Hobbies and Crafts

Green woodpecker visited today.
It was a nice distraction in an otherwise very miserable day weatherwise.
OH commented that if we had a perfect lawn it probably wouldn't visit!!!
Take care
Von

Waking to birdsong in the mornings now. Love this time of the year.
We also have siskins here in Berkshire.
Today have seen Tits various, finches too, Magpies, Wood pigeons and a Jay. Rather wet so seeing these from my seat in the lounge or at the table when I had dinner, before hubby went to work.
Promise of a nicer day tomorrowif frosty to start.

Linda :o) XxX

I notice the Birdsong early in the morning too now Linda.I love lying in bed listening to them all.
I can't believe how fast the food is going.I put a new suet cake in the flat cage thing yesterday and it has virtually gone now !!Why have they started to feed like mad now?
I don't know what a Goosander is so will have to look it up.

l don't think mine were siskins or greenfinches:o((
Weare hearing more bird song, but ones l don't recognise.
3 buzzards flew over yesterday, calling and swooping, l watched them for ages:o)
ll have put a photo on blog of the goosanders, can't really see in the photos if they have a hooked beak though.

Simon....how cute is that dunnock:o) could you take a photo, l'll send the blog thingie if you want


jude

Interesting note about the woodpeckers Simon. They were going at it hammer and tongs round here yesterday, I could hear them pretty constantly all day, and it got flippin' cold again last night. This morning we have a heavy frost and it's misty (you can actually see the droplets hanging in the air through the windows) though the sun is trying to come through. Oh, and about the siskins and the Garden Birdwatch timing too.

Von, I think you're right about the green woodie. We tend to get one coming after OH has mowed, we have an occasional ant problem in the lawn and I'm pretty sure it helps to keep that to manageable proportions. Since woodie visits for the grubs it makes us fairly loath to eradicate the ants completely.

Yehh, we had a woodpecker on the fence, for a few minutes anyways....Madoc put a stop to that visit, hope he comes back. It was the black/white/red one:o)

More photo's on my blog....from AnnGloucs

jude :o)

Thanks for putting them on Jude.

Well I don't believe it!!!!
A pheasant has just landed on my studio (large shed) roof.
Ran to get camera but it moved along the fence into next door.
No idea where it has come from.
Take care
Von

Wow Pity the camera wasn't available but it is always the way isn't it? Lunch time I could have done with mine thatw as, of course, upstairs. I was sitting looking through the open conservatory door and a really large peacock butterfly landed on a heather for a feed. It was so beautiful.

Lovely pics on the Blog.What a clever Grandson to get such a great photo.
It's all very quiet bird wise here.Maybe because I haven't been able to replace the empty coconut shells and Suet Cake.I have been eaten out of House and Home lol.

Hello everyone
Well I have a lovely day out with my parents today mainly in Buckinghamshire celebrating my Mum's 83rd Birthday.
We saw lots of KITES around Stonnor. One was even on the ground pecking the ploughed fields along with crows. Amazing, no photos as we were in the car.

Our garden is very busy still with feeding probably due to nesting. Mainly finches tits, blackbird, robin, wood pigeons and magpies. The jay has been back on the food table too.

Linda :o) XxX

I've been taking the dog for a different walk along the local footpaths every day in the week, only to repeat a particularly special one at the weekend to show OH. He's definitely what we needed to get to investigating our local area more closely. I had a couple of lovely walks stored up for this weekend, and maybe because the weather was so lovely we were able to catch glimpses of yellowhammers on one walk, and on the other we could hear larks. It took us a while to get our eye in to be able to see them. They were just little specks against the lovely blue sky. I don't remember seeing/hearing larks since I was teenager walking Mum and Dad's dog around Mucking Marshes in Essex. Although then I wasn't so interested in birds generally, the larks always fascinated me on their rise into the sky.

Hi
Bringing thread back to where it belongs
Last week coming out of my local train station I noticed that several birds were singing their hearts out.
Such a lovely sound but almost all of my fellow passengers were wearing head phones and it occured to me that our young people,many of whom are plugged in to their music, are missing out on hearing the birds.

As I'm not good at recognising individual bird sound I bought a book and CD at the weekend. A bargain at £3.99 reduced from £14.99.
Have a good day
Take care
Von

Birds are hungry here too, mainly the green finches and chaffinches although we did have a pair of black caps on the seed feeders at the weekend. The blackbird was particularly musical today, he sang most of the afternoon so is obviously happy. We think they may be nesting in our garden,

Hello birders!~~~~~~~~~

It's 7.30pm, still light and a blackbird is singing.
Ain't life grand?


Hi Von
I'm sure you will find this helpful for bird song
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/a/index.aspx

Hi Island and all
I haven't put food out for a couple of days as they have eaten it all AGAIN.I can hardly keep up with them.Plus the blooming squirrel.He keeps arriving ,then leaving looking very miffed lol.

Mine are all eating sunflower hearts. Is it a high energy food?

Will need to fill everything again in the morning

Linda :o) XxX

Thanks Island
I'll have a look.
Von

Hello everyone :o))

l have atlast put Ann's photo's on my blog:o)

Vic saw a flock of approx 20 Swallows last Saturday and a couple of times since:o))
Not alot happening here apart from the blinky rats!!!!
And my chocolate geraniums that arrived from J----y Plants, nearly lost them from the frost, l forgot they were outside:o((( l have rescued about 50 of them and they are doing well...phewwww

jude

Well I got a shock just now,when I went down to the compost bins.A female Pheasant shot out from under the hedge squawking and ran like the wind and flew over the fence into next door garden.I wonder why it was in my hedge??I hope it's not nesting there.We have enough trouble with the rabbits at the moment lol