Hobbies and Crafts

Mrs Santa Claus reporting in ha ha.

The bird feeder and pellets are on their way.... oooeeerrrrrr and so I have to be patient and see the size of this RSPB feeder and then we will decide where it will "live".
My thoughts now is that I will fit in onto the fixed window outside our lounge which probably is where we spend most of our time
The plus side is that it is quite a way from our garage (where I have succeeded in putting the mice off this year with ongoing cotton wool balls soaked in peppermint oil). The garage smells lovely ha ha................ watch this space!!

Well..... the starlings have returned to the fat balls, hopefully the small birds will follow, and then hope the Sparrow Hawk stays away.

Kandj ,it won't be huge lol.Maybe 7-8 inches long .(This sounds very rude doesn't it or is it just my mind ) :-D..Anyway it is a nice sized feeder.Bet you can't wait now :-D

Ann that is good the starlings are back.Fingers crossed now the others will follow suit :-D
I really must get some Peppermint Oil….even if there are no mice at the moment .I love the smell :-D

I hope you soon see the return of all your birds Ann.

When your feeder arrives Mrs S Claus all you have to do is sit back and enjoy, I hope you have many happy hours bird watching :-D

Lesley x

Well the window feeder has arrived.... wooo hooo but no berry suet pellets although ordered them together as one package (or so I thought). Hubby was interested and thought it a very novel idea and so we have decided that it will live on the fixed panel of the lounge window which as Ann suggested is a room we sit down in most often.
I hope the berry pellets will come here in the post today but as it's the window cleaners day we have to be a bit more patient before I set it up.

Ann, that's a good sign to have starlings in your garden and hope others will follow on and the hawk will keep away.

Lesley, I'm sure when the window feeder is set up that the little birds will come and find a new feeding point close up so we can enjoy this new interest from inside.

Kandj you may have to wait for a while as they sometimes taks a while to adjust to new feeders, depending on how hungry they are I suppose.

kandj if your pellets haven't arrived by the time you are ready to put your feeder up you could use bread this time of year :-D cooked rice, uncooked porridge/cereal or even prawn crackers :-D

Lesley x

p.s or a handful of suet

Jane, yes, the berry pellets came in this mornings post (great). I have put the feeder up and hubby is looking forward to having little birds come to feed. He will have a ringside seat lol. I'd better hunt out the garden bird book and take dust off it.

As yet I haven't put any pellets in the tray as we had visitors and I got distracted. Never mind, I plan to do this in the morning and yes Ann, I think I have read some where on here that it may take a while for the birds to suss out this new feeding
point, so I will let you know what happens and try to be really patient. I wonder if this will attract our little robin that seems to have disappeared of late?

Lesley, I might top up the feeder with your suggestions if the little birds come and are hungry. I won't be giving away any prawn crackers though as they my treat.lol.

My next door neighbour told me that he had seen a very large bird at the bottom of his garden today with another smaller bird in it's beak. I asked if it was a sparrow hawk but Bob assured me that it was very much larger, "more like a buzzard!!" He went indoors to get his camera but the flash frightened this "buzzard" and it flew off flapping its wings loudly and hanging on to the bird in it's beak. I hope it stays away

I definitely saw a couple of sparrows, a couple of collard doves, a blue tit and a blackbird in the garden today so we are making progress. OH saw two goldfinches in our apple tree but they then flew into the bungalow garden below us.

Kandj,That big bird could have been a Buzzard or a Red Kite.We have a few of those around at the moment.
Today my son called me to see some kind of Hawk just by our Summerhouse.It was on the ground and was the size of a big Pidgeon.It had dark brown back and an orange coloured chest.We have gone through all the bird books and looked at hawk pics on line and still aren't sure what it was :-S.It was quite a chunky build and it reminded me of a gigantic Bullfinch lol.Just because of the colouring.My son tried to take a photo but because it was in the shade it was just too dark to make it out.

Jane have looked at pictures of the Sparrowhawk and Merlin?

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/sparrowhawk/index.aspx

Lesley x

Lesley ,I have seen the same link lol ……I'm going more with a Female Sparrow Hawk .But who the heck knows what it was lol.Do Birds have Winter Plumage?
Those were the 2 birds I would have gone with .But not sure a Merlin comes our way.

All sorted with the window feeder and the berry pellets yesterday in between having visitors and trying to do last minute wrapping of pressies. Obviously much too soon to have any little visitors to view but watch this space and I'll keep you all updated.

Ann, sounds like the birds are gathering for a Christmas meet at yours..... how lovely.

Lesley, I peeked in your link and don't like the staring eyes of the big birds there, I am choosy and only like the "normal" little garden birds, the others scare the life out of me

Jane, I will keep my eyes peeled for a return of my neighbours "buzzard" and then hide

Kandj
Those big birds do look scary but are quite beautiful .They won't catch you lol
There have been a few times in our garden when I have discovered a pile of feathers ,probably pidgeons that some bird of prey has caught .Even the body of a bird with a big hole in its back where it has been partially eaten (sorry if anyone is eating dinner).This is the part of nature I don't like .I just wish it didn't happen in my garden :-S
I'm sure it won't be long before the little birds find your window feeder.Maybe you could put one of those signs with a pointy finger on showing them the way ;-)

I remember Ann saying that it would take time for the little birds to use the window feeder and so hubby and I are being very patient, although Jane, I had thought I should perhaps put up a sign to show the little birds that they are welcome to a feast lol

Loving the Robin and Happy Snowman from Ann and Lesley, very festive..... thankyou.

kandj I'm sure you wont have to wait long for your first hungry visitors :-D

Lesley x

We are still waiting patiently Lesley, but I suppose it's early days yet.

There are lots of our usual garden birds around and all very hungry too so I'd best fill up the containers for the 2nd sitting ones. It is a beautiful bright sunny day with a lovely blue sky here in Yorkshire. All very deceiving from inside because it is mega chilly outside today.!!

We have just swopped our goldfinch thistle feeder back to the old one. I realised that since we put the new one up, which is plastic with really really tiny holes for them to feed through, we have seen very few goldfinches . We have gone back to the old wire mesh one so hope we get a few more feeding when they realise.

Kandj ,I'm sure they will find it :-D.Just give them a bit of time.
Ann what is a thistle feeder?I haven't heard of those.
There was a large flock of birds fly over the house early this morning .I don't know what they were ,but looked like they might have been some kind of Geese.Probably about 10 of them.
Looks like some of us are in for some really rotten weather tomorrow. :-S :-S

A complete change in the weather today and not for the better. Here in Yorkshire it is dark,, cold, wet and windy! Only the blackbirds and magpie are out and feeding and braving the nasty weather.
The window feeder is still being ignored as yet. Hubby and I are wondering if the Xmas lights decorating our lounge window are putting the birds off, in which case we might not have any little birds until after 12th night??!!!

We haven't seen our little Robin for months, although he is a regular visitor in next doors garden. We were hoping he would be attracted by the new feeder....fingers crossed he shows up before very long, it's nearly Christmas and we would like our Robin to pop back into our garden to visit us.