Hobbies and Crafts

We bought a wrought iron bird feeder station when we first moved here. Prices seem to range from about £15 to about £100. I think ours cost about £40. We stopped using it once we had planted a couple of trees and could hang the feeders from the branches. The feeder stations are fine but they are quite exposed and the birds seem to prefer the cover of trees.

At one time we had a real hunter of a cat and OH made a bird table which he fixed to the top of a steel pole. It was low enough for me to be able to put food out but too high for the cats (or squirrels) to jump up and they couldn’t get a grip to climb the steel pole.

Like Liz we have a stone bird bath on a stone pedestal. It looks good and the birds seem to like it, but it is very heavy and I can’t easily lift the bath from the pedestal so I have to clean it in situ. If you have pigeons you will be constantly cleaning it!! They seem to use it as a drinking vessel, a bath and a toilet.

Whatever you decide to do I am sure Sandra will get a lot of enjoyment from watching the birds.

Gill, we've got a stone bird bath on a stone stem (I'll send you a pic) which the birds love and we have put it out in the open, well on view so that cats can't creep up unseen!! We haven't actually got any cats round here as we live right in the sticks with the nearest neighbour 1/4 mile away!! But when we lived in a village and had our own cat, and positioned it in the same way, the birds stayed safe while enjoying their bath!!
I definitely saw the Robin this morning on the bird table, again while we were having breakfast! He had a few crumbs, then shot onto the fence and flew off into the field opposite!!! The bluetits are as bossy and busy as ever, jennywren still pottering about purposefully!! All is well! :-)

Gill have you got a tree with branches that stick out to hang a feeder from. Conversely, I don't know how much they cost but you can but wrought iron stands with hooks for feeders. I am sure, in the winter, that Sandra would love to watch them feeding. But if you put a feeder up be prepared to wait a while before it is used, birds take quite a time to get used to new feeders. Which is why it would be a good time to start now. Jane had a lot of success with a feeder that stuck to the window.

Sorry to hear about the pigeon Vera, it's so sad when you see it's mate wandering around.

I know what you mean about the bird imprint on the window Jane, we had one on our kitchen window the other week, luckily I could get to it to clean it off. All I kept think is how the poor bird was. We have a large window in the living room which is behind me and sometimes the birds fly into it, it does make me jump when it happens.

We have lots of birds in our garden and I was going to buy some bird feeders but have noticed lately there are a couple of cats around so I'm not sure whether to buy them now, or if I do where's the safest place to put them out of the reach of the cats. I have lots of bird nuts that I used to feed the squirrels with but they stopped coming around so now I'm left with them and I don't really want to put them on the ground with the cats around. I'll have to have a think about the safest place to put them.

I'm also thinking of getting a bird bath as Sandra (my daughter) loves to watch the birds washing themselves. We had a few birds in a large pot we had that didn't have good drainage, the pot collected water and the birds loved washing themselves in it, of course Sandra loved watching them to. The plant died in the end so we don't have the pot anymore, so a bird bath would be ideal. Although I still have the problem of the cats. I want to keep the birds safe not put them in danger.

Oh Vera , I hate it when you see a bird looking for its mate :-(. I have the imprint on my bedroom window where a Wood Pigeon hit it the other day. The noise was horrendous but it flew off.Hopefully it survived. I shall have to wait for the window cleaners to come next month to wash off the pattern of the wings :-S. The rain has had no effect and we can't get to it.
There is not much to report on bird life really. We do get Blackbirds have baths in the Birdbath and the couple of Robins around. I must get the window feeder back up again .It is still on the Greenhouse window and I think the Squirrel is eating all the food :-S

Too wet most of the day for there to be many birds around, though the sparrows and the robin that accompanies them flew in a few times between downpours.

I was sitting in our conservatory talking on the phone when there was a loud thud and a collared dove appeared to drop out of the sky and land on the path by the conservatory door. It was clearly badly injured so, being a wuss where birds are concerned, I yelled for OH and took myself off to another room.

By the time he got downstairs and out to the garden the poor thing had died. OH said its neck was broken. It must have flown into something but I don't know what. There are only two upstairs windows that it could have hit to land where it did and neither of them have any marks on them. Later I saw a single dove just wandering slowly round the garden so I think it was looking for its mate :-(

Sincere condolences to Kandj <3 <3 <3

I too am very sorry to hear this extremely sad news, and send condolences.

So sorry to hear Kandj's sad news, thinking of your Kandj <3 <3

So sorry to hear this Kandj, thinking of you and sending love <3

Such sad news. Sending dear Kandj and her family condolences and love <3 <3

Sad news from Kandj today. Her lovely big Sister sadly passed away on Sunday with Kandj by her side. She has asked I let you know and she wishes ot thank everyone for their kind words,thoughts and prayers. It has been a great comfort for her.
She is obviously very sad ,and exhausted and will be back again at a later date when she is feeling able to. Much love Kandj <3 <3

That's a really good comparison Gill! :-D. We get so much pleasure from our birds mostly in the morning on the bird table/feeders. Mostly bluetits especially the babies who are so busy and bossy!! We have a little Jennywren who spends a lot of time running up and down our tall fence looking for spiders and little beetles etc,! Watching them is a real time waster!!! In the summer it's the swallows!!

I've just heard all the birds saying goodnight to each other, it reminded me of the Waltons when they said "Goodnight John Boy" lol :-D :-D One minute they were all quite chatty and then complete silence.

We've been following a baby Robin, we first noticed him on the fence in the front when we were starting to create the new garden and now he's around the back in all my pots.
They're funny birds and quite tame.

Hot news! We saw 'a' Robin on the bird table this morning, while we were having breakfast! Trouble is he snatched a couple of meal worms and raced off, so it's hard to tell whether he was our 'little friend'(!!) or an interloper! :-S hopefully we'll see him again and get a better look! The bluetits are as busy and bossy as ever and loving the remains of the Sunflower which is on its last legs!! We're cleaning out the nest box later on today while the weather is fine!

We seem to have plenty of Robins around here. One in particular follows OH everywhere in the garden. I do think that birds will soon move on to somewhere else when we are away .They will find another nice place to feed . I aways hate going away knowing the little birds will be coming as usual looking for their food and finding the tray empty :-(.There is enough for them to feed on though without my input. So I don't feel too guilty.(that's what I tell myself )
I have seen a couple of Sparrow Hawks around just recently sitting on fence posts at the side of the road.We have a good number of Red Kites and Buzzards too.

Sparrow hawks, such lovely birds but so cruel.

Oh dear, it rather proves the point Ann. We live right in the sticks, nearest neighbour about quarter of a mile away, so I don't think he's found 'new parent's. He was such a tiny mite when we first saw him and so tame, and had grown into a big chap with a very smart red breast! Sparrowhawk maybe? comes to mind! The bluetits however are thriving along with the hedge sparrow and of course pigeons!!!

The same thing happened to 'our blackbird Magpie. He used to feed off a saucer outside the lounge window when we put mealy worms out. He'd come when we shook the bag. We went away for a week the end of august and he has not been seen since. :-(

Maybe it's our Robin Vera?!!!! Rather a long way for him to have strayed from Wiltshire!! I wouldn't mind at all if I just knew that he was safe, but I have a nasty feeling that he's not and that we won't be seeing him again! :-(