Hobbies and Crafts

I can't believe that this thread has had 1500 postings on it - 1501 now. Well done Ann

Wendy xx

Wendy, I only started it, it is mainly the others who keep it going, we ought to rename it 'the Twitchers thread'.

Just to say that I hadn't seen our green woodpecker this year yet. But OH and son saw two in our weeping willowon Thursday evening while I was at choir. They reckon one was a young one and it was making a heck of a noise.

Also hadn't seen mummy with one duckling for a few days so had feared the worst. However they turned up again yesterday and the duckling is growing quite nicely now. Hungry pair too.

Plus last night OH's work summer do was a trip on a horse drawn canal barge from Kintbury. Very pleasant. Heading east we saw a kite circling over a field.

Still need to spot another kingfisher on the river. Haven't done that since early 2009.

A horse drawn barge,how nice Lizzie.I quite like the sound of that.
Not too many birds around the garden at the moment .Just flipping rabbits.They have polished of a load of petunias and geraniums.I am watering a lot of stalks lol

I was just out deadheading roses - I know it's getting dark but it's cool and the solar lights are starting to pop on - and I saw one of my cats hurtling down the garden. Just as I looked I saw a vole on the bank which suddenly plopped into the water, cat almost with it lol. She gave such an old fashioned look as if that wasn't fair.

When I went down to her mummy duck with the 5 ducklings was there so I ran up to the house to get some food for their supper. They were a hungry lot too. They've all got their proper plumage now and are just slightly smaller than mum. They all seem to be ducks, no little drakes. Glad to see both my duck families seem to be getting on OK.

Also whilst I was down there the batty bats were making their first evening flights. I think I'll go out again for a cuppa and a sit and see what else is going on.

Your Garden sounds just like the one at the cottage we stayed at in Suffolk.It led down to the river Deben.The wild life was wonderful .The only thing I missed seeing was the Kingfisher.
I saw the woodpecker here this afternoon on the side of the dead tree ,pecking away.Just missed getting a photo.

I was in the garden again yesterday having a major cut back of another very large lilac. It grows on the edge of the patio by the retaining wall that stops the patio falling into the main part of the garden. I don't think the previous people had ever tried to trim it and it is very tall and leggy. We'd made a start on it last year but lost heart as we'd already had to tame a number of other shrubs too. Where we cut it last year it started to grow back stronger again but at a more manageable height for dead heading in the future so this year with only maintenance to do on the stuff we sorted last year (which all looks much better for the attention) we were ready for another challenge. It involved standing on the retaining wall and stretching to cut out stems that had nothing much on them except a few dead heads. We got to a last few stems which my very tall son was trying to reach - but mummy was worried for baby boy - when the neighbour asked if he could help. He's got a wall to stand on in a different position that made it easier for him and now it's a much better shape with still enough height for shade and bird cover. We should be able to reach to keep it in check each year now. The one I did at the front last year flowered beautifully this year so I hope our work will have a similar effect out there.

When we'd finished I had a check to see if we could get in soon to clear the remains of the buddleia which died this year. We'd cut that back and it had started making new shoots before the snow came and they all died off. We've had nothing from it this year. As I was looking there are some new tiny shoots at the base. I'd always believed before that you couldn't kill buddleia and thank goodness I'm proved right. So although there won't be much this year it will recover and by default it's started growing from the height we'd wanted to achieve over a couple of years. A bit of a result really. I'm so pleased we haven't lost it as suspected. Glad we left it there for a bit because again we couldn't face the task of getting down to finally taking it out. We do have 4 others for the birds and butterflies thank goodness for this year.

Right. Now to deadhead some of the clematis to see if I can get a 2nd flowering out of any of them later on. Oh can't right now it's raining - hope it does something this time to fill my water butt again.

We should entitle your posts Lizzie, "Tales from Lizzie's River Bank Home"

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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