
I have noticed lots more Birdsong early morning and in the evenings now. I haven't done the Birdwatch Survey but my window feeder at the moment is like Wacky Races!!. They seem to be feeding like crazy. No Goldfinch or Long Taled Tits though :-(

Birdwatch today but we didn't do it as we went out. We went out to Tesco the other side of town as I wanted a couple of things and they do a better sausage bap than our other Tesco cafe. So we enjoyed those for a late breakfast then couldn't get either of the things we wanted but managed to find other things we didn't want! It was dry and fairly bright then but, since we got home at 11.30 it has slowly got darker and has rained none stop, not hard just drizzle but unpleasant and very cold again. So the heating is on.

However at about midday we had a male Sparrowhawk in the garden sitting on one of the free standing water features. I only just saw him when OH called me to look. I thought that would have put the other birds off but the goldfinches and blackbirds have been back since.

No sign of any birds now as it is very dark and wet out there.

I must admit I was a bit puzzled when you said the shop had closed as a few years ago we got pasties from there. About four years ago so there would have been time for it to have closed since.

Mel has sent me a link for Ivor Dewdney ...You can order them to be sent by post :-D :-D.. I really thought they had shut. Its not a cheap way of getting the real deal but I might just one day have to order some :-D :-D

I realised today how many Sparrows we have now.I don't think I have seen this number for years. They are ground feeders I think so never get up to the window feeder but they just hop around underneath picking up the bits . I hope they manage to stay out of the way from Mr Thomas. :-S

No actually it is Ann’s pasties Lizard.

Ivor’s pasties I also remember from the late 50s/early 60s as well. OH’s father lived in Buckfast, we used to visit regularly, used to visit Plymouth where we had to get his special cheese, fish and crab from the market and of course had to pass the pasty shop.

Ann, yes Ivor Dewdney pasty shop was in Plymouth . Down the bottom of town near the indoor market. I think it has closed now though :-( some years ago due to health and safety !!. They were just the best though. There would have been hundreds of local people gutted when they shut. I remember the shop from way back in the 60's.
Buying a Pasty and eating it out of the paper bag on the street was a no no with my parents(too common LOL ) Little did they know I did that often :-D :-D

Did you mean Anns Pasties in Liskeard? rather than Lizard? I have a feeling my friend who lives in Saltash might have Anns Pasties :-D

I am not sure I will do the Bird Watch Survey. We have so many birds I just cant keep track sometimes. Still no Long Tailed Tits here,but plenty of other kinds of Tits. The Blackbirds are the greediest birds on the window feeder at the moment. They tend to keep the other little birds just waiting in the wings until they have finished feeding,and they are quite aggressive too :-S

Yes, it did look like he was sprucing himself up for the ladies lol :-D :-D

I've heard of the bird watch and was thinking of keeping a look out but with everything that's going on next door we don't have that many birds visiting and now all the ice has gone they don't come around so much. We did see quite a lot over the last few days but that's probably because of the cold, they know there's food in our garden so came to have a meal or two.

You're lucky the Blackbirds go onto the table, the Blackbirds around here wait until the Starlings have eaten then they eat the food that has fallen onto the floor. It would be nice to see them on the feeder, like the other birds do.

It looks like there maybe a problem with next doors chimney now, they have taken the rendering off it and we noticed the roofers putting wood around the chimney in what looked like some sort of support. We have been giving the roofers cups of tea in our kitchen while it's been cold so they can warm up a bit, so when they come around for a cuppa tomorrow we'll ask them about it. The last thing we need is the chimney falling down and coming over to our side, especially if we're walking down there. It's a good job the scaffolding is there at the moment as some of the tiles fell from where they had stored them on the roof, OH thinks it's because they were knocking nails in to put the battening up so the vibrations probably made them fall, they landed on the scaffolding but it made such a bang that some of the roof tiles broke and made us jump, then 10 minutes later the same thing happened again. I'll be glad when the work is finished, it can be quite scary sometimes. I feel so sorry for the new neighbours they are going to be left with all sorts of problems when they move in as the ceilings are sagging with the rain and snow getting into the roof space when they left it with no tiles on and I should imagine all the electrics will have got wet to. The roofers were telling us today that the boss has put in heaters to try and dry everything out, but all that will do is blow the plaster so it looks as if all the ceilings will eventually need replacing. I definitely wouldn't have the boss organise my build, the workmen are brilliant in what they do but the boss is rubbish as project managing, he keeps asking them to do the job in the wrong order and it's causing so many problems now.

Jane, just read your comment on Mel's thread about pasties and Ivor Dewdnies in particular. Was that the shop in Plymouth? Mmmm! We have found in Cornwall that there is a place called Ann's pasties (no relation) in Lizard which are really good. OH Devonshire born and bred so praise from him is praise indeed.

Ah Gill Mr Blackbird was having a wash and brush up before doing his courting.

This weekend is bird watch weekend so, if it runs true to form all our birds will go off somewhere on holiday.

We had four males and one female blackbird in the garden this morning, the males seem to almost take it in turns to visit the table with the mealy worms, maybe there is a hierarchy? When the robin tried to get some mealy worms he had to sneak in and out quickly before the blackbirds chased him off.

It sounds like you've had a great Christmas present with the box Vera, I hope you have lots of success with it.

OH said he saw a Blackbird have a good wash in a puddle in our back garden this morning Ann and said the same as you that he must be really clean now. Apparently he was there for quite some time. When he told me I thought he must of been cold, but he didn't seem that bothered when I saw him. He was chasing a female around.

It's very disappointing when squirrels break bird feeders Jane. I put some Vaseline on our feeder and it seems to have done the trick as the squirrels don't even try to get on there anymore. They say not to leave food in net bags for the same reason you mentioned, we also put the fat balls in a feeder designed for them. The Goldfinch still hasn't been back which is disappointing, but you never know it may come back once all the workmen have gone.

I think some of the birds are getting used to the workmen as they are visiting our feeder quite frequently now. It's lovely to see the Robins and starlings, plus the blue, great and coal tits coming and going. We saw a Heron fly over our garden the other day, they are so big aren't they? OH thinks it was because of the water features around here, there are quite a few ponds so it was probably looking for fish.

Ooh an interesting present Vera, I hope you have success with the box.

We had four male and one female blackbird in the garden this morning, they seemed to be taking it in turns to eat the mealy worms on the patio table, a robin also tried his luck but didn't stay as the blackbirds hassled him off. On the patio also we had a wagtail, never seen one there before although have seen them in the road outside. Also had sparrows, blue and great tits, four goldfinches and a couple of starlings so a bust morning for birds. Just been watching a blackbird having a lovely splashy bath in the pond part of the water feature, he must be really clean now (you'd think they would get cold wouldn't you?

I won’t use those peanuts or suet balls in nets either Jane. Mine get put in the wire mesh feeders that are specifically designed for them. I’m sitting by the window and there is a bluetit on the peanut feeder now. They can only peck out small bits at a time so no chance of young fledglings choking on whole peanuts.

The birds seem to be making their way back into the garden, though nothing has been near the new seed feeder yet. In fact there were a couple of sparrows on the Niger seeds this morning and I have never seen that before. I put out a load of mealworms earlier and 6 starlings and 4 blackbirds just appeared from nowhere. A Robin also flew in. He didn’t hang around but he grabbed a couple of mealworms in his beak and flew off with them.

The best thing of all was a beautiful speckled thrush appeared and bobbed about the patio for a long while. Every time he got near the ground feeder the blackbirds and starlings chased him off :-( but I hope he will be back.

The birds may be out and about because it is a beautiful day here. There is a blue sky and sunshine though it is very,very cold. The birdbath was a block of ice again this morning..

OH put up the box for solitary bees yesterday. These are the litttle bees you see pollinating flowers and plants. They are not like honey bees or bumblebees. They are non-aggressive, don’t have a queen and don’t swarm. Apparently we can expect at least the Red Mason bee and the Leaf Cutter bee. I am looking forward to checking out the cells in the summer to see if any eggs have been laid. It was a good Christmas present :-D

I don't seem to have any fusspots Vera. Although saying that I did put a Nigerseed feeder up one year and the only thing that visited that was the blooming Squirrel :-S. It broke the feeder so all the seeds ended up on the ground.
I bought a coconut shell with suet yesterday which I will hang on a tree branch down the garden ,but I have no doubt it will be the Squirrel that will get to it first.
The one thing I never use now are net bags with peanuts or anything as some little birds get their feet caught and get tangled and can die hanging there :-(

We have a bit of snow . The lawn is covered as it the patio table but the ground is very wet so I can't really see it lasting too long.

Yes Vera it takes ages for them to accept a new feeder, I think it may be that they see anything strange as danger. All the garden centres seem to have the same sorts these days don't they?

There are a few more birds appearing again now, mostly sparrows and starlings. The starlings are so greedy and eat all the mealworms before the robin or the blackbirds can get near them. There was one lonely blue tit on the peanuts this morning.

Our birds are very fussy about the seed feeders. They only really like an old one which is just a clear plastic tube that slots into a base and has a lid. Unfortunately the base is rusting and flaking so I need to get some new ones. I’ve got a nice one that looks very similar but they just refuse to take the seeds from it. It may be because they have to put their heads inside more and maybe they don’t feel safe like that. I also have a very strong attractive looking one that they don’t mind but it will take the weight of the pigeons and they eat all the seeds and keep the little birds away.

Yesterday we toured round all the garden centres, supermarkets, pet shops etc but all they have are the sorts I’ve already got. I ended up buying another cheap one to try (£5 and it was already filled with seeds) but so far it has been totally ignored.

Are your birds as fussy as ours? :-|

Hope you weren't standing underneath when all the ducks flew over gill, could have been nasty :-D

The nail gun would have frightened the birds Gill as it would have sounded like a shotgun I suppose.

You said that the birds are flying to and from the Red robin from the feeder Gill, Blue and Great Tits always seem to pick out a seed and take it to a branch of a bush or tree to eat it. I think they must hold it against the branch to grip it. We watch them doing it in the apple tree so maybe that is why some of them fly to the red robin. others, as you say, will be using it as a launch pad for shelter.

Chaffinches are lovely, we don't get many here, when we do they seem to prefer ground feeding.

Funny you should mention ducks Jane, we noticed loads of them together flying southwards the other week, what a racket they made, but a wonderful sight to see. You'd of thought the window cleaners would of been more careful with the window feeder and put it back when they'd finished. Pleased to see Thomas didn't get any of the birds.

The workmen were using a nail gun Ann, so that might explain why the birds weren't to keen on coming to the feeder. After a few crazy days of workmen activity there is no one here today so we've filled the feeders up again. Sandra is now waiting to see the birds arrive.

I told Sandra what you said Liz and she's going to take a look in her book. The Goldfinch never came back, or if it did we haven't seen it. Hopefully though he'll return at some point.

I've noticed we have a lot of birds going into the large Red Robin we bought, they then go to the feeder from there. I should imagine with the plants being so big they feel safe and hidden. It's nice to see so many different birds going to and fro from the feeder to the plant, the feeder is only about 4 foot away so not far for them to fly back and forth. I did notice a few little birds on the feeder this morning including a Robin which we haven't seen much of lately. I expect the cold weather is encouraging them, we had snow yesterday and there is more forecast for next week, so I need to keep an eye out and make sure the feeder is well stocked for them.

Gill, ask Sandra to look up Chaffinch in her bird book! We saw two at breakfast today. Mr and Mrs! Our bird table is a hive of activity, mostly in the morning. The two Robins are backwards and forwards, the blue tits + Great tits are as busy as the ever, a pair of wagtails are regular visitors, as well as two hedge sparrows. They are such time wasters but its great to see them! This morning we saw a couple of deer making their way along the hedgerow in the field opposite which sent the pheasants off, squawking indignantly as they went!
The weather is much colder this evening so who knows who will turn up tomorrow!
We're both free of coughs and colds - so far! fingers crossed it stays that way!!

Ann ,I think there is a bit of depression too :-(. I looked up Post Viral Fatigue and this is definitely what he is suffering from.It is not nice seeing him like this and he is not that easy to live with either right now :-S. I must be patient and understanding :-D
Someone reversed into his car today too which hasn't helped !!!!.

The window cleaners came today and took the window feeder off but they had put it where it tipped over and all the food spilled out :-S. The little birds were all hopping around on the ground and Thomas was lurking ready to pounce !!!. Thankfully there was no kill and the feeder is back up where it belongs now :-D. I wish I had the Long Tailed Tits,but there is no sign of them around here at the moment.
I did see 2 Ducks fly over the house earlier :-D and I haven't seen Ducks for ages.