Hobbies and Crafts

Really very interesting Bob. Thanks for sharing the photos on here.

I was ducking my head just reading your message Jane. They are both big birds.

Just been out to check garage is locked and a pigeon must have been on resting on the bungalow roof. It flew off flapping its wings and I ducked wondering what the noise was. I'm just SO relieved that it didn't dive my way, I wouldn't like that one little bit, being the big wuss that I am ha ha.

Love the Blue Tit pics :-D :-D.So nice to see so many in the nest :-D.It can't be long before they fledge.It might be push and shove to see who is out first lol

Ha!Ha! Kandj...The Pidgeons do make quite a noise don't they with their big wings.It is when they land in the tree/s the wings start a flapping so they can actually get in through the branches to the nest .It can be quite a commotion :-S

Don't forget to look at the photo blog, I did say a few posts down the board, there is a photo of a heron in the garden of our guest house on there.

Looks like you had a good time Ann, it's about a year since we last went down that way.

Jane and kandj those pesky Pigeons eh ? !!!!! Their wings make that funny squeaking sound too, like they need a bit of oil. We did at least, have a baby one sitting on the fence yesterday, at least there is something to show for all the effort.

Bob, " your babies " are coming on a treat, they look like proper little birds now.

We bought a soaker hose yesterday, with a timer etc. tried to lay it down the garden, every time we stuck our heads out it tipped down. We also had two almighty hail storms, it was so loud on the conservatory roof we couldn't hear each other speak even though we were sitting next to one another on the sofa !!!

I had just put my hanging baskets out for a bit of air. !!!!! They got that alright !!!!

At least all five of the water butts are full now and ready for watering when we are about. Himself is looking into getting a submersible pump so we can use a hose off one of them. As long as we get some sun so we actually need all this watering equipment...........

M.

I forgot to say, last week when we were walking down to the quay, on my birthday , I think it was, we saw an egret. He was fishing in a pool left by the tide, on the beach. Of course, I didn't have my camera but took some pics with my phone, they are ok but not brilliant as the zoom isn't very good. I think it was a little white. egret as he had a black beak. There are some of the Great White Egrets around here but further up on the Levels.

Yes proper little birds now aren't they Bob?

Bob, I saw your earlier bluetit pictures and I am sure they are wonderful little birds now but Genes won't let me look at them anymore :-| I keep getting the message that the asset can't be found or I don't have permission to view it.

I don't usually have much problem with GR but I think it is having a funny spell today. It took me three attempts before I could sign in.

There have been a few birds in the garden today between the heavy rain showers; mostly starlings but I also saw a dunnock, a robin and a blue tit. I've just topped up the feeders and put out some chopped up fruit that was a bit past its best. I've also just made some square fat cakes that fit nicely in to one of our hanging feeders and the birds seem to love them. OH says they are better fed than he is :-D

Just added some update photos of our garden to the blog for those interested.

Vera I had a bit of a problem with Bob's photos and was only able to access a couple. It does aggravate me having to sign in when I am already on the site but I do it of course to see the photos, once it threw me out into my own photos but I managed to see some of the hungry mouths. :-D

Maryanna no low flying pigeons today thank goodness, but a couple of doves which was nice to see for a change.

Vera, our birds also love the fat birdcake. I must find a spare 5 minutes to make some more and I know it will go very quickly.

Ann, how do I access the photo blog please?

On my Ipad at the moment Kanj, the blog address is on my main pc, I will let you have it when I go back upstairs, I know I should remember it but I get it confused with my craft blog. :-D

Ann, how can I send some photos to your blog ?

Glad I looked at Bobs pictures when I did, can't get them now.

M. :-)

the birds are still in the box, mum n dad are little heroes, still.
, I guess nature does, what nature does.!

the pics are still there, and open for all to see,no idea whats up with Genes,
a few more to add later....
glad you like my feeble efforts, pity they are in greyscale, but its because of the infra red light from the camera leds......might invest in a better camera one day




Bob

They are back again now Bob,

As Vera said yesterday, I think someone was having a funny turn.

They are lovely and I do pity poor Mum and Dad.

I haven't seen our Blue tits for a while, but I can still hear them in the trees and bushes.

Lovely day here today, fingers crossed it will be as nice next week in Bonny Scotland.

M.

Lovely day here as well, I have just spent two hours in the garden, trouble is I could do with spending another two but I don't think my back would stand it.
I keep meaning to comment on something on one of your posts Maryanna but it may have been on the garden thread. How many water barrels did you say you have? where do you keep them all. We only have room for one really and now that has sprunk a leak, only a small one but it will have to be fixed somehow. that barrel is not very old either. :-(

We have got five Ann, one big one at the front, the water comes off the garage roof. It's sort of tucked round the side of the garage.

Out the back we have got two big ones that are connected together, the water for those comes off the conservatory gutters, they are in the corner between the conservatory and kitchen walls.

We have got another big one that gathers water from the back of the garage and a small one down by the shed.

They are all on stands so you can get a watering can under the taps.

At the moment, not surprisingly, they are all full and on Tuesday most were overflowing.

M.

Many thanks for the photoblog link. All very interesting Ann. Your gt grandson Luke is a little boy now, but still has his lovely smile bless him. Your garden is very colourful so lots of hard work there then. A pleasure to see. Thank you.

Hope Jane and daughter have a good journey to Devon tomorrow and enjoy their time away together over the BH weekend.

Maryanna, I hope that you and your husband will have a good time in Scotland too.

Just packing and getting sorted now .Hopefully it will be a fairly early get away in the morning.
Back again next week :-D

I'm packing too Jane, just don't know what to take. I am not going to be able to lift my case at this rate, I have got enough clothes to last a month, all just in case. When we went to Austria a couple of years ago, we virtually ran out of clothes as it rained so much everything got soaked through and we couldn't get it dry as the radiators were all tuned off.

It would help if we didn't have some builders coming later on to repair the conservatory roof which still has been leaking since the bad weather of the winter before last. I think that is the very last of the repairs from all the wind and rain damage we had. Although Himself lifted some of the re laid patio in order to put his soaker hose feeder under it.

We have to keep putting buckets and bowls under the drips which have been filling with alarming speed. We were worried we might come back to an indoor swimming pool if we din't get it sorted. They were going to come earlier in the week......... but it was raining too much !!

The Magpies have three babies, all five of them were sitting on the bird bath, I think Mum and Dad were showing the youngsters how to soak bread, they nearly toppled it over, great big things.

Have a good week everyone, might try to log in if we manage to get any wifi.

Coach goes at 9am tomorrow morning from the next town, the worst bit is the two days it takes to get there, and back, At least Himself can enjoy the journey but my feet always swell up so.

M. :-)

Hope Jane has a good time in Devon.

Maryanna, enjoy your week and hope your feet don't swell too much. I do know what you mean as I have the same trouble.

No doubt you could do with fewer not more magpies!!

Our conservatory roof leaks sometimes too (glass panels). Keep saying we should get it fixed then it seems to seal itself. :-) :-S

Well, it seems that through the morning some of the birds have flown,
as far as I can tell, six have gone, four left, when THEY go I'll check for corpses,

how do they group when they leave? do they immediately become self sufficient?

I recall when my daughters' Martins went they had flying lessons for about a week before they dispersed...........

Bob