Hobbies and Crafts

We don't have any Starlings Ann,so I will give the mash a miss lol

My Niece has just said the water at the front has gone down and the road has reopened for now.So they can at least sleep tonight without worry.It will be Mon/Tues when things could be bad again.I am assuming the back garden must still be just about ok and not rising any further.
My Son has just left to pick his girlfriend up from Northampton Railway Station.He just heard that the train is now not going any further :-S so I just hope it gets as far as Northampton .I won't rest now until they get back here.

sometimes they do sometimes they don't Jane. the starlings usually eat it but they haven't been around today.

Ann I have never put mashed potatoes out for the birds.Do they normally eat it?.I often make far too much and then it goes to waste :-S
I hope everyone is hunkered down again tonight and all safe and warm.

Just a few sparrows and a dove and a wood pigeon here this afternoon. Put some mashed potato out but they can't be hungry enough to eat it. Hopefully it will get washed away in the rain!!

Oh Vera,your poor friend :-0 :-0..Did she manage to get her kitchen without handing over all that money? I can just imagine her language.I know what mine would have been like.At least my little bit of floor is just a minor thing
The fattest Pidgeon has just waddled past the patio window.I think it must be all puffed up .I had 4 Blue Tits on the window feeder with 2 others hovering behind for their turn.There could very well have been more waiting in the wings.I think I will go and top up the pellets soon before the weather gets worse.The gusts of wind now seem to be getting stronger :-S

The pigeons loved my veg in the old house; OH made me a load of cages to put over cabbages, broccoli etc. to keep them off or I would have had nothing left. The doves never seemed to go for the plants in the same way.

In this garden I don't really have enough room for veggies. A few herbs and a couple of tomato plants in pots is about all I'll have room for.

Haven't seen many birds around here at all today but as it has been pouring most of the time, and the wind is getting up again now, I expect they are staying in shelter.

Sorry to hear about your wrong flooring Jane. You've certainly had your share of bad luck. A similar thing happened to a friend a couple of years ago though in her case it was a complete kitchen. She had arranged for walls to be knocked down and a complete new kitchen fitted while she was away on holiday. When she got back she found the builder had fitted the wrong kitchen and then he had the cheek to ask her for another £10,000 to put it right! I'd get RRd if I repeated on here what she said.

I haven't seen the wood pigeons doing any damage but that could be because all my veg is in containers on the patio.

Ann I haven't seen doves attacking my plants but I do see pigeons having a feast :-|

Lesley x

Lol yes Jane 2 whooshed through thanks. I replied. :-) poor things, hope they don't lose too much.

Lesley,I have shed enough tears .I think I have run dry now lol.Its getting ridiculous with all these problems.

Ann I have tried to send you pic of my Nieces's house from the ITV SW E site,but they don't seem to be sending at the moment .You might get nothing or you might get 2 lol
No it's not looking good.I think they think it is inevitable now that the water will get in the house :-(
I just heard a whoosh like a message has just gone so you might get it now !

Strangely Lesley I have never seen the doves go near any plants.

Oh Jane not another leak :-( and wrong flooring being laid :-S I would have wanted to cry :-(

Re your slug/snail trail have you or anyone very near you put slug pellets down? these make slugs and snails over produce mucus, the mess from this isn't a pretty sight:-0

kand I think the blackbirds diet is mainly insects, worms and berries and as there are plenty of bugs around they aren't going hungry so probably wont eat the bird seed and as Ann has said starlings will eat almost anything, MOG's uncle buys economy bread for them, no sooner has he put it out and it's gone, we haven't seen a starling for years in our garden...thank goodness :-)

Vera I don't encourage pigeons...I value my plants to much :-)

It's been bright and sunny here today which seems to have a lot more birds out :-)

Lesley x

Tewkesbury on the news again, not looking good for some of the houses. Have you heard from your sister?

It didn't look like a snail trail Ann.They tend to be a bit shiny .This is more kind of greasy as when I tried to wipe a bit it just smeared .I would have cleaned the window but with more rain due tomorrow I thought I might as well just leave it for now :-D.Plus it was too cold and windy to stay out there long.
Not looking good for tomorrow is it :-|..Batten down the hatches yet again !

Oh dear Jane one thing after another.

could it be a snail rather than a slug, they leave a trail. :-S

Vera ,aren't they clever.It often amazes me to see just how determined some of the large birds are when they know there is food to be had.I know what you mean about spending so much on food for the birds.It costs me more feeding them than it did when I was feeding my dear old dog Chester :-0.

I noticed on my window (with the feeder on) that there are some very long streaky marks,as if something has been trailing all over.I wonder if it might have been a slug :-S.Whatever is was has made a right mess.


Well my new flooring is down in the en suite ,BUT when I was asked to go and check it was fitted all fine I got quite a shock as it is the WRONG one.Nothing like the one I ordered .So I now have to wait for the right one :-S :-S.It just seems like there is one problem after another here lol.Oh well That's Life as they say :-D

Lol, We have three regular collard dove visitors and infrequent visits from a couple of wood pigeons. We buy the cheap seed for the feeder that they go on. A hanging one. They amuse us by hanging and swinging on the feeder two at the same time usually

Mystery solved.

I have just seen a collared dove fly in, hover while positioning himself and land on his feet in the middle of the open mesh feeder. He's obviously learnt that it will overbalance with his weight on the rim so he is getting right in to it I think there is probably more than one coming for the suet and I think they are generally coming at first light before we are up.

Now I've got to decide whether I want to become the local diner for the neighbourhood pigeons and doves or if I want to discourage them a bit.

Very strange Vera. :-S :-S

I wondered about an animal of some sort Ann. I don't think a small mouse would be able to make the leap from the fence to the feeder or climb the pole up to it. A squirrel might just do it but they are not usually that shy and I think I would have seen if a squirrel was coming into the garden. Whatever it is, it's got a good appetite or else it's bringing all it's friends along with it - there are a lot of nibbles going every day.