Hobbies and Crafts

Hi Everyone
Been to the country fair at Thame today.
It was good. Lots of gun dogs, some sheep dog displays, falconry................. though they "lost" a bird of prey.
We also saw lots of Kites again they really are doing well in that area.

At home the finches and tits are still eating masses of sunflower seeds. I will have to fill the feeders again tomorrow.

Linda :o) XxX

Hi
Ann Yes we did have a look in the Ansell Adams gallery. Brilliant photos.
Our son managed a beautiful one of mirror lake.

Our only disappointment was not seeing bears. Son saw them on last visit there but there was still a lot of snow about.
The waterfalls were great as the snow is melting.
We stayed at the Ahwahnee hotel and after dinner went outside and the sound was amazing with the calls of the frogs.
I'm looking forward to looking at the photos. We've transfered some but not from the main camera yet.
Coming home tomorrow so last day of sight seeing today but it's raining at the moment.
Take care
Von

Yosemite, wonderful place for photography. Have you ever seen the black and white photos taken there by Ansell Adams. We stayed in one of the hotels inside Yosemite, had a fire alarm in the middle of the night which was not a lot of fun.... False alarm.

Von...sounds like you're having a brill time:o)
One family live in Paso Robles, 3 families in Santa Barbara area, some in New York and my half sis and bruv in Colorado and their families.

Been to Yosemite, is'nt it amazing?? also to San Francisco:o)

Enjoy, good journey home:o)

jude x

Jude
We're staying in San Francisco.
We've been down the pacific highway to Arroya Grande,
Across to Yosemite national park and up to Lake County to Clear lake then down the Nappa valley back to San Francisco.
Have extended the trip by a few days to spend Easter here.
Whereabouts are your relatives?
Take care
Von

Suddenly remembered about 3 mins before Countryfiles finished....turned it on to see Christopher and fingymajig feeding the Redkites:o)) and saw the 2 Whitekites too:o))

Island...were you in the that bit of film??

Jane..thank you re the moon photo, l need a tripod though. There is so much to learn about this camera, but so far its great:o)

Von...look forward to that:o)...where in California are you?

Ann...thats one licky blackbird!!

Jane..hows the rabbit and rat prob?..we found a dead rat the other day but still not seen any others.

jude

My digital 'Hybrid' which is a Panasonic Lumix FZ45 can be either used on programme or can be used like the 35mm SLRs where you can 'creat' the photo yourself. Asuper camera, very pleased with it, although I admit to being lazy mosy of the time and using it on programme.

I have an old Ricoh 35mSLR KR10 for which I have small tripod .. great for night photos, but it isn't digital . Don't suppose other than camera enthusiasts have heard of it. Still love it , cos you have to 'create ' the photo yourself.. not just point and shoot.
Digis are great, tho they all differ, not fussed on my dau's or the one we had before but the little Sams*ng I have now is brill.
Just wish we had more exotic birds to photo.lol

Half an hour ago there was a terrific noise outside, birsds screeching. A blackbird is nesting on the top of a palm like tree in our hosts garden and a hawk tried to attack the nest. The blackbird fought him off. No I didn't have the camera handy at the time. \typical!!!

Hi
First Happy Easter to everyone.
I've been staying in California and whilst visiting some friends I was excited to see humming birds on the feeders.
They fill the feeders with sugar,water and colouring.
I'd only ever seen them on TV before so it was really good to see them in real life.
We've also seen lots of birds of prey but we still have to identify them.

Jude when we return I'll try and send some photos. At the moment we are both using cameras and clicking furiously but it's anyone's guess what the photos will be like.
Take care
Von

Afternoon all.What fantastic weather we are all having.It is fairly quiet bird wise in the garden at the moment.But not quiet rat wise lol.First Rabbits and now rats.What have we done to deserve it lol.They seem to be living under the compost.Thank goodness it is right down the bottom of the garden.
The Heron seems very busy visiting next doors (lake).There are too many trees in the way for me to get a photo.
Jude that was a great pic of the moon.You clever thing.My night photos are absolutely hopeless.

Just in case I don't get back ,I hope everyone has a lovely Easter whatever you are all doing or wherever you might be going.

Morning all:o)

Island....will look out for Countryfile, thanks:o)
If you have any photo's for us all to see l'll send you the email addy etc for the blog:o). Plus the moon ones:o) We used to see siskins and yellowhammers in Sussex, but seen either for years.Wwe were watching animal24/7 this morning and a chap was saying how important it is to record garden birds, he has spent 16yrs catching and recording birds in the countryside etc, to record what is still there etc. l think l will send my reports in on a monthly basis now.

Linda.....have you seen the Crested Grebe with young on their backs:o)
l'm wondering now if its the Grebe Vic saw on river wye rather than the goosander.

Off to the garden now:o)

jude

Hi Everyone
Beautiful weather at the moment.

Back from a lovely walk with my son's dog again, he is with us for a few days. This morning the lake had a light mist hanging over it, quite ereathral(sp).
Think it's going to be another beautiful day.
The herons and swans have visible nests, but many other waterbirds round there. Mallards, tufted ducks, coots, moorhen, grebe, mandarin to name just a few.

Linda :o) XxX

Hello Birders

I did a good catch up on birdies last week in Wales - nothing unusual for you lucky people with rural gardens but watching goldfinches is a real treat for us city dwellers. We even saw our first siskins! We saw lots of big birds - crowies from Ravens to jackdaws, buzzards, red kites and two white red kites. I had plenty of digiscoping practice but not quite perfected pin-sharp focus - will I ever? LOL
We were at Gigrin farm, the red kite feeding centre and I thought you would be interested to know they are being featured on Countryfile this sunday (24th)

Jude, On Monday I was balancing my scope on the window sill with one hand and camera in other to snap the full moon as my tripod was in the van (not quick and easy to get) - not too bad considering LOL.
I had the tripod at the ready last night and was quite pleased with the results. Oddly, I found the 'text' setting on my camera the most successful.
It was a fabulous golden moon wasn't it?

Photo of the moon on blog:o)) not brilliant but not bad:o)

jude

When I went on the dog walk this morning down in the village the birds were so busy collecting nesting material.Mainly Blackbirds.Every one I saw had a beak full lol
In the Church yard I disturbed a bird.I don't what it was .I wonder if it might have been a Grouse.It took off like a bullet and had very short wings and flew quite low.
Off to have a look at the Blog pics now.

Monring folks:o)

More photo's on blog from Ann, including a Lizzard:o)

l sent my photo of S/Hawk to the Nature recording thingie along with a photo of a butterfly. The Hawk one is going onto Facebook:o))

Rabbits probs Noooo, Rat probs Yessss....although past week not seen any:o)
What an unusual thing to do to stop rabbits, but if it works brilliant:o)

Tec...hows Ianto?
Madoc is as mad as ever, he's been bullying me this morning for bits of bonio!!

Have a good day everyone:o)
jude x

Thanks Jude
They came out OK didn't they

Loved your Sparrow Hawk, thanks for the tip on enlarging it

Linda :o) XxX

PS Jane no rabbit problems here, or squirrels either !!!!

Great to see the new pics on the blog.Thanks for setting that up Jude.I love seeing everyones photos.
Has anyone got trouble with Rabbits ?A few weeks ago we were inundated and it was like Watership Down .OH did a dirty deed last week and bought an air rifle!!!!!.
But when I went to the hairdressers I mentioned our problem to Nigel (The Boss) He told me of a chap he knows who asked him for all the hair that was cut.It was to put around the perimeter of his allotment.To stop Rabbits getting in.They are supposed not to like Human hair.So I came home with a bag of hair lol.Guess what? The Bunnies seem to have disappeared!!!!!!!!

Linda...your photo's are on the blog now. Just love the Mallards one,, you shoud have followed them!!!

jude x