Hobbies and Crafts

Mostly great and blue tits and sparrows while I have been watching this morning. boiler fixed and getting warmer here now. (£140 for a new pressure switch)

Jane not good news then, although the fields thatw ere flooded near us on Friday have dried out now and the golf course is open. OH didn't go to golf as he usually does on Mondays because he says it will still be very wet under foot.

Well we have a rabbit now in the garden :-S..That is not good.Luckily there are no veg or new plants yet to scoff.

My Niece says her 2 dogs are now able to SWIM in the back garden.So the water is getting deeper :-S :-S.They are large dogs too.One is a big black Labrador and the other is a Char Pe (not sure if that is how you spell it)..He is one of those dogs with the very wrinkly faces .I aways think they look like little hippos.

Not a breath of wind here this morning.In fact the air feels strange .Something Brewing??,and not a cup of tea :-S

No further sign of the bluetit I'm afraid but the solitary blackbird has been back this morning. The starlings have also found us, there was a little group of four out there today. Not my favourite bird.

Ann it is only fairly recently that we have seen a goldcrest in our garden :-D

I think Vera that the firecrest is brighter and more colourful than the goldcrest:-S

Hope everyone stays is warm and dry.

Lesley x

Yes we keep the pellets in plstic food containers too.

Ann ,I hope you manage to keep warm until the boiler is fixed.Why do these things happen when the weather is so bad :-S :-S.
I'm not sure if I have had Goldfinch here.I do find it difficult sometimes to work out what some birds are.They don't stay long enough sometimes to get a good look.
I have had one of those days where I haven't spent time watching the window feeder.I did spot another Long Tailed Tit though :-D

My Niece says the car park at the end of her row of houses is partially flooded now.That is where she has to park :-D.She had to park in the middle.So it is still watch this space there.But the last time the car park was flooded her OH lost his work van with all his tools in .I remember watching the 6 o'clock news and seeing his van almost submerged .(that was the 2007 flood)

I bought some plastic food containers today to keep those suet pellets in as the bags keep splitting :-S.Each time I reached in the bag to fill the window feeder it split a bit more :-S

I've been trying on and off all day to get on line but our internet connection was out. I hope your heating is fixed soon Ann.

How lovely to have a goldcrest in your garden. We found two, about a week apart, in our old garden but sadly both were dead. They were on the patio area. I don't think they had been caught by cats as there were no feathers around and they appeared unmarked. I can only think they saw their reflections in our windows and flew into them. I had never seen such a tiny, colourful bird before and had to get the books out to look them up. They may even have been firecrests. I was never quite sure.

I haven't seen anything on our feeders today but something must have been there before we got up as the mesh feeder, that had a good handful of suet nibbles in it, was empty. I'm hoping to see a few more birds tomorrow.

I have got four layers on and tights under trousers and am not too chilly. This evening we will have the electric fire on and can also put a fan heater on. It could be a lot worse.

One bird we have never seen in our garden in the Goldcrest although our next door neighbour said they had one once when we were away.

Do you tap the window to the starlings Kandje. When the suet bits have gone try putting just seed in there for a while and see if that deters them.

The starlings keep coming back to the window feeder and I am not liking it at all.
The young blackbird hasn't been again and so I think the starlings have taken over!

Lesley I googled Goldcrest...... what a pretty little bird you have there. Please can you send some to Yorkshire or we could do a swop for starlings if you like that idea?
I am learning quite a bit on this thread...... thank you all.

Oh dear Ann. It's not a good time to have a boiler breaking down. I hope you can have it up and running quickly and that it won't prove to be too expensive either.

I hope you can get your central heating boiler fixed pretty quick Ann, even though it is mild a house without heat soon feels cold :-(

Today I saw a goldcrest:-D not on a feeder but on a viburnum we have by the dining room window, I would love to get a photograph of this timid little bird.

Lesley x

Starlings seem to eat most things Kandj, all you can do is shoo them off like I do the pigeons when I think they have had enough. So far today I have see a robin, three collard doves and a large crow which has just come down for a piece of the crushed stale biscuit I put out. It is very very6 windy here, the doves were hanging on as the feeder blew all over the place with their weight and the wind. We have had one shower but it is quite mild thank good ness because our central heating boiler has packed up. :-(

Dry and less windy here so far this morning but forecast to have a return of heavy rain and strong winds from Tuesday for the rest of the week.

Already had 3 visitors to the window feeder this morning. One blackbird...... don't think this is the same as previous because it looked slimmer and not as yellow beak.

The other 2 birds were Starlings ..grrrrr. I wonder if I changed the suet pellets to boring breadcrumbs if they would still be attracted??

Lesley ,you will sleep well now knowing your Daughter has arrived safely.I know what I was like when my James went,just waiting for that message to say he was there.I think he was 19 then ...now 28 !!!!..I can't believe how long ago that was.Sheesh! where have those years gone :-S :-S
Still blowing a gale here.Think I will go and tuck myself up in bed for a read.OH is watching some film.

Haven't looked outside so don't know if it has topped raining but i don't think the forcst is good.

Glad your dughter has arrived ok Lesley.

Good for you to hear your daughter has arrived safely Lesley. She will be tired but happy and has an interesting itinerary and wonderful month in front of her. Will it be quiet in your house without her around?

The wind and rain seem to have quietened down. I do hope that tomorrow will be a better day for all the flood victims.

Daughter arrived safely in Bangkok at 9.30am GMT:-D she has to pay for WiFi at the hotel so will message again when she is in a free zone.

Magpies:-| probably 30 plus years ago the only magpies I ever saw were around gravel pits, we never ever use to get them in the garden, in my mind there is only one good thing about magpies and that's their plumage:-)

I think our garden has turned into a blackbird sanctuary:-S we have had dozens of them today:-D

Jane I hope your niece doesn't need to use the sandbags, fingers crossed.

Lesley x

Vera, you must be SO pleased with your variety of birds in such a short time, that's just great!

No blackbird today....... now where has he got to?? The staring didn't come back to the window feeder either but we have had the usual hoard of starlings morning and afternoon feeding off the ground tray. Can't say they are one of my favourite garden birds with their aggressive behaviour.

Our magpies have disappeared too. They came in two's or three's but we haven't seen any for a couple of weeks.

Our regular Mr and Mrs Blackbird and the thrush have kept bobbin in and out f the shrubbery. They steer clear of all the starlings and look apprehensive with the strong winds we have had here today. I threw some "goodies" near to the edge of the lawn and was rewarded to see them come and eat heartily. We have to look after our regulars ha ha.

I have no idea how we would cope with ongoing disruption and flood water in our humble home. The scenes on tv are just unbelievable and it must be heart rendering for you Jane to think of your niece and family..... when will it end?!!

Oh No Ann :-S...I might get an up date from my Sister later.If not I will assume all is ok at the moment.

I'm wondering too how my old beach at Wembury is faring in these gales.My old Primary school teacher who is now 94 lives at the top of the hill from the beach and I can just imagine the battering her bungalow will be getting.Hopefully her daughter is with her.

Been lashing down here I'm afraid Jane.

Vera I think once found ,they won't forget :-D :-D.That's great.
I just saw a flock of some very small birds fly over.I say fly ....I think they were just being blown along.They vanished into the distance so quickly .Lord knows where they will end up :-S :-S
I've just topped up the window feeder ..I'm not going out the back door again tonight.
No rain, just very strong wind.I bet we will lose some panels from the greenhouse again tonight.Hopefully that will be all.