Hobbies and Crafts

Hello Dizzielizzie:o)

The Kymins is a round house, rather like a small round castle with turrets in Monmouth. It sits on a hill and the view from the top is amazing. Lovely walks too through the woods and fields:o) Its part of the National trust and you can get a guided tour, it really small though:o))Lord Nelson took Lady Hamilton there!!!

Nite nite

jude :o)

Thanks Jude. That sound worth a visit. Lol we used to have a cat called Nelson cos he only had one eye. We still have a tabby called Fanny who came to us as a 12 week old kitten when we still had him. We didn't want to call her Emma (his bit of fluff), but his wife was called Frances (Fanny) Nisbet and their marriage was reputedly unconsummated. Naughty girl used to pounce on him from his wrong side to catch him out sometimes.

Had a quick look at your blog again today Jude. The florentine cat is so cute.

The moorhens have been spending more time in our garden since the weather's been bad. They like my ground feeder table as do the pheasants. The river is flowing quite fast and today it's pretty high too. There's a little sheltered bit of bank on the other side and there was a little huddle of ducks there yesterday. They did venture across for a few moments for some bread though.

My cats are bored. They keep sitting at the windows wondering when they can go out.

Hopefully a better day for the wildlife today. It's sunny and bright here. Not too cold and only a light breeze today. Awful weather yesterday and a worse night.

Cold, some sun and some very heavy showers here so not many birds around.

Hello everyone,
I noticed that the moorhens from next door have found their way into our garden.It always seems to be early in the morning.They don't come up to the house but tend to stay at the bottom.I think they are the same ones that I first saw when they were tiny little chicks waddling along with their mum lol

Our moorhens stay at the bottom of the garden too, and they disappear sharpish if we so much as just go out the back door and straight back in again. They seem much more shy than the other ducks and birds.

Had a lovely blackbird singing to me from a tree outside my office this afternoon.

Several years ago,my friend arrived on my doorstep with a cardboard box.Inside were 4 tiny Moorhens,maybe a few days old.They had been washed out of their nest by heavy rain.She thought I would know what to do!!!!!!.Not sure why she thought that,anyway off she went to work.I managed to ring RSPB and they suggested I made sloppy scrambled egg and try to get some down them.It was impossible.I can't remember how I got this other number but it was someone who took in birds and they had an incubator.I drove 20 odd miles to the other side of Northampton with these little things and met this person in a car park somewhere.They wasted no time ,and whisked them away .I have no idea if they survived.I do hope so.

I have just realised I think I have told the story of the Moorhens before on here.
I do apologise if I am repeating myself .It's my age lol

Weather much better today in my patch of North Wales. Sunshine, though we did have hailstones earlier.
The birds are hungry, and I expect will get hungrier with colder weather forecast for the weekend, even snow on high ground.
I am disturbed to hear about the illness affecting the finches in some areas. We seem to have a good number of chaffinches around, though far outnumbered by the sparrows, whereas it used to be 50/50. A trio of greenfinches visit daily, but no goldfinches so far. Pleased to see the blackbirds are back regularly, one female has no tail. Bluetits, doves, dunnnock, and the robin are here daily. This morning I spotted the heron looking for breakfast among the rockpools on the beach - I wonder what he finds there? The oystercatchers were not there today, but there were three cormerants perched on a rock just off shore.
The owls seem to have disappeared, or just gone quiet.

Yanto continues to blame me personally for recent bad weather, but is happy to take me for a walk daily. Now that he is getting on in years, OH has suggested making him a coat out of my old wax jacket. He may, or may not, appreciate it, and may object to being made to look like a woos in front of other village dogs.....we'll see.

Regards to everyone, I read your posts with interest.

Tec

me deleted - posted twice,
Tec

Good to hear from you again Tec. I was just beginning to wonder if you were OK. Now you may just have to be firm with old Ianto and tell him it's better to look girly than get all his joints cold and wet on a bad day. Being as it's your old wax jacket it's not going to be pink is it?

I'll have to have a listen out for the owls, I don't remember hearing them lately either.

Never mind about being repetitive Jane - I hadn't heard about your moorhens before. Or if I did my memory's failing too.

From time to time lately I'm seeing a wren, but because they're so small it's usually only when I have time to stay at the window for a while so I don't really know how often it's about.

Hopefully we've got a quieter weekend than recently so I may have time to see better what's about.

OH says he was just watching a couple of squirrels and a cock pheasant trying to get pole position at the ground feeder. The squirrels were running at the feeder to try to scare the pheasant, but the pheasant just jumped up in the air and tried to land on the squirrels.

We also had 3 robins around this morning. Two of them were having a bust up about their territory, meanwhile number 3 nonchalantly headed straight for the mealworm tray.

Me again. Went for a lovely walk on the downs yesterday afternoon. About 3 hours and it didn't rain on us! Good job as one stretch was very muddy and heavy going so that might have been a bit miserable - as i was it didn't last for long and it gave our boots a test which they passed thankfully. Didn't see so many pheasants on the hill we headed to as there were shoots going on nearby. But we did see the usual buzzards and we saw some yellowhammers too.

Back home we saw a kestrel in our now completely bare apple tree again. This time OH saw it too. Yesterday he also saw a goldfinch which we've never spotted here before - I didn't see that though.

Well if you were a pheasant would you go near a shoot Lol!!!!

We had 4 goldfinches on the niger seed this morning and have just braved the rain to go and buy them some more seed. Also have a couple of greenfinches around still, robin, blackbird, starlings and sparrows. Nothing more exotic though.

Well no Ann, point taken, but the poor things don't get a lot of choice. They get hooshed there by the beaters.

mmm!!

Had a wren in the garden this morning, the usual goldfinches, sparrows and starlings and a coal tit, oh yes and the resident collard dove.

My next door neighbour was busy with the shotgun yesterday.I wonder it it was pheasants he was after? My poor dog was going crazy with the bangs.

Very frosty this morning - the garden looks beautiful, but it can't be brilliant for the wildlife.

Hard frost here today, the goldfinches and great and blue tits have been much in evidence so far,