Hobbies and Crafts

Finally!!!! I have snapped the Woodpecker.Well not me,but OH did.

Hello Jane
Wow what lovely photo's, brilliant:o)
Will get them onto blog now:o)

We had a nuthatch this morning:o)) A very large crow sat on the fence and lent down to the small bird table almost falling off the fence, but just managed to grab some food:o)

Off now to the blog.

jude :o)

Both photo's on blog:o)

jude x

Thanks Jude.They aren't bad are they.
My sister has had a crow opposite her house for weeks now.She says it just spends all day just pottering and then sits in a tree at night.She thinks it probably can't fly properly,which is why it just stays there.I have asked her to try and get a picture of it.She is getting a bit paranoid about the poor thing as she is pretty sure there must be something wrong with it.
Next mission for me is to try and get a pic of our squirrel.

Evening ....just onway to bed, blinky tired:o((

Is there anyway your sister can catch the crow, perhaps put food down for it like cat food or simular (very smelly etc) and then throw something over it....always have brilliant ideas l do.....lol lol

Not been about today, hubby did'nt have time to feed the birds before we left, but we did on return, just a few of the smaller birds flitting about and the squirrel. He's quite a large one with a red head and partly red on his neck, dog caught sight of him so kept the patio doors closed!!

We've been to Ros-on-wye today, met d i l and grandson, spent some time feeding the ducks and swans. A lady walking her dog told us of a swan with fishing line tangled on it, it was till swimming about ok apparently (we did'nt see it), we suggested she phoned the rspca as there might be a swan rescue service in the area, l do hope she did!!

Bought some nice bits in the charity shops:o))))

Nite nite
jude :o)

My sister has 3 dogs and 2 cats lol Don't know what or where she would put the crow lol.She said she took a photo on the camera phone but doesn't know how to put it on the computer!!! It is called Mr.Crow.She is just keeping her eye on it.
2 pheasants in next doors garden this morning ,making a racket lol.My dog was all of a quiver as he hadn't heard that noise before lol.There are a couple of moorhens pottering around there too .Trouble is because of trees and the hedge I can't get a clear view for a photo.
Have a good kip Jude,I won't be long behind you.

Well done to your OH on the woodpecker pics Jane and thanks Jude for putting them up. I'm not a great photographer and for me to have got close enough to catch the one we had in the garden the other day I would have had to go outside and that would probably have scared it off. Not only that but usually when I go outside one of the cats will probably follow me. But it was good to watch woody having a good old root round in my lawn for a while.

I did get a pic of a squirrel this morning,but not good enough to put on the blog.
Another I took is of what I am pretty sure is the squirrels drey/nest in the top of our pine tree.
I might send that to Jude and see what she thinks.OH took the pictures of the woodpecker through the patio windows.

Evening all:o)

DON'T forget its.........http://www.rspb.org.uk/feedthebirds/ tomorrow:o)

Von has sent me 2 photos of spiders on their webs for the blog, and felt you should be warned, so if you don't like spiders DON'T LOOK. Lovely photo's:o))....Thanks Von:o)

Just watched Autumn Watch, some of the filming was down the road from us (almost), the canoes were from the local canoe hire place, nice picture of Simon and the owners in local paper.
Do you think there is something going on between Kate and Chris?? lol

Yes please Jane:o)
jude:o)

Morning.....more spider pics on the blog, plus a couple of fish:o)

Have a nice day, its raining here for a change...lol...garden is loving it though.

jude :o) x

Hi Everyone,
Nothing wildly exciting to report - no pink flamingos, pelicans, or sulphur crested cockatoos.
Usual visitors - sparrows, chaffinches, blue tits, green finches, robin, starlings, doves, and marauding jackdaws.
Strange twitterings coming from a stone wall yesterday turned out to be two wrens. They were investigating all the nooks and crannies.
The heron is still visiting a neighbours garden - they can't have any fish left in their pond.

Yanto is still refusing to have anything to do with the ramp I made him. I crawled up it again the other day to no avail. He looked at me crouched in the back of the car, practicularly shook his head and walked away. Ungrateful dog.

Regards to all,
Tec.

We checked out a strange twittering in our trees today too Tec. We're not very hot on identifying bird calls so we listened on the rspb site. I had very briefly glimpsed what looked like a wren and checking out the call confirmed it. I only heard one but OH said he'd heard two in different trees replying to each other. I'm really glad to see they're back. Haven't seen them in ages.

The squirrels - well one of them - can still get at the seed on our feeder. Having put a baffle on a couple of weeks ago it didn't stop them at all. We discovered how they were getting there and moved the feeder further away but there's nowhere else to go with it besides too close to where the cats could get to or too far for us to see properly. It's definitely more difficult now and it seems one squirrel who thinks it's a bird can pretty nearly fly from the rose arch to the feeder. All four of us watched as still and quiet as we could in the lounge and were so amazed at the gymnastic feat we cheered. That frightened it for a minute. Later we saw two on the ground waiting for what Olympic Squirrel knocked down for them. We've bought a different kind of seed feeder, but didn't really want to get one of those with the cage round it in case it's too small or puts the Greater spotted woodpeckers off coming. Haven't had them back at the feeder yet but we're hoping as we've seen them around. We sort of don't mind the squirrels being there but we just don't want them to empty the whole feeder out so quickly. They don't seem to eat much of it but spill loads. We even don't mind a little spill as it means it's there for the ground feeders, but in summer we ended up with wheat and oats growing from the seeds under the feeder.

Evening all....just a quickie:o)

Hello Tec long time no see. Have you tried just letting him sit in the front seat!!! lol

Dizzie....your photo's are fantastic and on the blog, only just found them sorry!

Our nut feed er held on the post by a nail which we hang the handle on, then we tie wire round that and round the post to stop the squirrels from disapearing with it all!! it works most of the time, occasionally its on the ground. Its a metal feeder. Even 2 jackdaws were feedng from it this morning, could'nt believe my eys, great big lumps hanging on there.

Quite a few birds were wating to be fed this morning, vic was abit late.
Don't like it now that it gets darker earlier:o((

jude :o)

The new feeder we got seems to work better. It's one of the ones that have holes up the sides with perches. Olympic Squirrel can still get there but can't get at the seed so easily and it doesn't spill anything like as much when he tries. The old one was a hopper with a tray at the bottom that had perches round the tray and as the squirrels got there the seed poured out the bottom and off the tray. I don't know why we didn't try this before but when we've looked previously for some reason it took us a while to see that the same wouldn't happen.

The willow tree is just beginning to yellow and drop its leaves. Up till now it had been holding its colour and leaves. Now when I look out of the upstairs windows the view is beginning to extend over the farmland at the back.

Hello everyone:o)

Dizzie you are so discriptive:o))

Our little acer tree has almost shed its red leaves, its in a pot, not sure whether to plant it in the ground....mmmm will think about that one! Our view is mainly of 100ft fir trees and they get rid of the old bits with the wind chucking it our way...lol (not), then there is a really old house, so our view does'nt really alter but we can see the farmland and the cows:o)))

off out for a while have paint to buy for lounge:o))

jude :o) x

Went on a lovely walk this afternoon. It was really warm and sunny. After taking my son for a pub lunch we walked up Kings Play Hill to get rid of a few of the calories. There's supposed to be a long barrow up there but it's in enclosed farmer's land so we couldn't see it. But there were beautiful views up there and we saw a hare. I'm not sure I've seen one before. Their legs are so long it makes them look huge and they move really fast. Afterwards we decided to drive slowly along the road below the hill to see if we could spot the barrow that way. We thought we did but we can't be sure. Oh well, the walk was good anyway.

Erm whats a 'barrow' ??

l've heard of wheelbarrows, any simularity?

jude :o)

Sorry, it's a huge big ancient burial mound. Round here some have "sarsen" stones at what would have been the entrance. Like the standing stones Avebury stone circle is made of.

I have 2 wheelbarrows by the way - one down the garden, one at the top. Posh here innit?!

I got another photo of our Woodpecker at a different angle lol.I took it through the dining room window.I will send it to you Jude .See what you think I don't want to flood the blog with Woody lol

Thanks Dizzie, will look that up when we are home next week....off to Birmingham then Dorset again:o)) Madoc the dog is so excited cause he has his favourite dog sitter coming, mind you he loves most people unless he is the postie!!!


Thanks Jane....will look at it tomorrow or Monday, l love pics of Woodies:o))

jude :o) x