Hobbies and Crafts

Off on holiday now so I shall be gone for a while. :-D

Jane have a lovely time.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday Jane.

Not that many birds feeding at the moment, except yesterday we had a really large (too many to count) flock of long tailed tits in the apple tree and on the seed feeder, they stayed for quite a while before all zooming off afain. So pleased to see that theya re still around.

What an interesting thread. I have to admit that fond though I am of pussiecats I am glad that we don't have one anymore, just a slightly dippy cocker spaniel who has, luckily, no interest in birds!!
We have a variety of little birds, + swallows, (they've all but flown) but in particular we have a very tame robin! He/she appeared a few weeks ago as a tiny little brown rather forlorn baby, without any fear of humans. So, daily, OH and I made up tiny crumbs, put out a 'baby robin' water bowl (!!) well, it was during the hot weather!!, and our baby thrived!! Little robin is now big robin with a beautiful red breast and so tame 'it' all but feeds out of my hand. Like you Jane we are undecided about feeding in the summer, though this year with the heat we felt they needed a helping hand, so the bird feeders were out and, along with the bird bath, the blue tits (and wasps!!) seemed grateful!!

Welcome to the thread Magpie, (especially with your board name). How lovely that baby robin survived I hope she or he is going to give you lots of pleasure during the coming winter. Keep us informed please.

Ok most certainly will Ann. I notice you are in Glos, well I'm in Wilts, right next door!! :-)

Not too far then.

Back from France. We went to Paris and Annecy and had a really lovely time with great weather . Hot at times and just one wet morning.
All very quiet in our garden bird wise other than Woodpigeons . I am going to put the window feeder back up next month as i am really missing seeing the little birds. Hopefully then Thomas will not have any young birds to catch. I picked him up from the Cattery yesterday and he was straight out on the hunt . I saw him eat 4 mice !! Thankfully no Rabbits (as far as I know)

Glad you had a good time Jane,we arrived in Lanzarote yesterday, in the mid to high 20s here, enjoying a return to hot weather and already eating and drinking too much

Glad you enjoyed France Jane and hope you have a good time in Lanzarote Ann. We arrived back last night from Bulgaria. We had two horrendous thunder storms with the heaviest rain I have ever seen but they were both in the evening when we were in the hotel bar. No rain during the day and temperatures of between 25 and 30 deg. The temperature here today has been a bit of a shock to the system :-(

There doesn't seem to be much bird life around here today. Apart from the usual pigeons I have only seen one bluetit.

How is it in Lanzarote Ann?Lots of lovely sunshine ,and food and drink ;-) I am sure you are enjoying yourselves.
Bulgaria is somewhere I have never thought of going to Vera.Is it a bit like Croatia?
I hope you enjoyed your time there even with the bad thunderstorms.

I told you I had ot remove my window feeder and stick it on the Greenhouse window a few weeks ago. Well the birds have really found it now :-D I am very happy about that :-D. It took a while but when we got back from France it was empty. OH said it must have been the Squirrel but having filled it up and keeping an eye on things I have seen all the little birds going to and fro from it.It is just a shame it is so far from the house now. But at least Thomas is not killing and eating them any more. Having the feeeder on our window and all the young birds on the ground must have been like a Drive though Mc Donalds for him
:-S :-S Just roll up and there is food !!

As there was no-one to feed the birds while we were away they all moved elsewhere :-( I filled all the feeders anyway and waited to see if they would find us again and yesterday the sparrows arrived in droves. I think we had the entire sparrow population of Suffolk in the garden.

It was funny to watch them on the fat ball feeder as it is quite light and was getting very blown about in the wind. They were hanging on tightly and were being blown from side to side and nearly upside down. They looked like mini trapeze artists :-D

Vera it is amazing to see how well the birds can hang on in the wind. I have been amazed at times not to see them all blown away from the feeders. They must have very strong little feet :-D Hopefully the other birds will come back and that the Sparrows will go elsewhere.I hated it when we were away and knowing that there was no food for the birds. My window feeder is still on the Greenhouse and not the lounge window(because of Thomas killing the little birds) I am happy to say that the feeder is being well used :-D It is just a long trek down the garden each time to refill it.I just miss seeing them right outside my window .
There seem to be a lot of Magpies around at the moment. Not my favourite bird.
The wind is picking up here now and it is only going to get stronger. Thomas has come in which is most unusual this time of night. Maybe he knows bad weather is on its way. I have shut the back door now so he can't go out again.He has his litter tray should he be desperate :-)

My Daughter and partner are in Pembrokeshire and today have seen Seals and Pups and a Porpoise :-D. How lucky are they. I saw nothing like that when I was there .I'm so envious.
Not much going on here with the birds although OH had a new best friend. A Robin who likes to follow him around the garden :-D.

Aww, Jane, how lovely for your daughter and partner. We never saw anything like that either when we were in Pembrokeshire.

I don’t know what is happening with our sparrows. They used to wolf down the seeds as soon as I put them out. Now they are ignoring them but getting through the fat balls at a rate of knots. They line up on the fence to take turns at them, two or three at a time. I haven’t changed the type of seeds or balls that I buy so I don’t know why they are now eating one and ignoring the other.

Not much else around except for one great tit and one robin.

We have just got home this evening. Flight was on time and we cleared passport control quickly and amazingly the luggage was off quickly as well. Tomorrow will be washing and shopping for food. Not seen the garden as it is dark but our neighbour says there is no damage.

No we didn’t see anything like that either Jane so they are lucky.

Back to normal now home again Ann :-D Washing and food shopping :-D :-D. It will soon feel like you have never been away !!
Yes weren't they lucky to have seen the Seals and the Porpoise. Today it was Mackerel fishing!!!! I can't imagine my daughter enjoying that . BUT she caught 2 :-0
It was a fishing trip so fish caught were dealt with by the boatmen .

Obviously she is a good sailor then, I I think a rocking boat and fishy smell is not my scene but I hope she is enjoying it. Our daughter and husband are on their honeymoon trip and are in Dubrovnik for a week before moving on to another area. They went on a boat trip today too and said the sea was flat and there was no wind it was warm and sunny. I can do that! :-D

Ann your Daughter and Husband will be having a wonderful time in Dubrovnik and wherever they move on to next. My Daughter went a few years ago and said it was just brilliant :-D.. I must have missed you saying about the wedding and honeymoon.
Congratulations to the Happy Couple <3

The cat is out on a big hunting spree :-S I just can't keep him in at the moment . He did pop in for a few minutes earlier after over 24hrs of being gone ,but has now taken himself off again. I shall not be staying up trying to get him in again tonight.I did that last night and that was a waste of my beauty sleep :-D .2 Dead Rats on the Patio this morning :-S I wonder what I might find in the morning.