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Hi Jem, busy garden then. 'baby'starlings are funny aren't they, so big and sooo greedy and clamorous.

I think the dark dove is a Rock Dove closely related to feral pigeons.

Thanks Ann :-)
I think you are spot on.

I had googled, and the nearest I found that looked like it, were called Rock Doves and sometimes Stock Doves. As you say, they are very like the feral pigeons, but this one had less coloured patternation and was slighter in shape.

According to my bird book Stock Doves never ever have any white on them at all Jem. :-)

Well, the action has been non-stop today!

OH called me to come quickly. In and out from the hedge, and feeding merrily from the birds leftovers, was a field mouse :-D

At the same time, 2 young sparrows were chasing their father along the garden while he fed them.

Then came Woody Woodpigeon :-D
I like to think it's the same one that comes every year for the elderflower berries, but probably not. It was feeding alongside the 2 collared doves, and twice their size.

Also a little robin, and the blackbird.

And I have managed to video them all feeding at the same time .... even the mouse :-D :-D :-D

Plenty of activity in your garden then Jem. All really interesting too, except for the
little mouse.. .. I DON'T do mice, thank you very much. They give me the creeps!

Ann what a shame the Debenham's dress was wasted on Inara. They cost a lot now.

Only the usual sparrow, blackbird, thrush, pigeon, dove and lots of starlings.
Just one robin bob bob bobbin along and still only one magpie around here too.

Such heartbreaking news of the terrorist attack in Manchester. What is our world
coming to and when will it all end???

Busy garden Jem and lots for you to watch. We have fewer birds at the moment although the goldfinches are still feeding with us. Sunday evening when we were sitting on the lower patio with a drink about 6pm our visiting robin was right near us rooting around in the plants and on the ground, he was not bothered by us chatting at all. He also follows OH round the garden when he is out there. :-)


Kandj, so awful the Manchester attack, sadly inevitable in our world today but how sick to target young teenagers and their parents. So sad for the families.

Good Afternoon Everyone :-)

A rainy day, here in South West Wales.

Yes, what a heartbreaking tragedy. My heart goes out to the families of those who have lost their lives and to the injured <3
It makes me count my blessings. About two years ago Granddaughters 1&2 were dropped by their Mum at a similar venue for a One Direction concert treat for their birthdays.


Well, yet more action!
Today we have had the Starling, Blackbird and Sparrow babies, all being fed openly by their Mums and Dads. The robin, the usual jackdaws and the three Collared doves- the smallest of which keeps getting sent away by the other two. I'm wondering if it could be their last year's young one? I don't know a huge amount about birds, so I am just guessing!

Also today we had a "proper" pigeon. Unringed. Now I'm getting a bit worried in case the neighbours start to complain! :-D


~~~~~~~ to Kandj:-) ..... skip over the next paragraph;-)

Mousy has been out again. What amazes me is that they all feed alongside each other!


We also have foxes in our street that use our garden as a short cut!
The girl living across the road took over the house from an elderly relative who had cats. She feeds them outside and at least one of the foxes joins them! :-D
One fox was making a huge racket from under one of my flowering bushes recently.


We are getting more action in our house on an estate than the country park of late!
Yesterday we went there, and I saw a chaffinches for the first time! Never seen one before. :-D

Hallo all
A glorious day here though at the moment I seem to be too busy to really enjoy the weather.

I echo what you have all said about the Manchester tragedy - it's beyond words.

It's funny that you say you saw your first chaffinch Jem. I haven't seen one since we moved here nearly four years ago, yet when we lived in a village only 6 miles away our garden was always full of them.

Just the usual sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons and starlings here, though we did watch a sparrow pecking bits from a suet ball and feeding them to baby bird on the fence.

I haven't posted much recently because life has been a touch hectic. Last Wednesday we had a 70th birthday 'do' which involved 20 of us driving to a marina for a celebration lunch. Then after driving back the men departed and a dozen or so ladies gathered in one house for lots of chat, laughter and more food, to which we all made a contribution. This went on till late evening. Tomorrow we are repeating the process at a different venue for another friend who will also be 70.

In addition OH will be 80 on Friday so I have been organising a little surprise for him. Son and dil, whose birthday is also Friday, are driving all the way down from Yorkshire, daughter and grandson are coming, as are my brother and a friend. I am trying to sort a nice dinner for 8 without him noticing that I am buying rather a lot of food and doing a lot of cooking. He threw me a bit when he said "As we're not doing anything on my birthday I thought we might invite a few friends to share a restaurant meal with us". I had to think on my feet there so I said "We have a lot of friends round here and can't just pick a couple of them, so why don't we invite them all to come round on Saturday morning for coffee and cake". So as well as Friday night dinner I now have 16 people expecting coffee and cakes on Saturday morning. He's worth it even if there are times I could cheerfully throttle him :-D

PS Don't want to give you the shivers Kandj but I quite like mice :-)

Evening Everyone
What a terribly sad day .So many young lives taken ,others with life changing injuries and still desperate parents trying to find the whereabouts of their children. :-( :-( It is all just so so sad.

Well ,we had a smashing week in Lyon .It is a lovely city and lovely people.
Now back to real life again. Just not having to think about what to cook for dinner each day was wonderful .Wish I was still there.

Yesterday within just a few minutes I had the Jay and then the Spotted Woodpecker on the window feeder
:-D.

Golly Vera you do have a hectic time at the moment trying to organise secret celebtarations for your OH's Birthday ,and enjoying other friends special birthdays too.
You will be exhausted after everything and need a holiday :-D

Thankfully we are getting the holiday Jane. We are going to Menorca with a group of friends in about ten days time. Then OH's big celebration is at the end of August when we are going to Russia. It's costing an arm and a leg as we are being fairly independent and not doing a group tour or anything, but he's only 80 once and who knows how long our health is going to be good, so we've raided the savings.

I have just heard from our eldest granddaughter. I knew she had to work Friday but she says she can get here mid-evening and will go to work from here early Saturday. OH is going to be so thrilled and surprised to see them all.

I am glad you enjoyed your break in Lyon Jane.

I am sitting in the conservatory and have been watching a starling feeding two youngsters. They've flown off now - must be bedtime.

Congratulations to your hubby on his 80th birthday, Vera. You sound as though you have a very enjoyable weekend ahead of you :-)
I hope you enjoy Menorca. Russia sounds amazing too!

Welcome Home Jane. Glad you had a great time :-)

Vera, many congratulations to your husband on his eightieth birthday I hope you both have a great weekend. Don't you go overdoing things though or you won't have the endrgy to enjoy the events.

Jane glad you enjoyed your holiday sounds as if you had a lovely time.

Vera, you are going to be kept busy making sure that your OH enjoys his very special 80th birthday with family and friends this coming weekend. It is good to hear of such happy events when there is so much heartache in the world right now. Enjoy Menorca and the Russian holiday too, it sounds amazing and something you will both be looking forward to later on in August.

Welcome back Jane. Glad you both enjoyed your time in Lyon. Back to reality now!

Jem, I hope your variety of birds are still keeping you entertained. I had to read about the mouse and got the goosebumps..... silly me. As a youngster I had tame white mice with my brothers and wasn't frightened at all back then. As I have got older the field mice freak me out and I need Jane's Thomas to keep them away.

Ann, the robin in our garden is also very tame and follows me around which is good.

I'm off now to clean out the two bird baths. Don't think they will stay clean for long.

Yet another garden centre visit today, well two actually so more money spent. A rose for a very large pot that was standing empty, some lime Nicotiana, yet another Nemesia (do love them and there are so many different colours now and a small sage for a pot as mine died over winter.
Oh and a reduced white orchid and a reduced red Dahlia. (and lunch!).

We just had the tiniest goldfinch on the niger feeder saucer. adult flew in with it and left it feeding. I reckon she/he said ok this is where you feed in future. then the adult flew off and left it!

Ann,that must have been so nice to have seen the baby Goldfinch on the feeder.I haven't seen any Goldfinch here for a little while now.

There is a suspicious amount of little white and grey feathers on the ground under a tree that has a Woodpigeons nest :-0. I hope a youngster didn't fall out of the nest and that Thomas didn't have it !! :-S

Sounds like a possibility Jane diesn't it? Cats will be cats!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Vera's husband. Hope you all enjoy the 80th celebrations this weekend with family and friends and that Vera doesn't get too tired with everything.

The Jackdaw is back again. Just the one. He comes and goes. He is here now.
The chaffinch has disappeared..... I think this must be a half-way feeding house!!

Happy 80th birthday to Vera's husband. Hope you both have a wonderful weekend.

The very young starlings are so funny two of them were sharing a bath in our water feature, I didn't have the camera downstairs unfortunately, they looked so funny, then one of the hopped up to the segond tier of the cascade and had a shower under the spray from the top, one flew off and theother went back in the pool it was obviously enjoying it. :-D :-D

How lovely to see a baby goldfinch Ann.

Thank you all for OH's birthday wishes. He still has no idea that family are on the way to see him - my brother, who will be arriving within the hour, even rang this morning to wish him happy birthday!

I managed to get meat for 10 in the slow cooker before he was even up so he just thinks it is a meal for us, and I managed to prepare veg. etc while he was watching TV last night. He is going to be so surprised when everyone comes - he thinks his celebration is the 16 friends who are coming for coffee and cake tomorrow morning :-D