Hobbies and Crafts

When I'm uploading my photos I'll try to remember to pm you with the address. Hope to do it later today.

Typical me:o((((( l can't find how to get into my blog...doh....since losing everything on the pc its not now in bookmarks etc and l can't remember the site name, can someone pm with it....ta:o))
Jane got your photo's, they are brilliant:o))

DizzieLizzie....yeh that will be great, even more so if l can get into the blog...lol

jude x

At long last we've found the software discs again for our camera so I've been able to download the few photos that were in the camera to the computer. Our old computer died earlier this year and we needed to load the software onto the new ones (posh - we have a laptop each now) but just could not find the discs. They'd got tucked away well safe during the moving and unpacking process. So now I may be able to upload a few to your blog again Jude.

Ann,have done that.Thanks for spreading the word.

Nothing to do with birds, but anyone interested in helping to help someone please check out Daff's thread ( Sommat nice, Hanging baskets and Moustachios on chat) thanks PM me if you want to know more

Thanks Jane....will take alook at email in a mo:o)

DizzieLizzie....his wound is clean, we had to take it off yesterday as instructed by vet.

My sister has that problem with her old cat, she just goes completely mad.

Now Madoc is a gem, he just loves going there,infact the vet remarked how good he is, he sits, lays down and rolls over and just layed there whilst they put the 2 staples in.....he really is a gem:o)

jude

I managed to get photos of the young Woodpecker this morning It was on the dead tree trunk.I snapped it through the downstairs window,but if I had been upstairs in bed I could have taken it from there lol
Will send it to you Jude.

I do hope his healing won't be set back by his bandage coming off.

My three moggies received their annual postcard from the vet this week so we'll have to load up the ark (oh no! that was 2 by 2) to get them there. It's quite a palaver first getting all of them in their baskets without losing an eye or being torn to shreds. Always have to catch the difficult one first so that she doesn't have too much time to get the wind up seeing what's going on with the others. Then getting them all strapped in the car. Then they all sing to pass the time on the journey. Wouldn't mind but then they all behave impeccably at the vets.

Its great reading your nature diaries:o) your garden sounds wonderful, more like a park with a river running through.

Vic often comes home from dog walking and updates me on the swans and sygnets on the river Wye, and the ducks. We think the cormorants are still there but now that the trees are full of leaves we can't see them:o(
Some of the swans do build nests in silly places don't they??
Madoc....his bandage came off this morning, he has a really nice clean wound with 2 staples in. l've forgotten when we have to take him back to have them out, will ring on Monday...dohhh

Loads of sparrows in garden, a few greenfinches and chaffinches.
l put a message on the RSPB website the other and got a very helpful reply,but l can't find it....doh, will put it on here when l do.

jude

I'm glad the Swans seem to be staying Lizzie.I know when we were in Suffolk last month the owner of the cottage had put a branch sticking out from the riverbank for the kingfisher.Sadly we didn't get to see one.

Sorry, me again. This morning we've been taking my considerable lilac prunings to the recycling centre. We did the work earlier in the week and brought the branches round to the front of the house ready for loading so they've been there a few days and obviously got rained on. As we were loading we had to stop and rescue a pair of toads that were underneath them in the damp and shade. They would have been too vulnerable on our front drive. The only other time we saw one was once last yearwhen I opened the compost bin to put a load in and disturbed one there.

Saw the swans again as I opened the curtains. I had to runall the way down to take them some food before they disappeared. Same family so maybe they'll start to come by more regularly again. I had a thought that there is a willow tree on the opposite bank which has put out some shoots directly across the river so maybe they are not keen on having a narrowed passage past it. OH and I will have to put on our wellies and have judicious prune. We also know that kingfishers like a branch across a river to fish from. Maybe we're not seeing it because it has a lot of green for cover too, so we don't want to lose the branch completely, just make the swans' path a little easier.

Saw my swans this evening after a bit of an absence. Adult pair with the 3 cygnets a bit more grown up than last time and a lot more hungry. I was supposed to be changing a couple of beds, but that had to wait. It's quite cold, really windy and tipping down with rain at the moment. If this doesn't refill my water butt, nothing will.

Oh poor Madoc.He does get himself into trouble doesn't he.I hope he keeps his bandage on lol.My dog has lumps but so far they just seem to be fatty lumps.Fingers crossed Madocs lump is a benign one.
I disturbed 2 Woodpeckers in the Churchyard this morning.

We did have a frog hopping down our patio and up the steps to the lawn yesterday.

Hope Madocs leg heals quicly Jude, he does get in the wars doesn't he?

Your garden does sound idyllic dizzie, I am quite envious.

Poor old Madoc - I hope his legs heals soon and that the lump's nothing major. Our old poochy got a number of small lumps and bumps under his fur when he got very old but they turned out to be harmless, just down to the great age he reached thank goodness as the vet said he was so old that even if they had been troublesome the treatment would have been worse for him than the original problem.

Now don't get me wrong Jude, I like bank voles as much as the next wildlife fan and feel quite privileged that they decided our's is a good home - BUT... for the past few weeks their burrowing in the bit of the lawn under the willow tree has made quite a mess down there. At one point we thought they were encroaching further but that seems to have stopped thank goodness. OH says he doesn't mind as long as they remain under the tree. We reckon they will because they'd be opening themselves up more to birds of prey if they come out from under cover. It's also possible that they've moved on having discovered our three feline darlings, especially after the near dunking of Cindy the other day. If they were the other side of the river they'd be in quite the little wildlife haven that the farmer opposite has left wild having fenced off a bit further up the slope to keep his cattle in. Apparently years ago before he did that the cows used to take occasional little day trips to our side too!

DizzieLizzie....you do see alot in your garden don't you:o)) We see a fare bit. This afternoon we went to Symonds Yat, my friend with alzheimers loves going there.....and we saw a BANK VOLE, dear little thing, l thought it was a mouse and the rspb lady put me right...lol.......l tried to get a photo but it must have known and would'nt come out again:o((

MADOC.....gorden bennett......he cut his back leg this morning on the shingle beach (vic calls it that), did'nt look tooo bad but thought l'd get it checked....he's had 2 staples in it!!!! and its now wrapped in red bandage. Also he's had a lump on his neck for the past 6-8 weeks, 2 weeks ago the vet was supposed to check it out but forgot......it could be cancerous, well what the vet said was "it looks too suspicious to ignore, and it would be best to remove it", to me it looks like a blood blister or a tick!!! its grown very very slightly so is'nt a worrying size thankfully, but needs sorting.
We can remove the red bandage on Saturday, only 10 min walks on a lead!!!
So fingers crossed again for the Mad Dog, he does go through it does'nt he!!

jude

Takes me back to my childhood Anne... Thinking about Tales of the Riverbank. I do love my garden and am really lucky to be able to live here. I actually got to see one of the green woodpeckers myself this morning hopefully doing for one of the ant hills in the lawn that come up from time to time. It was there for quite some time today.

A month or two ago I got myself a large notebook which I've divided out into a sort of perpetual calendar. Just put the dates not the day of the week they fall on so that each year until it gets too full I can note what happens when in the year. Life in London had always been too busy to even think of anything like that, but here with so much going on in the garden and the cold weather earlier in the year having affected the timings of different things starting off with the bulbs opening etc really made me think it would be interesting to see how things change and maybe why. I don't necessarily write something every day but just if I notice something particular that I haven't seen before or that I remember from last year being earlier/later or more or less often.

For instance I wish I knew why we don't see the swans very often now. Only seen them a few times since last autumn. But from when we moved here in October 2008 until late last summer we saw them pretty much every day. I do miss them and love it when they do come, especially with the cygnets. It was great to watch last year's ones grow up.

Great idea Ann lol
Have seen the young woodpecker again this morning,Digging away in the bark on the tree.There must be some tasty insects in there at the moment.
The birds seem to be enjoying this bit of rain we have had today.