Hobbies and Crafts

I was pleased to see a thrush back in the garden today. There were a couple around all last summer, one of which looked a young bird. I think the one in the garden today might be that young one, though I can’t be sure.

Anyone doing the big garden birdwatch this weekend, I am as usual and wha'ts the betting most of the little beggars will go into hiding :-| :-D :-D. The garden has been full of all sorts of them today

That is good Vera, not seen a thrush here for a couple of years, plenty of great tits and a few goldfinches but otherwise it is so dark and dull that it is hard to see what is out there.

LG no not doing it this year, I know they like to know what is not there as well as what is but with so few birds it is a terrible time waster. Good luck with yours.

I did the bird watch first thing this morning and had a great selection in for breakfast. Robin, long tailed tit family, blue tits, blackbirds, sparrows, starlings, the Magpie, collared doves, wood pigeons, wrens and a surprise visit from a cock pheasant.

That was a great selection LG well done.
We have had a couple of LT Tits in a couple of days plus the few great and blue tits, a blackbird and several magpies and about 4 collard doves and two wood pigeons.

Today again while it was bright and dry I have had loads of visitors to the feeders. I have just entered my observations to the RSPB and will now wait for the online results to see how all our little friends are doing.

I stopped doing it when for some reason the site wouldn't accept my log in or password so I couldn't get the form etc. Lost interest after about 10 tries.

I once had that problem so I emailed the Lodge at Sandy and they sent me a form out in the post.

i haven’t put out wild bird seed for a while now as the birds weren’t taking it anymore. instead I’ve been putting out sunflower hearts, as well as my usual suet balls, peanuts, Niger seed and mealworms and the birds have gradually been coming back. Today I was cock-a-hoop to see 2 goldfinches on the sunflower seeds. They kept flying away and then coming back a bit later so I hope we are going to see more of them.

That was a nice surprise Vera. Hope they remember where they are now and bring all their mates. Our goldfinches are here one day then we don't see them for a couple of days and then they come back. I think they are playing us off against another bird feeder somewhere up the road.

Thursday and Friday, the birds were having a great time in our garden splashing in the bird bath. A starling spent ages in there, while a robin looked on longingly from a nearby tree.

Saturday the wind picked up and over the weekend I haven't had one bird in the garden.

Saw my first swallows of the year this morning. Summer is on it's way :-D

Pat, that's lovely.
Brighter days ahead then.

I remember when we lived in Cyprus, we had swifts nesting in the eaves. I loved to see them darting about collecting insects then swooping out over the wadi on their next hunt.

That’s great Pat. At least there are signs of summer with you so perhaps it won’t be too long before we see some signs too.

I wasted quite a while this morning watching a couple of goldfinches on a feeder. They had a good old feed. I’ve never seen more than two at a time so I don’t know if there are just two visiting or if there are several. They totally ignore the Niger seeds that I kept putting out to attract them but appeared once I started putting out sunflower hearts which they appear to love. I was pleased to see a thrush again today as well.

A friend and I have just taken a short walk near a local water way.
The swans are nesting near the path again this year and one was sitting on the nest, the other swimming nearby.
Apparently there are about 9 eggs in the nest, so it will be interesting to see how many they manage to hatch.
If we are still allowed out and about, watching the swans will be a welcome distraction from all the serious news reports.

I've been watching a couple of Magpies building a nest in the neighbours conifer, they've been busy for weeks now. I always thought they took over other birds nest, so was surprised to see them coming and going with bits of twigs and the like in their beaks. Yesterday I had the back door open and heard a funny noise, when I looked out there were two Magpies right up by my back door, I didn't think they'd come so close. They soon went back down the garden when they saw me though.

I hope you manage to see the swans again Gwyn, like you said it'll be a welcome distraction from all that's going on at the moment. It'd be nice if all 9 eggs hatched successfully.

You've all seen some lovely birds around. I notice the Blackbirds were still eating the berries on our plants, but thankfully have left a few for us to look at. The bird table is always full of Robins and blue tits and when the starlings arrive, boy do you know it, they squabble like children and make such a noise.

I was sitting in the conservatory yesterday afternoon and watching a thrush picking mealworms from a dish, a robin at the mealworms in a ground feeder, a couple of bluetits on the peanuts and a couple of goldfinches on the sunflower hearts. It was such a lovely scene.

Today OH thought he saw a greenfinch on the sunflower hearts. If he was right that will be the first one we have seen since moving to this house 6 years ago.

I have seen the greenfinch today so OH was right. First one we have seen around here. I just hope I don’t run out of sunflower hearts before I am able to go out to restock as it’s those that have attracted the goldfinches and now the greenfinch.

Went for a walk in my local park last friday.

saw a parakeet, (bright green). Used to see them sometimes when I did (out door) tai chi in the park, but stopped that two or three years ago. Godd to see that some things stay the same.

Lovely Tess, they can be noisy though can’t they?

Vera lovely that you have so many birds returned to your garden especially the Greenfinch as there are not many of them around now. We had three or four blackbirds in the garden this morning. Two females and one male and couldn’t quite see if the other was male or female as it scooted over the fence into next door. Also had a robin back, the usual two goldfinches and a cheeky Magpie having a bath and emptying the water feature.