Hobbies and Crafts

Vera our Blackbirds can be bullies on the window feeder.They seem to be quite intimidating .Plus they manage to chuck out a lot of the food onto the ground in their haste to eat as much as they can . I actually saw a Magpie on the feeder earlier :-S :-S. I flapped my arms quickly and it flew off.I hope that was just a one off.That is one bird I won't be happy to see on the feeder.

I’ve just been getting irritated by a couple of blackbirds who won’t let a thrush anywhere near the mealworms I have put out for them. Every time the poor thing gets within a foot or two of the dish they chase him away.

I saw a robin and a great tit take some from the covered ground feeder and then a couple of starlings arrived and had some but the thrush is just too big to get in there so the poor thing will have to go hungry :-(

HARD BOILED ANN :-D :-D

It probably thought 'this egg is hard!'. :-D

:-D :-D That Crow had a bit of a disappointment then Ann... The Golf Ball must have been a bit heavy for it to hang on to.
No Butterflies here yet Vera.(Or not that I have seen) .Plenty of lovely big Bumble Bees though :-D

I love butterflies as well Vera but have not seen any in the garden as yet. It is much colder here today, I have just put the heating on. I think the birds are busy getting ready for nesting as they are fluttering around all over the place.

OH reported something that happened on the golf course last week. Somebody he was playing with hit his ball and they all saw where it landed. A large crow flew down and picked it up, took it up into a tree, pecked at it, found it not to its liking and dropped a long way from its original place. They were gobsmacked, nobody had seen that happen before. :-D

Lots of small birds in and out of the garden over the last couple of days but nothing out of the ordinary. I wish the blackbirds would stop throwing earth from the beds all over the paths. I am sure one female yesterday was trying to dig down to Australia. It’s like a game. I sweep up, turn my back and the blackbirds throw it all out again so I sweep up.....etc

The other day there was a heck of a racket outside. When I looked out there was a large flock of gulls circling round and landing on the roofs (should that be rooves?) in our little Close. Half an hour later they were all gone. I have to wonder where they come from. We are not near the coast and we’re not immediately close to farmland so what attracted them to our little road?

The sun has been bringing the butterflies out. In the space of about half an hour yesterday I saw a couple of whites flying around, a red admiral on a bush, a peacock sunning itself on the patio and a comma with its wings spread on the fence. I love butterflies so it made my day. :-D

You are lucky to have a lot of greenfiinches Jane, we have not seen any green finches for ages. Lovely birds.

When I was stuck in a queue with roadwork traffic lights the biggest Heron flew right in front of me and landed on the bank of the river at the side of the road. It was the biggest Heron I have ever seen. It had its eyes peeled on the water and looked just like a cat ready to pounce on prey :-D I have so many Greenfinch on the window feeder these days.I have seen the odd one or two before but not in these numbers.

We have some huge Bumble Bees around at the moment .There were 3 really big ones feeding off thr Rosemary Flowers yesterday. :-D. I hope your Bee Box will be well used Vera :-D .We are being to told to encourage Bees into our gardens as I believe they are supposed to be in decline(which is a bit of a worry) I have seen a few really massive wasps too which I am not so keen to encourage LOL They always seem to find their way in through an open window :-S

How lovely to see the Owl Gill :-D.. Chris thought he saw one yesterday on the fence down by the compost bins. But he wasnt sure if it was an owl or a hawk as it flew off so quickly. I did find a bunch of feathers which makes me think it was more likely a Hawk :-S

There have been several Greenfinch on the feeder today as well as all the usual visitors. Plus a huge Woodpigeon sunbathing in the Birdbath. No doubt using it as a public loo too :-S

Good luck with the bees Vera.
Pat oh good something to look forward to. I hope these gale forse winds that seem to keep appearing son't blow them off somewhere else.

Thanks Pat. I always feel spring has really arrived when we start to see a few swallows and I hate that moment when you notice them lining up on the wires and know they will soon be gone and winter will be here before long.

I haven’t seen many birds this morning. It’s a sunny day, though it keeps clouding over, but it is very windy again so they might be staying where it’s a bit more sheltered.

I have just watched a couple of little bees investigate the box for solitary bees that we
put up. Maybe they will lay an egg or two in some of the little cells. According to the leaflet that came with the bee house we can expect to get redmason bees and leaf cutter bees at the very least. I’m getting quite excited now that I have seen them looking at the bee house :-D

Not a lot of birds in our garden at the moment. I think the building work up the road from us has disturbed them all. We do still get a robin, maybe two, a pair of blackbirds, goldfinches pigeons (noisy things) and collard doves. Plus a wren who visits most mornings and a few great tits.

It sounds like there are lots of different birds around at the moment.

We've had all sorts popping into our garden and all over the feeder, Sandra loves watching them and has looked in her book to see what they are called.

She noticed the hawk in her book and remembers one attacking a pigeon, I remember there being feathers all over the garden. I was hoping she might of forgotten about it as it really upset her at the time. Thankfully she didn't get upset again over the memory.

OH and I noticed an owl flying around last night, I thought I saw him the other day but wasn't sure as he flew past quite quickly. They are graceful birds aren't they?

Going to put some more bird food out now, it's a lovely day and very quiet so the birds won't be disturbed.

Just to let you know the swallows, house martins and swifts are on their way. They arrived here about 2 weeks late as we've had a lot of rain and wind. They are swooping over me as I walk my dog everyday now. :-D

Lovely to see the Red Kites Jane. I’ve only seen them when we have been driving through Bucks or Oxfordshire.

There seem to be plenty of small birds about now. The thrush seems to like picking bits out of the shallow dish I put on a table in the garden. I throw anything that’s OK for birds into this dish. Yesterday it was some bits of apple and they disappeared pretty quickly. I expect the blackbirds had those. The robin happily pops into the mesh cage over the ground feeder for his mealworms. There seem to be a few bluetits and plenty of sparrows around. I’ve only seen one thrush and one robin so I hope they find mates.

The frogspawn seems to have turned into a mush and I think we will have to take it out of the pond. I’m not sure why but it seems this sometimes happens.

It’s been a lovely day today and I’ve seen a couple of little bees sitting on top of our bee house and a comma butterfly sunning itself on the fence :-)

I think my autocorrect is having a mad moment. I typed little and it turned it into Kirriemuir :-S

Lovely to watch Jan. Coming back from Hampshire last Sunday we saw four red kites near Newbury and then another on just up the road from here in Gloucester.

We have just enjoyed watching 3 Red Kites flying quite low :-D We often see 2 but not 3.

Only two wasn’t he very hungry?

It was back again Ann and I quickly rang my neighbour 2 doors down so she could hear it :-DShe was thrilled :-D :-D She said that Thomas was in her garden today chasing 2 Pheasants !!!!!!.