Hobbies and Crafts

We have had a young robin around although not seen it today.

Isn't life odd? Haven't seen birds in the garden for days but within minutes of my last post OH called out "The starlings are back" and they were - in force :-D

I'm hoping the sparrows and blackbirds will follow suit though I doubt if we'll get anything more than that for a while. You've got a great selection Jane. I used to love the green woodpecker that used to come to our old home. They are such colourful birds and ours used to come quite close to the house in the search for insects.

I think they are all here eating me out of house and home again !!!!!!!!!.The window feeder this afternoon has been crazy yet again .I have had the Finches,Blue Tits,a Bull Finch,Mr Blackbird,lots of Gt Tits and one of my dear Robins who looks so tatty now I have named him Worzel Gummidge :-DHe does look a sorry state :-(
and just now the Green Woodpecker was about :-D

strange how, this time of year the birds do a runner Vera, all except for sparrows and starlings we don't see many either. Although OH did see two long tailed tits this morning - I, of course, missed them. As they are cutting hay etc I wonder if the birds take to gleaning the fields. :-)

Swallows/Swifts......just be glad you have some birds there. Ours have apparently all left home. All the food I put out just sits there untouched :-(

Swifts eat and sleep 'on the wing'. Swifts have 'thinner' wings and are sort of dark brown with a beigy white throat.. Swallows are blue/black and have a white front and, apparently have red on the top of their throats too. The older male birds have long tails

Yes I think they must be Swallows :-DI have looked up the difference between both birds and still get it wrong :-S.Hopeless aren't I LOL

What are their tails like Jane? I don't think Swifts 'perch'.

Jane I too was in London this weekend with friends...we saw The Bodyguard, fantastic show.

I doubt you have swifts perching on your aerial...more than likely they are swallows.

<3 <3 <3 to kandj

Sounds like the car will be packed to the rafters Maryanna !!!!.I hope you have good air/con :-D what with 3 bodies and all the paraphernalia .
I got back last night after having a lovely time in London with my daughter.Lovely pre show dinner up the OXO tower on the South Bank and then a show which was such fun.It was in a tent (circus type) .Amazing acts by the 5 or 6 performers.
There have been lots of Swifts around here today and all sitting on our TV Aerials.Must be lots of insects here for them to eat :-D.I love their chatter.The bird bath has been busy with various little birds cooling off.I wish I could fit in it !!.That would be a sight for sore eyes :-S

Not for a couple of weeks Ann. Youngest son now thinks he might come with us in the car, we are taking a week to drive down through France going to places we used to go to when the kids were small as well as Paris, rather than fly out with all the rest of the family. He says it will be like the old days. He is probably right, he will fall asleep at Calais and wake up in Barcelona.

I am now wondering how we are going to fit three if us and all our stuff in our little car as we are taking stuff for everyone else as well. Towels, sports equipment, buggy etc as they are all flying Cheap Air and don't want to pay baggage !!! They will all meet us there on the day we arrive, he will get a weeks extra holiday for nothing. He might have to sleep on our hotel floor on the way down though.

I think it is more likely that he kept forgetting it book his flight and it is now double what the others paid. It will be lovely to have him with us though. We don't get to see much if him now as he has lived in London for three years. It was easy when he was at Uni at Exeter, although he did get a job in Spain for two years after he left, we didn't see a lot of him then.

Off to bed now, the house is so hot and Himself seems to have developed a cough, should be a fun night.

M.

When do you go Maryanna?

Oh dear, poor bunny, I hadn't though of that.

Have a lovely day in London Jane, at least you will be travelling in style !!

I have to say it is lovely having the beach a five minute walk away, at least we are getting used to the heat before we go to Spain. For once we won't be the only white bodies in the beach when we first arrive.

M.

Oh yes,the crows could be seeing the rabbit as carrion if they sensed it was not well.

Oh Maryanna you are just trying to make me jealous......and have succeeded :-P
I lived just a few minutes walk from the beach when I was young and it was the place we all headed after school .Mums would pack up picnics and off we went.Oh what wonderful times.Now I am as far away from the sea as you could get :-S :-S

Yes I wonder if the Crows were after something the Rabbit had.I would have thought though that the rabbit would have scarpered .Could it have been unwell I wonder?

I hope your son has a brilliant time .It sounds very exciting :-D
My address book for my daughter is full of crossed out addresses.She is gong to have to move again at the end of the year as the Landlord is wanting to sell the house.This will be her 6th move in 3 years :-( :-(.
London tomorrow for me.Hannah says that there is no way I would cope with the heat on the underground ,or even the buses .So I have said we will take taxis EVERYWHERE :-D

Just watching a Gt Tit,a Sparrow and a Finch all standing in the tray of the window feeder lol it is looking pretty empty and I think they are trying to find all the last little bits of the suet pellets.I see the seeds are left.Fussy little devils :-)

Lucky you Maryanna, a day on the beach would be lovely. I remember when I was a young teenager it seems (in my memory) that every day was spent on or near the beach where we'd cycle about 4/5 miles to get there.

Strange behaviour from those crows unless the rabbit had piched some of their carrion.

Sure is hot Jane, another day on the beach I fear ;-)

Last night, when we were coming home after a BBQ at our eldest son and his wife's I was aware of a commotion at the side of the road ahead. As we got close I could see two big crows swooping down, feet first with their wings flapping.

As we got to the spot I could see that they were having a go at a rabbit !!! Quite a big one who was sitting up on its haunches and not seeming to be taking any notice of the birds. Not too sure what was going in or what he had done to annoy them. Most odd.

Eldest son is off at the weekend on a Survival course in Norway, kayaking, living off the land, sleeping in hammocks, fishing with spears...........

Good luck to him, last time one of the mates he is going with went away on a trip he got thrown out if his canoe on some rapids and spent a week marooned on an island surrounded by crocodiles until he could be rescued by helicopter.

They are either going to have a whale of a time or come back very hungry, better get the larder stocked up for when he gets back. He eats like a horse at the best of times, glad I don't have to feed him all the time any more.

They are thinking of moving again, that will be youngest son, who moved to another flat in London, a couple of months ago, daughter and son in law have found a house they like a mile or so away and have put in an offer and eldest son moving. So many crossings out in my address book, I am going to have to get a new one.

M. :-)

I saw a Red Kite today and it looked like it had a big gap in the feathers on one wing :-S.But it was still flying ok.It looked quite a small bird ,so I wonder if it was a young one.
I took a pic of it but haven't had a look yet to see if it was good enough to see the gap.

I hope everyone is coping with this heat..They reckon the heatwave will go on and on :-S

Well other than all the thunder ,lightening and rain on Thursday ,we have not seen any more storms or rain.It just seems to have skirted around us here.
The garden is desperate for a drink,so the hose pipe will be out this evening.

Kandj says Hello and thanks again for continuing to think of her and her OH.She hardly has a minute to herself and doesn't get chance sometimes to turn on her computer,but when she does she has a quick look on the thread.Lots of love Kandj <3

I see the temperature is going to soar again towards the end of the week :-S.
On Friday I am going to London to my daughters(I apologise if I have already said this)
She is taking me to see a show called Limbo on the Southbank and a meal somewhere .This is her Birthday Present for me :-D..But if it is 30 degrees oh boy it will be hot.I must check if she has an electric fan in her bedroom(as I have to share her bed :-S :-S)and her room is on the 2nd floor.I will be sure to need one and have a small electric one that I will stick in my little case lol......I snore too sometimes,and the last time I stayed with her she said it was the worst nights sleep she had ever had lol

Yes that's it exactly Ann.I haven't seen fisty cuffs like this for a while.(Maybe the heat is getting to them all lol)I know the feeling :-S