Hobbies and Crafts

It seems blogger is broken!
"read only from weds 11th @10pm for an hour of maintenance" (or words to that affect.
It's been a long hour!

Hi Jane,
we've had the odd couple of swifts cruising high up in the last week. They seem to do this then disappear and come back later in larger numbers. Maybe they have small advance parties to test the temperature? :-)
We saw a lone swallow in mid Wales on April 10th and two later in the week.
Swallows always remind me of times spent on Skomer Island. Swallows nest in the old farmhouse so if one is very quite and still fluffy babies can be spotted outside of the nest. When I saw my first one I felt my eyes expanding to the size of saucers :D

Edit @13.44 just in case anyone wonders what happened
Blogger Status
Friday, May 13, 2011

To get Blogger back to normal, all posts since 7:37am PDT on Weds, 5/11 have been temporarily removed. We expect everything to be back to normal soon. Sorry for the delay.

More great pics on the blog.I might send you one of my Chester .He looks Chinese lol
I heard a huge thump on my window earlier .Thought I would find a dead pidgeon....but thankfully it flew off.
I have started to see the swifts /swallows down the lane.Not sure which they are.I had the camera with me but they are just too 'swift ' lol

Hi Everyone
I've been working in the garden today and the goldfinches have been singing their hearts out.
I think they may be nesting in my neighbours tree.
Take care
Von

Evening everyone:o)

Nice one too:o)
We've had the squirrel back this past week, and the fat balls are being eaten very quickly....just topped them upagain,don't usually have to do that very often!

Hello Barbara....Depends how small the bird is, as Ann says it could be a Robin, but if its bigger it could be a Blackbird....keep your camera handy and sit yourself down in a good position and watch for it to come off the nest!!!...lol...if you could snap a picci it would be good:o))

More photo's on the Bird blog, these are from Island...wowww some lovely ones too. Also some brill ones from Dutch...l think l have some more to get on from Dutch, will check later.

See yeh
jude x

I wonder what they are Barbra .I imagine a small bird.Some years ago we had some Ring Necked Doves/Pidgeons(not sure) that made a nest on the top of our security light just along from our bedroom window.I was forever leaning out of the window to see if I could catch any action.One morning I looked out and saw 2 babies take their first flight.They perched on the edge for ages before taking the first leap.It was brilliant.I know I took some pics.But can I find them? NO lol.I got a crook in my neck waiting for them to take that first step.But it was worth it lol :D

Robins will often make a nest on top of something. We had one a few years back made the nest on top of a bird box.

I put up my posh new feeder stand up yesterday, replacing the one I made with a copper pipe and a wire coat hanger.......

........not a dickie bird! :S

Had a lovely time at the local reservoirs on sunday. Lots of fluffy ducklings and geese. Nice to see a little grebe in breeding plumage for a change.
Common terns nest there too, they are one of my favourites in flight as they make such a dainty shape.
We heard and eventually spotted three song thrushes and heard,but didn't locate, a green woodpecker several times.


I can't remember if I said we heard our first cuckoo of the year on Easter Saturday at Fineshade Wood (RSPB) near Stamford. I say first of the year, I reckon it's our first in 10 years!

Since we were away for the month we seem to have lost our goldfinches. i am hoping they will return. We have had a couple of greenfinches return otherwise it has been robins, blackbirds, sparrows, pigeons and starlings.

Jean ,that's a shame.I think the birds are easy catch at the moment for cats.
Send her here.We have some rats down by the compost bins.
I'm sure your birds will find food elsewhere for now.
We have an Owl or two close by at night.They keep me awake with their hooting lol :D

Sadly, we have decided not to feed birds in our garden as the feral cat that we have been feeding for a year has suddenly taken to catching them She has energy to spare now she is well fed. She carches mice and rats too, so not all bad.

Hi Everyone
We've had some rain here overnight. Garden looks a bit refreshed. Not sure that it is enough.

Birds still feeding lots. Have seen goldfinch on the sunflower seeds, don't often get them. They are eating so much having to top up much more than usual.

Bit overcast still but not actually raining

Linda :-) <3

Alix must have deleted. She came on and just said 'ha ha! She'd added her photo but I think only had one post.

Oh Dear!.A small bird flew into the front of my car this morning.Hopefully it was an instant death for the poor thing.It left me with goosebumps.The Kites and Buzzards are still busy around here,and I noticed a couple of other hawk type birds earlier.
We had a huge downpour of rain in the night .It woke me up.The grass actually looks quite green again.I can't remember the last time we had rain like that here.But boy did we need it. :D

I can't find an Alix either lol!!!
Still seems very quiet here on the Birdie front during the day.I know they are all there at 4.30 am lol.I just love the different songs,but would love them to hang on just for a bit longer before waking me.I can never get back to sleep properly and find I'm fading in the afternoon.Off to bed soon lolol.ZZZZZ

Ermm who's Alix??

Island...it has been said on TV that some of the fires (atleast) have been started by man!! sadly:o((

jude

Hello Alix, good to see somebody new on the thread. Do you feed the birds in your garden? :-)

Hi Linda
You make a good point about the forest fires.
They are bound to have an effect on birds and other wildlife surely?
I can't see how they can be of natural causes as I've never heard of them in the UK before and we have had longer dry spells than the current one.
I don't remember the country being ablaze in 1976.

Birds still feeding heavily here. Having to refil the feeders very often.
Not sure if we might have more as the Forests that are burning can't be inhabitable for them??

Sunny again today and no smoke so hung the washing out too.

Hope everyone is OK

Linda :-) <3

Hello birders

Nice redecoration job eh? Loving seeing a bit of colour added by the profile pics.

Jane, reading about your red kites being whooshed by the wind - we had a right hooley earlier in the week. A coaltit flew over to our balcony feeder, his little legs were poised in landing mode when, barely inches from gripping the wooden tray, he too was whooshed! Poor little coalie!

Jude and all, I really enjoyed the blog thank you. What a beautiful and varied collection. I have some pics ready to share but no addy to send them to!

Oops, nearly forgot.......
Jude, re Gigrin, yes, Chris is the son and runs the centre. Colin does the gate and feeding on Saturdays. Chris wears a trilby, Colin wears a cap.

Not a lot of birds to report .But I think we have a Bees nest in one of the Compost bins.Have looked it up on google and it says just leave them ,they will go by the Autumn!!