Hobbies and Crafts

I have been fascinated watching the Squirrel on the Peanut ball getting rid of all the skin on the nuts before eating them.The ground underneath is like a carpet of discarded skins :-S.It has been a busy day bird wise.Lots flying here and there with beaks full of 'stuff'.One of my Robins on the window feeder filled its beak with pellets before taking off.It looked quite tatty so I guess it must be feeding babies.

So here we are again at the end of the B/H weekend and just a few weeks before the next one :-D

Still thinking of Kandj and hoping her OH is improving <3

Don't see them here in the garden but OH sees them over the golf club five minutes away :-)

Just seen my first Swift :-D :-D

That is a lovely pic Ann.They look very comfy on that feeder lol.
The Male Blackbird and a Chaffinch have been at loggerheads on the feeder.They keep trying to knock each other off :-S

Oh, Mum has just arrived to feed it, baby is almost the same size as Mum

very drizzly here now too. Just looked out of my 'office' window and one of the young doves is back on the bird feeder tray, It is one of those that hangs from the multi feeder pole and close to the house, it does look sad, all puffed up and wet and probably cold too. No mum around this time

Ann it was peppered with pellets .Im guessing it was someone taking pot shots :-S.I doubt very much they will find the culprit .It showed a pic of the Xray with the pellets in its wing.
Gosh it is pretty miserable here now .The drizzle is back and it is so dark.I have just turned the heating up a bit.
Will have a look at your Doves now :-D

I hope they catch the person who shot the Kite Jane, some gamekeeper somewhere maybe.

I have just put a photo of some young doves on the photo blog, in our garden yesterday. :-)

Oh Lesley ,I wondered what had become of you.Are you busy on that big garden? it must be like a full time job.
I have a very funny Chaffinch here.It has taken to walking up and down the windowsill under the feeder.I just keep seeing it's head going back and forth lol.But it is making rather a mess of the sill :-S.In fact I think I will go and clean it off now .
It has been a nasty drizzly day here ,but finally it seems to be brightening up.Bit late in the day really :-|
I saw in our paper about a Red Kite that some nasty evil so and so shot .It was transferred to somewhere in Norfolk ,but sadly had to be put down :-( :-(

Hi Lesley, good to see you back on here, I missed your postings. Hope all is ok with you. :-)

kandj I am sorry to read that your OH is poorly, as with others I am thinking of and praying for you to have strength to cope with each day.<3

Lesley x

Jane, lucky you, I don't think there are so many around these days, I am not sure that I have ever heard one, although I probably did when young and wouldn't think anything of it. I gree up a stones throw from fields whichw ere our playground.

Very slowly slowly catchee monkey (or in your case, chaffinch :-D)

How lovely Jane. Near where we used to live were some woods that had nightingales and every year there were a couple of organised walks to hear them, but we never managed to go. Always regretted that.

There were two chaffinches on the seeds this morning. I had seen one outside the front of the house but this is the first time I have seen them come into the garden so I am pleased about that.

Oh Vera ,the big Wood Pidgeons seem to use their Birdbath as a loo.They don't half make a mess (especially being big birds :-S )
The night before last I heard a bird I hadn't heard before.It was about 8pm.So I managed to get a recording of it and asked a friend to have a listen .She says it is a Nightingale :-D :-D.I have had a good listen to several tracks of Nightingale Song on line and I am sure that is what it was.How excited was I :-D :-D.
I do hope it comes back again.

Ah Vera but the garden is too quiet when there aren't any birds. :-)

Love the chaffinch- he looks so puffed up with his own importance.

All I've seen the last couple of days are the usual crowd of starlings, always with one little sparrow in their midst, and a couple of blackbirds.

I haven't seen anything on the nyger seeds but they do seem to have gone down a little bit in the feeder; unless I am just trying to convince myself.

I've just topped up all the feeders and cleaned the open mesh feeder and the water bowl that are on my pole with the hanging feeders. The water bowl wasn't too bad but the mesh feeder........Ugh! I have seen pigeons sitting in it and I think all the neighbourhood birds are using it as a public convenience. What we go through just to have a few birds in the garden. I think we must be mad.

Ann ,I just love that Chaffinch .It is the only one that looks like he is wearing 'shades' lol.
Well if Sparrows use window feeders then I reckon now one has found mine I will probably get more :-D.I just had the Woodpecker on it a few minutes ago :-D :-D

photos on blog Jane. :-)

Kandj, I am continuing to send out positive thoughts to your OH and to you. I do hope that there will be something good to tell us soon. <3 <3

Sparrows do feed on feeders Jane, they have one in our garden that they always use, right near the pyracanthis hedge that they pop in and out of.

I was pottering down the end of the garden earlier and looked up because the goldfinches were making a racket in our neighbours tree, and, right above my head on the fence, there was a very small young dove. Very pretty and totally unfazed by me, it sat for ages just watching me on the patio.

The blackbird is making good use of the bird bath, he is a very clean bird and spends ages having a 'shower' He was following my OH around the garden this morning when he was digging. Right under his feet.

I seem to have a sparrow explosion here.There are lots today :-D.I'm not sure if the one I see on the feeder is the only one using it, or if it is more than one.

Kandj would like to thank everyone for their kind words and for continuing to think of her at this very worrying time . <3 to Kandj.