Hobbies and Crafts

Enjoy your break away Jane. I hope the weather improves so that you and OH can see all that you plan to without getting very wet.

The weather has been heavy rain and strong winds here for almost all day, yet still have had lots of hungry birds. Mostly starlings and gulls, a few doves and a couple of big fat pigeons, as well as our regular Mr and Mrs Blackbird...... and thrushes.

I have decided that I will tie some fat balls on to the mature border shrubs tomorrow and try to encourage some little birds into the front garden. My plan is to see if they will then come along and use our window feeder???

A Blizzard!!!! .Gosh you had it all then Ann.I just saw our weather for tomorrow and it looks like we might have a few wintery snow showers passing through.Doesn't seem it will settle though thank goodness.I have got 3 different coats all ready to go in the car in the morning.One really warm one,one rainproof jacket with hood,and a lighter weight one.Two pairs of boot/shoes ( I don't get on with wellies).I notice OH has a pair of Heavy Walking boots by the front door.I think the thing I am looking forward to most is seeing the sea.I miss it so much.I grew up just a few minutes from a beach in Plymouth and spent most of my days down there.Now I am as far away as you can get from the coast :-S.The air ,the smell and the sound of the sea.....oooh I can't wait :-D

I love the sea and miss it too Jane, I grew up about 20 minutes from Lee on Solent and spent a lot of time on the beach.

Where near Plymouth. OH grew up in Buckfastleigh.

I've just seen a barn owl :-D :-D :-D I was driving along our road and there it was in front of me sitting on the farm gatepost, the car light must have startled it as it flew off almost immediately, such a beautiful bird.

Where you are going Jane is about 50miles north of me, I don't know if you've been to that area before but it is very nice part Suffolk with lovely coastal views, plenty of walking and lovely individual shops, and if you feel like splashing out you can still buy a beech hut in Southwold for £70.000 :-0

Glad you enjoyed your holiday Ann.

10 out 10 for perseverance kandj:-)

Lesley x

Barn owls are beautiful aren't they.A couple of years ago when I used to walk my dog down the lane opposite there was one sitting on a post at the side of the field .I got some lovely photos of it as it was there every day for about a week .I think it must have escaped from somewhere as it seemed quite tame.I will have a look through my photos and find it.
We are staying near Yoxford. Westleton an old Coaching Inn.We have had a couple of holidays in Suffolk .Once in Aldeburgh and the other time somewhere right out in the blooming sticks not far from Woodbridge.

Ann I lived in Wembury a village about 8 miles from Plymouth ,so not far at all from Buckfastleigh :-D :-D

Yes I know or rather knew as it was 50 years ago, Wembury Jane. Grandson's fiancee grew up in S Brent.

just had a walk round the garden, it is dry and sunny, although quite chilly, here today, could have done with at least one day like this last week. We have one daffodil flowering, it looks very lonely, there are also some primulas out, a few helebores and the Mahonia which is in full flower and smell beautifully of lily of the valley. The snowdrops are up but not flowering yet but maybe spring is on the way. However, despite topping up all the feeders which were empty after being away a week we have not seen many birds back yet.

I hope that Jane has got this lovely sunshine for her days away, it makes such a difference. If she has she has obviously been better than we have, we must have been very bad to get the weather we had last week, never had a holiday like it before! :-( :-D

Typical dryer weather now you are home again Ann. Not to worry as I'm sure being near your family made up for the rain.

Lesley I have only seen the barn owls on TV programmes and they look amazing. We watched the nature programme but I was disappointed that we didn't see much about the hedgehogs as I would have liked. We used to have one that visited our garden and next doors too, but it seemed to have abandoned us both now........ a bit like my window birds!! I definitely must be doing something wrong. Not sure what though??

It is dry and bright here in Yorkshire today,, but with a wind that cut right through!
I also have just a couple of lonely snowdrops in flower but many poking through the soil with crocus and the green leaves of bluebells too. Spring can't be far away surely. Our neighbours hazel tree is full of long catkins. An absolute delight to see.

There is a lovely photo of a blue tit on the photos blog from Jane.

kandj I hadn't seen a barn owl for many years until yesterday, what a spectacular bird it is, we often see a little owl in our garden it sits on my washing line or prop and his/her head bobs up and down non stop it always brings a smile to my face when I see it :-D

Ann I looked at your site wow the views are amazing and I bet seeing beautiful baby L made you forget all about the bad weather :-D

For years I have taken cuttings (as I have this year) from my Jamaica Primrose (marguerite) as the frost normally kills them off, but this winter as of yet they haven't stopped flowering :-S :-0 :-S

Lesley x

Lesley, I love owls too but have never seen a wild one close up, love to visit the owl centre in the Lake District but not been for a few years.

Yes the views are spectacular, even on dull days, Thursday was the best day even though it snowed there were clear bits in between and the snow photos were taken on that day. The river flows past our timeshare right under the window. (We are slightly elevated) so is a joy to watch. Better in June though because we get the ducks and swans on it. And we see a lot of birds. Last week hardly any birds although we did have a dipper on a rock opposite our window.

Only in the past couple of years have we started to see canoes so I assume they have adjusted the nearby weir to give access to 'our' part of the river. The river flows from Windermere out to sea and a few years ago when the LD had bad flooding a lot of the lower time shares and the hotel were flooded and the road bridge was swept away. We always keep a watch for the level rising in the river which it only does it they open a gate from the Lake upstream.

Well the bird count on the feeders and under this morning was not huge but it is improving. We had a collard dove, a wood pigeon a blackbird two chaffinches a sparrow a starling a goldfinch and a black cap while I was watching. OH said a pied wagtail landed on the fence but it was out of my sight.

The birds are back again Ann so that's good for you. A variety too, which must be really interesting to watch.

Rain for most of the day here in Yorkshire and so cold today.

A new young blackbird ventured into the garden and was helping himself to the food on the ground tray when out popped our regular Mrs Blackbird from her usual place in the shrubbery and shooed the other away. The young one came back about 10 minutes later and once again Mrs Blackbird appeared and chased the strange blackbird across the lawn until it flew away..... very entertaining to watch.

Ann I don't think I have ever seen a blackcap in our garden, having said that I remember about a year or more ago I said I had never seen a goldcrest now I often see one.

Fingers crossed kandj that the new blackbird will find your window feeder.

Lesley x

Ann, I need to google blackcap and pied wagtail now. Learning all the time. So glad that the birds are coming back into your garden again.

Lesley. we had thought that tiny tits, wrens, sparrows or siskins would use our feeder BUT we will accept the new blackbird or any other birds right now!

I hope Jane and OH are enjoying their break and not getting too wet.

We have often had a pair of black caps in the garden, although not always at the same time (female has a brown rather than black cap.)

Not been on this thread before but thought I would have a look.

As I've said on other threads, we moved house four months ago from a place with a half acre garden, backing on to farmland, and with plenty of trees and water around. Our garden was always full of birds.

Now we have a very small patch, though there are plenty of trees around and we are not too far from the river. Yet we've hardly seen a bird since we moved. Someone bought us a rather nice ground feeder for Christmas, with a variety of suitable foods and after several weeks we have seen one robin on it. Yesterday I put out some home made granary bread thinking birds might at least pick the seedy bits out of it but it is still lying there untouched. Very disappointing.

I do intend to get some hanging feeders soon but would welcome any other advice for attracting a few birds in to the garden.

Hi Vera,

I think it is the same as with Kandj and her window feeder. If the previous people didn't feed birds they will take a while to get used to your feeders, the sooner you can put hanging feeders up the better. If you have trees there will be birds. Try a mixed seed feeder and maybe a fat balls one (blue tits will go for fat balls,) also try one of the coconuts to hang. Blackbirds will go to the ground feeder when the weather is colder and the ground is hard, so will chaffinches.. This year with all the rain I think the birds are still finding bugs when they dig. We have found that things like apples which the birds have loved in previous years have been ignored so far this year. Make sure you have a water container for them, an old pot saucer is ok if you don't want a proper bird bath, that might attract them. Although again because of the weather, there is plenty of water around. They do have to keep their feathers washed from dust though.

Hope you can attract some soon. We all love the birds don't we? :-)

Hello Vera and welcome. I am the very last person to offer advice in attracting birds, but like Ann, Lesley and Jane will surely have good tips and give lots of support.

I have had a window feeder in place since 19th December and hubby and I still wait patiently for visitors. We must have very fussy birds here in Yorkshire and so I hope you have better luck than we have.

Vera I can repeat what Ann has said re food and water and as kandj know only to well you have to have plenty of patience.

Ann I have never tried to do mosaic but have promised myself I will try this year on at least one of my plant saucers that I use for the birds water. :-0 :-S :-D

I hope you and your OH enjoyed your holiday Jane. x

Lesley. x