Hobbies and Crafts

Hello everyone.
Not too much going on here at the moment.Probably because I have had to stop hanging the coconuts for a while.Those blasted Magpies were becoming a real problem. :-S.Some are still about and seem to enjoy dragging dead bunnies all over the lawn and eating them.There were 4 of them the other day pulling at one .All that was left was the skull and bones.I have more remains out there now.The head is on the lawn and the rest of the body is jammed in the little picket fence.Sorry if you are eating dinner :-S :-S I have left it all for OH to get rid of when he gets in. :-D :-D
The young Woodpecker is busy at the moment.I see it most days pecking away on that old dead tree.
I will go and have a look on the blog now Jude.

Well I think all ours are on holiday at yours Jude. :-D :-D

This morning at about 6am we had a big flock of Canada Geese fly over....I think this means Autumn is on it's way :-S It may be a daily occurrence now :-D I shall keep eyes and ears peeled .

I haven't seen any Canadian geese yet Jane but I'm sure I will when the harvest is done, I dread being under one of these flocks when they fly over :-D :-D

Oh Jane, just read your post about the Magpies and bunnies....poor you and the bunnies of course. Have they all gone now??

Not seen any Canada geese, hope l dont too for a while l want more summer, too soon go away Geese!!!

Lesley.....lol...and how is your daughter??

AnnG...he he he

jude x

No news yet :-( she's booked to go in on the 9th if baby O doesn't arrive before then :-D

Flipping eck she's well over due, bless her!! Keep us ALL POSTED:)

jude x

Pesky Squirrels are pinching all the Hazelnuts.We have never had one ourselves :-S.There are empty husks (or whatever the outer bit is called) all under the tree.
I wonder if one of the little darlings is the Earless Wonder :-D.I would love to see that one again.OH just wants to shoot them :-S :-S

We're inundated by parakeets at the moment.
Lovely as they are they are so noisy.
We also have a little family of robins who seem to be very friendly and don't fly away when we are in the garden.
Take care
Von

Hello Everybody, not been on here for a while with what's been going on of late.
Well what a funny year it as been with Mother Nature and the mixture of weather we have all been having. As we all know Mother Nature also plays a part in our wildlife, very early March sunshine encouraged the birds to build there nests and mate, almost two months early, well it was with me. The Blue-tits were finding it the worst as there was no caterpillars about to feed there young , I have discovered several bird boxes with baby blue-tit chicks in which failed to survive because of a lack of food for them. Also this is the worst year I have ever had regarding bird nests and box's being raided by Jays , Magpies, Jackdaws , Crows , Rooks and Squirrels .
For the first time ever I have not seen any Canadian Geese flying over head , I wonder why all these changes , also this morning I have noticed that the Martins and Swallows seem to be gathering on the electric and telephone wires, have they had enough of our weather and thinking of heading for Africa , it makes you think . On a brighter note the frogs , toads , slow-worms , newts , voles , moles ,shrews , wood-mice are doing very good. Dare I mention the slugs and snails , there loving the weather and my lettuce .

Well that's about it folks cannot sit any more.
Ann, I have sent you some photos for your blog also you Jude.
You all take care.
Shaun

Received the photos Shaun, will put them on asap. We have very few birds in the garden at the moment, just sparrows and pigeons and a female blackbird. Not even seen any magpies for a while either thank goodness. No loss that. I think the birds are very confused by the weather, it has been quite dark here on some days so they may actually think it is autumn already.

No little birds on our feeders lately but we did have a tawny owl screeching around in the trees - I didn't know they called in flight - it did some 'oo-oooing' when it settled. Two nights on the trot this week :-D :-D

Afternoon everyone:)

Hello Island...hows you stranger??:)

Shaun....Have'nt seen any geese either, l wonder why??

Well we are still getting.......

Loads of Sparrow (15-20)
Black birds are fewer at the moment.
The occasional Starling.
The occasional Robin.
Nuthatch.
2 GS woodpeckers.
Loads of C/doves.
Loads of woodpigeons.
Not seen the Jay lately :( l have a gorgeous feather though).
Heard an owl yesterday.
A few chaffinches.
Quite a few Blue, Great and Cole tits.

Amongst all these are some of their youngsters too...so we are very lucky by the sounds of it:)

Oh and a couple of Squirrels...:)
Not seen any rats for ages, but l think the people at bottom of garden have at last done something about them their side....:))))))

jude xx

I too noticed the Swallows on the wires this afternoon.Not a huge number though.They still seem busy swooping low down the lane catching all the insects.
Plenty of Blackbirds in our garden.It is just about time for them all to come out for their supper :-D OH said he saw a pale coloured bird the other morning looking a bit lost.I'm not sure what it was but I wondered if it might have been a Fieldfare.
Still lots of Seagulls in big groups flying over.It must be to do with the harvesting I think.
Jude I love all the new pics on the blog :-D

Just tried to take a pic of the 8 Blackbirds on the lawn but they skedaddled :-S :-S

Skedaddled ...... brilliant word...lol:)

Photo's on blog from our Shaun:)

Thank you Jane:)

jude xx

Well, the birds must think summer is over. The last couple of days we have had a flock of starlings returned to feed, they look like this years juveniles. We also had a young robin on the seed feeder today, the usual sparrow, a collard dove, a wood pigeon, one greenfinch, numerous blue tits and a pair of Great tits. And a couple of days ago there was a flock of blue tits, and in the middle of them, feeding with them was one long tailed tit. And there have also been a couple of blackbirds around. And now we have run out of seed so have to replenish tomorrow. :-)

AnnG...so all of a sudden you were inundated with feathered friends.....we still have quite a few, not many blackbirds though. A long tailed tit this morning, first in a while, usual couple of robins (again), couple of chaffinch, green finch. C/doves and w/pigeons...are always here. Crow occasionally, but yesterday Vic saw 3. No Dunoncks at the moment:(, very occasionally now the GS woodpecker.

AND SOME WEIRD EGGS....take a look at me blog!!!!!

jude :-) :-)

Shall just go and look. We have a robin as well but he is not all round like they usually are but quite small and 'skinny'.

Ooh, don't know what those eggs are Jude. How big are they? Can't remember if you said. They look like very very large ants eggs.

By the way did you get my e mail of the cat and the dolphins?