Hobbies and Crafts

Cold and wet here this morning. I went out between showers and washed out the water bowl and filled up the feeders. The starlings and pigeons were there within seconds and going for the suet pellets. I have seen a robin and a bluetit this morning but I haven't seen the sparrows again and the goldfinches are completely ignoring the nyger seed.

As we seem to be getting through the food at a rate of knots and it can come a bit expensive, I sent OH to a local garden centre this morning where they were advertising a good quality brand of bird seed in 5kg packs for half price. Unfortunately, there was just an empty shelf - they had sold right out very quickly.

It's market day in town tomorrow and I know there is a chap there that sells all the pet foods and bird food etc. but I'm not sure how good it is. What do you think about buying bird seed from a market trader? Have you done it? I'd welcome advice.

It is a bright dry day here in Yorkshire but very cold breeze. I have had a couple of magpies this morning and haven't seen them for a little while. The starlings have almost emptied the window feeder which I topped up with bread, chopped apple and suet pellets. I kept shooing them away but they still come back for more.

Fancy you remembering my lop-sided tree Lesley. That was last year when my neighbour "did me a favour" (NOT). I hung 3 feeders on the stubs of tree branches trying to encourage the little birds to come to a half descimated tree and it's worked thank goodness. The trouble is that this is at the bottom of our back garden although clearly visible from the dining end of our kitchen window.

I have peanuts, wildbird seed and (Shaun's recipe} fatball feeder and can see lots of little birds happily eating there regularly. We don't have the big gardens that you and Jane have but I have the 3 feeders and also two birdbaths around as well.

Poor little baby, all smiling and happy until the needle goes in...... not nice at all, but obviously necessary to keep M well. Gentle cuddles needed, bless her.

I decided not to put more food in the window feeder this evening ,as I am not prepared to have it all snaffled up by the Squirrel .I will top it up in the morning when I get up.I'm sure there will be a queue of little birds looking a bit miffed all waiting for their Breakfast lol

Well I came down this morning to a TOTALLY empty feeder .Not one bit of crumb was in it.It must have been the Squirrel.
Lesley OH hasn't said anything about it other than" let me go get he gun" lol.I honestly don't think he has the stomach for killing even though he likes to think he has .My window pane has even more dirty feet marks on it now :-S.I would just like to be able to see which branch it jumps from to get onto the feeder.We actually have 2 Squirrel and Rabbit traps,but they haven't been put out yet this year.I know if you catch a Grey Squirrel it is illegal to let it go again.I just can't see OH killing one if it was caught in the cage.
I don't know where today has gone ..I need to get something in for dinner.

Yes, very glad we had the central heating fixed. When we got home last week it was fairly mild so we have acclimitised gradually to the colder weather. Don't like it this late in the winter/spring though. Very icy cold out there today. I have just been to the dentist and it was really cold when we came out to walk to the car with sleety rain. (And I have 4 thin layers on then I had a coat on top of that.

We have sparrows that live in a pyracanthus during the day, if you watch the bush every so often a littly head pops out then the whole bird follows to dart to the nearby feeder and back again. They are really funny. :-D

kandj we are lucky and haven't had a problem with starlings for quite a few years, if you are not seeing starlings on your other feeders I would be inclined to put the same food in the window feeder, I know when you first had your feeder you tried seed and didn't have any luck attracting any birds but that doesn't mean you wont have luck now, I would also stop putting bread down for the starlings to feast on...throw the bread onto the lawn of the neighbour that cut you tree down the starlings will soon find it ;-) ;-) ;-)

M is doing very well thank you bless she had her second lot of vaccinations today so the smiles might be a bit thin on the ground for a couple of days.

Jane there is no way I would have that squirrel that close to my house, what does your OH say about it?

I love to see sparrows darting out of the hedge to grab some food then darting back into the hedge.

How are you coping with the chillier weather we are having Ann, good thing you got your central heating fixed :-)

Lesley x

Seems the birds are all busy elsewhere because they also are very few and far between here in Yorkshire.

I can understand your excitement Vera at seeing the male and female house sparrow on your feeder. Not silly at all. There were always lots and lots of house sparrows around at one time and now I also am happy to see the occasional one, so for you to have two, is a real bonus. My tame robin has gone elsewhere too..... very strange!

Lesley, how is baby M doing? Hope she is giving out plenty of smiles now.

Not many birds today BUT this morning there was a male and female house sparrow on the seed feeder. Silly to get excited by a pair of sparrows but they are the first we have seen in the garden. They were being very picky and throwing out the seeds they didn't fancy which pleased a couple of collared doves that were on the ground. Apart from that I've only seen a robin today.

It seems to be a Blue Tit day today here on the feeder.The little one with the overgrown beak has been so many times.At least I can recognise that one.
Now it seems to be the Long TTs and Mr Blackbird.

We had hailstones but they were small ones. This morning we had a hard frost but since then it has been cold but sunny, I managed to get my sheets dry out on the line I am pleased to say. :-)

Still only seeing a few starlings, a couple of doves and one Great tit feeding, don't know where they have all gone again.

We have had hailstones here around 2pm this afternoon and I don't remember ever seeing then as large before. I was driving home from shopping and feared that the pebble-sized hailstones would damage the car.

Nothing new to report on the bird front. The starlings seem to have taken over the window feeder and also the ground feeder (not best pleased about that!). There do seem to be tiny birds flitting and darting about on the peanut and wild birdseed feeders hanging on the tree at the bottom of the garden but I am too far away to recognize the birds and wish they would come around to the front of our home.

Maybe they are asserting their claim to their territory Jane. However one of the few pluses of wearing hearing aids is that I am not woken early by birdsong having removed said aids before going to sleep

Ann I find some of the Chaffinches quite feisty .There seems to be a bit of squabbling going on today :-S I'm also noticing the Goldfinches more these last few days.I have seen 4 :-D
There is a Pheasant that starts its noise about 4.45am(in next doors garden I think) and then of course the Blackbird and the rest begin their singing.I am getting so tired at waking so early these mornings as i then can't go back to sleep :-SThe birds seem to sing different songs in the morning compared to the evening ones.More Trill like if you know what I mean.

Robins usually win, aggressive little birds, wonder why we love them so much? :-)

I have just been watching a Long TT standing in the feeder refusing to let any other bird land on it lol.But he has just lost out to a Robin now.

My BIL got the shock of his life this afternoon when just sitting back relaxing after lunch ................the Squirrel landed on the feeder :-D :-D.Right in front of him.
He also couldn't believe how many birds came to feed !!!

:-D :-D :-D

I think you might be right Ann lol ......It has guts ,and even though I know it is Vermin I still have a liking for it .(we had a connection :-D :-D).OH is not impressed :-S :-S

I can see you have a love hate relationship with that one Jane :-D :-D

Well this Squirrel is something else lol It didn't bunch an inch when I pulled the curtain back this morning.It just sat there munching away in the Window feeder looking at me.I wondered if it was 'blind' lol as even the flash on the camera didn't seem to have any effect.I know I was on the other side of the glass ,but it was maybe only about 8 inches.I even put my finger to the glass and it still took no notice.I ended up banging on the window as it had been scoffing for ages.It jumped to the ground but left it claw and feet marks all down the pane :-S :-S.I would love to know which branch of the tree it jumps off,as it is quite a leap !!!