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hope you are All okay today. very cold here .Take care Barbra :-)

That was a shame. Jude would have liked a moorhen photo on the blog. Never mind, now it has sussed it out maybe it will be back!!

Thanks, life's certainly calmer now it's gone.

Talking of waterfowl, we had a moorhen pop its beak up onto the patio on our birdwatch. It did look funny poking its head up over the steps checking the lie of the land. But silly whatnots, although we had the binoculars ready we'd forgotten to have the camera to hand. Since they are lots more nervous than the ducks we didn't want to move and scare it off.

Lizzie So nice to see you and see you are OK. Thanks for the catch up, don't stay away so long next time. I like to hear about the water fowl in your garden etc. Pleased to see that your old house finally sold, well done. :-)

Hi all, haven't been in on the boards for ages. I've not been working on my family tree much lately and so I forget to come in and see what else is going on. We're all fine here if a bit chilled. It did try to snow yesterday but we haven't had very bad weather yet thank goodness.

We had a busy year selling our old house and thank goodness it all finally went through in October. It all went a bit ridiculously slowly and caused us unnecessary worries and we're glad we don't have that round our necks any more. Once that was over and done with we took a bit of a rest and then got into preparing for Christmas which was a good one. With some of the proceeds of the sale we have been getting on with some jobs on our current home, we're glad we only have this one to concentrate on now.

We've been enjoying our walks with Guinness every day and once or twice recently we've seen Red Kite in a couple of locations round here. In fact today one was "following" us as we walked. It kept right above us for quite a little while. Not sure if it was sizing Guinness or me up for lunch or whether it was because every so often Guinness' presence was disturbing pheasant and partridge from their hiding places and it might be in with a chance on one of those.

We did our big garden birdwatch and wouldn't you know it, as ever we saw fewer numbers and varieties of birds then than we usually do. In fact guess what I saw today in the garden which come to think of it we haven't seen for a bit - a greenfinch. Couldn't turn up for the occasion could it?

Thanks AnnInGlos for giving me a dig in my ribs to remind me to pop in to say hello. Hope everyone's keeping well. Lizzie

Jude will do about the sparrows .we have large conifers & a farm near us ..we moved here over 4yrs ago & not many birds about but put food out & we do have a lot now .its great .when they bring young ones .we have had swallows nesting under our shed roof they have been back 3yrs now .same place . the screaming noise could be a fox have seen them on the farm field .we have wild rabitts as well last yr 5babies appeared from under a bush one bigger one with them could have been mum ?
Its a nice area for wildlife really interesting .Barbra . :-)

:-D :-D :-D Ann.You may be right .

I got a pic this morning of a Red Kite taking refuge in the top of the tree after being chased by Crows.It was in the tree at the bottom of next door's garden.
Those Crows are devils,and even kept swooping it while it was on the tree.
I will see if it is any good for the Bird Blog.Not sure how close it will look.

Lol the birds might cough a bit but they'll sort it out. :-D

LOL Ann.I don't think OH would be too impressed if I put all that on 'his' lawn .One wellie was almost full,plus a size 12 trainer of my son's :-S
I've swept it all up ,dust and all.

Shake the shoes and boots on the lawn Jane the pigeons will love it.


I wonder what has happened to Dizzy Lizzy, it is ages since we last saw her on here. I miss hearing about the water birds.

I hate it when I hear the screeches and screams.I have to shut any windows and block my ears lol.I always think something is in distress.I do remember a few years ago we could all hear a noise of an animal .Luckily one of my neighbours went to investigate and it was a young Deer caught in the wire fence right at the bottom of their garden.

I have spilled 1kg of Wild Bird Food all over the floor in the back porch. :-S :-S
What a blooming mess.It went in everyone's wellies and shoes too.

The foxes could be fooled into thinking it's time to mate like the birds maybee.
They can scream like a girl in distress sometimes?

My first thought was an owl too

Linda xxx <3 <3 <3

Crumpets Barbra...you have alot of birds:)

As Ann says....probably a fox or owl:)...spooky noise!!

Have you let the Biodiversity Records Centre in your area know about the TREE sparrows, they are getting very rare.

l do go on don't l, sorry:))

jude :-D

Could it have been an owl Barbra? Or maybe something got a small mammal (fox?)

we have a lot of trees were we live & a good few birds .about .but a sparrow hawk .has been a couple of times & taken a ring dove .it was awfull ..sorry .suppose its nature doing what it does .had 2.treecreepers !.7 sparrows.3tree & 4house! 2 blackbirds! 3 crows! .1 thrush!.5 ring doves! .8 finches! ,2 wrens! ,2 coal tits, 3 blue tits ,2 robins ,.2 rabbits x for the bird count ,,
sunday evening was outside heard this horrible screeching noise .was in the house quick smart .didnt like it at all ..what could it have been ?? it was about 10.30pm Barbra

Apparently the birds should not start singing until the spring when the weather is warm enough for them to pair up. The song is a mating song (It was in the paper over the weekend.) Because the weather has been mild, they think it is spring already.

I have had so many Long Tailed Tits today.I couldn't count them all.I think they might have been 8 or 9.They had a real feast on the fat balls and coconut. :-D
A couple of Robins were hanging around underneath to pick up all the bits that dropped.
The Bird song every morning at the moment is amazing ,and it is still dark!I said to my OH this morning "can you hear that"?.He said "It's your Tinnitus " :-S :-S.Silly man lol

Photos on the blog Shaun.

Hope you are all okay and keeping warm.

The Birds are eating a awful lot of food, they know what's ahead ie snow so they are keeping there fat levels high.

ANN, I have sent you a couple of photos.

Take care.
Shaun

Blackbirds will be aggressive to a cat. It probably is why you don't get so many birds though. We have one neighbour who lives opposite who has 6 or 7 cats, I think she fosters them for the cats protection league. Most of them don't venture into our garden thankfully, they stay at the front of the house. Her next door neighbour has 4 cats but theya re mostly indoors, One is an indoor cat, he/she sits on the windowsill looking out. A beautiful creamy persian type.