Hobbies and Crafts

The window feeder was filled with bread early this morning..... NO birds have come anywhere near the feeder?? Getting fed up now.
I will give it until 19th January (a whole month) and if there is still no interest, I have decided that I will take "the ornament" down.
I guess that it will most probably end up at next church white elephant stall boo hoo.

I can't understand why you have had no visitors at all Kandj.I would be so upset .
It has been like The Battle of Britain on the feeder here just now.I have never seen anything like it.I nearly went out and took the feeder down at one point as there was so much squabbling and scrapping going on.
There seem to be large flocks of Seagulls around .They suddenly appear in the sky and then vanish as quickly as they came.
I caught a glimpse of the Pheasant taking off from our wood shed .I think I frightened it as I went near the window.It made a right hullabaloo as it went ,probably over into next door.
The Squirrel has finished off the latest coconut again.I think I only put it up the day before yesterday :-S
These birds are costing me far more than it cost me to feed my dear old dog.(he went to doggie heaven at Easter) :-(

A real shock when I opened the blinds first thing this morning. It was white all over the grass, road, roof tiles opposite. I thought it was snow but thankfully it was a hard frost.
I have de-iced and filled up the two bird baths with fresh water and filled the back garden feeders too.

Lesley, I have taken your advice and put bread into the window feeder on front lounge window, so we await with interest to see if this will interest the little birds. The feeder has been in place since 19th December and we are both disappointed to have no birds, so our fingers are crossed they might find the bread more to their taste!!

My Sister brought all the families' washing here too Ann ,and had a bath and good hair wash .I remember her saying they just used a little bottled water in a cup for cleaning teeth.How far are you from Tewkesbury?I know it isn't that far.
It has turn very cold here now and all the birdies have finally gone to bed for the night.Sensible idea I think :-D I hope they are all tucked up nice and warm .

Jane 2007 was a bad year for floods as we knew to our cost. We were not flooded but the electricity sub station was and Severn Trent at Mythe had problems. We had no electricity for 2/3 days and no drinking water for two weeks. Yes bottled water sold out but the Severn Trent managed to get bottled water from other areas and we had more free bottles than we could drink in the end. Every time we drove into a supermarket car park, or the local garden centre car park, when we stopped somebody would open our boot and heave in a huge pack of bottled water. That was after about 4 days of buying. Water for washing machines etc was off for a week but we went to our daughters in Hampshire and did the washing. :-)

I think there is a fair bit of squabbling going on .Especially my Robins.One keeps dive bombing the other if it is on the feeder at the wrong time lol

Thanks Ann.She is quite a big blackbird isn't she :-D.

Lesley ,the plumber will still be coming back on Monday,hopefully that will be the last day.We did discover yesterday that the spare tiles we had (which we needed) are not the spare ones for the en suite.They were the ones from the Bathroom !!!.Panic stations !!!!!!!..The ones we need are no longer made,but luckily the plumber went with a bit of broken tile he had taken off and managed to get some that are a pretty good match.Not perfect but will have to do and only £10 for the box(which was the last).

I think the water levels haven't risen anymore at the moment so hopefully now they are out of the woods..It's about time they can relax a bit.They had to be rescued from their upstairs window back in 2007 with their son who wasn't yet 2 and their big black Labrador.They were stuck on the back of a trailer but the poor dog had to swim to safety as there was no more room . :-S.Then the following day the men in the family waded a good half a mile in chest high water to get the 2 cats and Tortoise out.It was 12 months before they were able to move back in !!
Then there was the problem of no fresh water in that area .Bottled water sold out and those tanks that were put in streets for people to collect water from ran out too.So I went to our local shops here and filled my car with bottled water and my Sister drove to me to get it.About a 200 mile round trip.They won't forget that year in a hurry.
Oops sorry I seem to have rambled on a bit there :-S

Must refill the you know what now :-D

A few visitors this morning to the bird feeders before we went out, besides sparrows, blue tits, starlings and collard doves, there was a goldfinch, a blue tit and a female black cap.

Jane's photo of the blackbird on the window feeder is on my photo blog. Let me know if you want the addy.

Jabe I had not pictured that type of feeder, the window feeders I have seen are smaller, the large aperture is probably why it empties so fast.

The birds in our garden have gone bird crazy today:-S and are eating for England:-0 as Ann has said they squabbling with each other at the feeders :-D

kanj try the bread it wont hurt this time of year, MOG's uncle has only ever used a bird seed mix in his window feeder and he gets plenty of takers:-)

Jane I hope the floodwater continues to recede around your nieces home:-) .......... did all go well with your plumber........or shouldn't I mention him :-D

Lesley x

Lesley, liking the goalkeeper idea ha ha.

No nasty Sparrow Hawk today. Don't know where it came from. Don't know where it has disappeared to either, but I'm pleased it's not around any more!

Still not had any tiny birds. I have put fresh berry pellets in the feeder today (again) and scattered the old ones on the ground (hoping no little mice will come around!!).

Plenty of starlings, a few magpies, a lot of gulls, our regular Mr and Mrs Blackbird popping in and out of the border shrubbery throughout the day, along with a couple of thrushes........ where are the teeny, tiny, little birds hiding and why aren't they hungry?? I was tempted to put white bread in the window feeder and see if we get any takers for this!

Jane, I hope that the water levels go down so that your niece won't have flooding in her home. We have watched interviews on TV and feel so sorry for those who have been affected (some for a second time too).

Ok Ann I will try again tomorrow.I wonder where it went?? :-S
I will just try and send a test email now.

Hi Jane, no not received an e mail from you at all :-(

Ann did you get my email of the Blackbird?As you know I was having trouble :-S
Well the feeder this afternoon has been emptied again.It was like Piccadilly Circus.There are the feisty pushy Blue Tits and a Thug of a Robin that like to hog it and then the others have to sit in the branches and wait until it is all clear before swooping in grabbing a pellet and then scooting off quickly .

Great description Lesley of the' Goal Keeper ' :-D :-D.Brilliant :-D..She looks a little darling <3

Touch wood things in Tewkesbury and my Niece's house look safer now.I just hope the levels keep going down .

Bless her Lesley she is sweet.

Bird tally going up slowly. this morning we had 6 godfinches in the tree and two were feeding on the nyger seed feeder, the restw ere squabbling as they couldn't work out how to get themselves all on the feeder. We also had a few sparrows, a robin, a male and a female blackbird and two chaffinches besides the usual collard doves and starlings. :-) :-)

I hope your niece and her family are safe and that the water level is receding Jane :-)

I've been out from early morning till dusk so I haven't seen any bird activity today :-(

The way the photograph has been taken does make M's mittens look enormous :-D I've called that picture the goalkeeper :-D :-D :-D

Lesley

Good Jane fingers crossed. :-)

Ann my Sister does live there too but in a different area.(she is in the safe zone) :-D
Just spoke to my Sister and she thinks the level of water might have just dropped a little so it sounds like my Niece and family might have got away with it this time :-D

Sorry Jane I thought it was your sister. Goodness I had not realised they lived so close to the Abbey and the floos plain. I hope the river doesn't rise any further then. So far work done Fter 2007 seems to be working.

Evening All
Yes it is my Niece and her family in Tewkesbury and they are all holding their breaths still as they have the rivers at the front and back of the house.The water at the back it right up to the back garden and at the front it was threatening to spill over onto the road just in front of them.They lost everything in the big flood back in ?2007.They live right by Tewkesbury Abbey.

We have often found great clumps of bloody feathers in out back garden over the years.It is horrible ,and finding remains too can be a bit grizzly.But as OH says we have to expect this kind of thing where we live.
My Lady Blackbird is now a regular on the feeder :-D.I know when she is there as I hear a big thump as she lands on it and it makes the feeder just knock the window.
I did manage to get a little video clip on my mobile phone of her today.
The squirrel has polished off the coconut :-S

Love the pic of Baby :-D,her little hands in those mitts <3

Hi Kandj, no we are not in the area affected by floods but I think Jane's sister is fairly near so hope she is ok Jane.