Hobbies and Crafts

The birds can be so clever. With the river at the bottom of the garden we of course see ducks and swans who seem to like the windfall apples so they come up onto the garden quite regularly - also I take them the remains of bread so they've got used to us since we've been here and to at least one of our 3 cats Buster - he doesn't chase anything and they seem to know he presents no threat to them. Every so often if they think they haven't seen us for a bit a couple of them will come all the way up the garden, up the steps to the patio and knock with their beaks on the glass doors. We were so surprised the first time they did it. That time it was breeding time and the drake knocked the door. When we took titbits out he let his OH have priority on the food. Very gentlemanly and caring. And when they came along later with their ducklings the parents let them have first pickings too.

Tec - Moz was such a laugh. If people on our walks had stopped to have a chat he would stop too and sit on their feet for a fuss. If they'd got time to chat they'd got time to give him some attention. Mostly they complied.

A naughty magpie????

HI Ann in Glos, Litttle story for you. At about 4.30 every day when I go up to school to lock up I empty the bin where the kids put their sandwich remains from the dinning room. We have 2 crows that nest in the school grounds every year so I feed them with some of the left overs on top of the large metal container where the kids lunchtime playthings are kept. Not only do they know the time, they know where I live and roof and wire hop as I walk up. This year they have had 3 young and every one of them is pied, White flight feathers and white tail feathers with od blobs of white in their other plumage. Now there have been crows just 2 for at least 10 years same nest site but we have never had pied young before, both parents are black. Any one have an explanation? Elaine.

Feel free Tec. We don't have any animals now but have had both cats and dogs. Both our dogs went blind, the second one then also went deaf.

Hi Folks,
I wrote this earlier (or one like it) and it disappeared mysteriously into cyber space.

Ann...........I think it's called Sxds Law - If I fill the feeders in the garden, not a seed spilt - do it indoors, maybe because it's raining, and seeds everywhere. Glared at by OH, who passes me the vacuum. Oh well.

Jude...........No - Ianto's ear and eye problems are not connected. The ear problem is very recent, but we suspected his eyesight was failing a few weeks ago. Since his mate went, a long time ago, he refused to sleep downstairs. So he has his bed on the landing upstairs. A few weeks ago he appeared to have lost his confidence going up or down stairs. We had to use a lot of persuasion. One night I slept on the sofa because he wouldn't go upstairs, but wouldn't stay downstairs on his own.
( I didn't sleep actually - he snored all night)
Anyway it soon became apparent that he couldn't see unless things are very close. His eyes are still bright, not glazed or anything, and he is still a handsome dog with a shiny black coat - gets patted a lot by old ladies when we're out.........I don't.

DizzieLizzie........Hello - Your Moz sounds like he was a good fun dog, and you are so kind in considering looking after another old dog - I hope that works out for you.

Do excuse me Ann - I know your lovely thread is supposed to be about birds - and I've gone on about dogs.

Regards
Tec

Ann....its never happened to me .....lol lol :o)

My suet bits are white!! lol

jude :o)

You know those days when you decide to fill the feeders, and you decide to do it on the conservatory table, then the food (in this case suet bits) suddenly comes out of its container in a rush and flies everywhere? well i have had one of those days today. Do you know how long it takes to pick up those little pink bits??? If I had done it in the garden as usual I could have left the spilled bits for the birds to clear up.

Tec....l do hope Lanto is feeling better soon, bless him, nothing worse than having our beloved pets feeling and looking sad!! Are his eyes and ear probs linked??

Our Madoc has had a flea and that sets off an irritation, he has scabs all round his inner back legs and one on his paw. He's got some cream to put on but its NOT working wonders!! Vic took him to the vet as soon as we realised he had an itch and a few scabs, but vet said he could'nt see any....grr...so now they are bad!! :o(

DizzieLizzie....Hope you can work it that you have the dog for 6 months, such fun to have around. Your other one sounds like he was a great character.

Nothing else to report today.
Take care

jude :o)

I've been reminded of our dear ol Moz. He was mum-in-law's dog and we inherited him when she passed away. He was already 16 when we took him on so we only had him for 18 months ourselves (just about made it past his 18th birthday) but of course we'd known him most of his life - he was a rescue dog that they got when he was about 3. He was half border collie and half bassett and was generally a comedy dog. He looked funny and he made so many people smile when we took him for walks because he seemed to always have a big grin on his face, except when he wanted something when he'd do pleading eyes. Poor old thing passed away about 2 weeks before we moved here. He became ill only a few weeks before we moved and we do miss him. He would have loved it here back in the countryside - OH's mum and dad had had a farm in Devon before they retired to Sussex.

It's a possibility we'll look after another elderly dog next year for 6 months whilst my daughter's friend goes travelling. Only thing is I just heard on Wednesday that I got a part time job that I went for so we'll have to have a rethink as to how feasible that is. I'll have an idea once I know how my hours work out. But she's thought plenty of time in advance so we have time to see if we can work it out or if she needs to ask her othe alternative.

Tec I hope your Ianto improves soon.

We did have both green woodpeckers coming to the lawn and great spotted woodpeckers coming to the feeders and I haven't seen either for a while. The owls are still being very clear each evening though.

Tec, hope you had a good break, sorry to her about lanto, hope he doesn't have to have an op.

Hi Everyone

I have been away for a while , and have just been catching up on the many interesting posts on the thread. It is great to see old friends on here, and some new ones too - so hello to anyone I've not spoken to before.

A neighbour kindly fed the birds in my absence - the usual visitors are still around - sparrows, chaffinches, bluetits, robin, blackbirds, greenfinches, and of coarse the jackdaws in abundance.

The buzzards and red kites are still not around - but they usually disappear at this time of year when the area is busy with tourists. I think they go further into the mountains until things quieten down. I did spot a heron stealing from a neighbours garden pond this morning.

Jude......Ianto is in a state at the moment - he has a haematoma? in his ear that has to be drained by the vet weekly. If it is no better next week he will have to have surgery. Also there is a noticeable deterioration in his eyesight lately that is causing him problems, and upsets me too.
I suppose things like this must be expected as he gets older - he is such a faithful loyal fun loving dog, and anything that can be done for him will be done - he stays very close to me now that he's not seeing as well.

Regards
Tec

Hello everyone:o))

My OH hears an owl, l have done but not ages. We had 3 buzzards flying around the other day, again l missed them:o((

A few weeks ago we put a picture of a bird on our patio doors/window, one of those sticky ones. We've had so many birds flying into the windows hurting themselves and one blackbird sadly died. But the inside picture was black and the ourside was showing a Sparrow Hawk.....welll after a few days we realised we were'nt getting many birds in the garden, just the doves,jackdaws a couple of sparrows and a robin.....so we have turned the picture round and guess what????....yep the birds are back.....well l would'nt have thought they could see it from the bottom of the garden!!

Not seen the woodpeckers for ages, nor the nuthatch, thrush or as many blackbirds....maybe the picture put them off too.

l do still have photos to put on my blog and l will get it sorted, but not had alot of time recently due to my cousin being so ill and l'm still sorting the software out.

Do hope Tec is ok, l know his wife has been poorly, hope she's is ok too.
Take care everyone:o)
jude :o)

DizzieLizzie we have a couple of owls every night right on top of us. One perches on the roof above our windows, and the other one a short way away. We love to listen to them and our Cockatiel has started to answer them back, he seems to wait for them every night.
Ann the gardens are communal so we can go anywhere we like, even plant things if we want as long as it fits in with surrounding plants. I wouldn't like to sit down there for long as it is surrounded by our three story building on one side and the gable end of a massive house facing us then two smaller walls. It's alright while doing our washing but not to sit out in.
At the moment we have masses of butterflies around, cabbage whites but I have seen a few coloured ones.

Caz xx

Edited to say where has Tec got to, is he on holiday?

I agree Ann, I was seeing more of the greenfinches in the winter. When I went to bed last night, in the quiet I heard a lot of calls from an owl very loudly so presumably quite close. Sadly when I heard in the distance a reply call it moved further away. But it was a lovely treat to go to sleep by.

In the winter we have a lot of greenfinches here, but now there is just the occasional odd one o9n the seed feeders.

When I opened No1 son's curtains this morning I'm pretty sure amongst the great tits in the lilac there was a greenfinch but it flittered back and forth so much I can't be 100%. Also OH said he saw a linnet the other day after he looked at the identification books. I've just remembered and had a look at the books this morning and discovered that they only have their brighter colouring in breeding season, most of the year they look a bit like sparrows to my very untrained eye so I'll have to see if I can spot it too.

Morning everyone:o)) some new faces too:o))
Jane/Helen....you ad confused me but l think l know now:o)

Not much to report on the bird front really other than 3 buzzards were talking loudly above the garden about half hr ago, probably parents with a youngster:o)
The crow is getting more daring. Did l tell you the story about a jackdaw my cousin had???? Here it is anyways:o)

He had a jackdaw that had been injured, someone got it back to good health and ir decided the neighbourhood was a good place to stay. Welll it bacame abit of a nuisance when it thought taking all the pegs off the washing was funny!!! My cousin put it in the car and drove 50 miles away and let it go!!!! when he got back home the JACKDAW was there before him!!! lol

We still have hopalong the wood pigeon, very fat though!!

Loads of butterflies on our lilac coloured budlia....l had'nt realised until recently that there wre other colours:o))

Madoc has just got home from the kennels, he was at new ones this time and they just loved him...all our other options were booked up!! Our new neighbour with their dog 'Woolfie' have offered to have him anytime too so thats now 5 options. He gets on really well with Woolfie too:o))

Just been to Birmingham, had a fantastic time with grandson, his mum & dad and our daughter. Grandson 'M' just loves all animals, insects and creatures, flowers and tree's:o))

Tec....hows Lanto....not seen you for a while.

Have a brilliant day everyone

jude xx

Sounds wonderful Dizzie.
Caz, maybe when you get to know the elderly man a bit better he will let you spend time in his little garden plot. still at least you may occasionally get a glimpse of the birds out there.

Thank you Caz, we like it a lot. The people before us just kept things as tidy as they could, and the buddleia on both sides had become very overgrown and far too tall and spindly (it was a previous owner who planned the planting and they left a very useful file on what's where so we have a chance to find out about the plants we don't recognise).

We decided this spring to rejuvenate the buddleia on one side and they're just coming into flower now. There's a really dark purple and a white one. The flower clusters are huge on these ones. We decided to leave the other side until after they've flowered so we didn't decimate everything at once and leave huge gaps everywhere. On that side there's another white and a lilac coloured one, they've just about finished flowering now and the flowers were smaller, so it seems we were right to stagger our attacks and maybe the that side will be better for it next year. After that we're probably going to take one main stem out of each bush each year to regrow from the bottom and keep it all youthful. We have another one round the side of the house where I'm trying to grow my first few veg. That one is a deepish purple and the leaves are variegated.

I also have quite a bit of lavender which the bees are loving. Heard we have to provide for them too these days. I've made a few lavender wands to scent my linen. And we just received some lovely roses among our silver wedding gifts last month to add to the other ones. All old fashioned scented ones. Got quite a bit of work still to do on the existing ones, there are some really rampant climbers in the lower garden which come all the way up and over the patio arches.

Wonder if the maggoty-old-pies will wake me up in the morning. We have a tiny bit of flat roof above our bedroom and when they hop about on it they might as well have hobnail boots on. Didn't know birds could be so heavy footed.

We have a lovely big garden,with lots of different birds ,plus rabbits and the squirrel.I have an awful feeling the rabbit has Myximatosis (sp).I just hope the dog doesn't get it.
I am desperate to get a good pic of the woodpecker.My camera is at the ready.