Hobbies and Crafts

Goodness Vera that must have been a lot of hopping around. As you say 53 is a bit too many. No doubt they will thrive when they have more room. Let's hope they don't have a homing instinct.

About 20 minutes ago it started to rain here, I thought, as it was only a few drops, it was going to be a light shower but no it is quite heavy steady rain. The garden was certainly ready for it, this is the first for about 3 weeks.

Not much happening here on the wildlife front. I did see four little bluetits together on the peanut feeder the other day. It has a fine wire mesh so they can only peck little bits out at a time, so no danger of them choking. I think any birds around must be coming in before I am up as the feed is going down each day and the bird bath is constantly dirty, though I am sure that’s the pigeons.

My daughter moved about 6 months ago to a house with a small pond in the garden. No one had looked after it for years and she decided to drain it and fill it in. Once it was drained and she just had a couple of inches of sludge in the bottom she found herself facing 53 very disgruntled frogs! Daughter and grandson managed somehow to gather them all up, “helped” by their two dogs and find them all new homes in various local ponds :-D. I like frogs but 53 in one go is too much of a good thing.

All happening up in the air then Jane.

Just had a big flock of Goldfinch land in the Pine Tree :-D A couple have been down for a drink in the Birdbath. Two Woodpidgeons are having a bit of a smooge on one of the branches of the Conifers,and I just saw a Heron fly over. The window feeder is surprisingly quiet. Maybe Thomas is hanging around in the bushes :-S

Lots to see today then Jane lucky you

So nice today to see 6 baby Bluetits all having a bath in the Birdbath . Once again I was too late to get a pic :-S At the same time they were bathing there was a young Woodpecker on the lawn :-D
It is time now for the Bats .So I will go and sit outside to see them :-D

Ann we have a few Buzzards but more Red Kites, although just lately not too many of either. The Goldfinch I am happy to say have been visitors and unusually in the birdbath :-D. They normally just sit on the TV Aerial .I think they must have been really thirsty in the heat . Blackbirds. we have plenty of those and don't mention the Woodpidgeons .Just the mess everywhere :-S :-S. How can they poo so much???
Just hanging out the washing is a nightmare trying to miss stepping into anything nasty.It is difficult trying to tiptoe around it :-S. My peg bag which is black now is beginning to look white :-S

buzzards are definitely more common than they used to be, we see them often round here, although not usually over the gardens. After it rained yesterday we had 4 goldfinches back on the feeder plus a robin, a lot of sparrows and one great tit. Have not seen a blackbird for a week or so. Oh yes we still get wood pigeons and collard doves, both have a go at the feeders, no wonder we go through a lot of feed.

Welcome home Vera. Cornwall will have been beautiful in theis weather. It is good as you say about there not being too many Seals in the Sanctuary as the staff there sre dong a great jog in getting them rehabillitated and sending them 'home' :-D

All water in the bird bath and various other things we have that hold water for the birds evaporates so quickly now in this horrible heat. OH is just refilling everything again.
The Pidgeons are the worst culprits in the main Birdbath as once they get in half the water goes out over the sides :-S The Pidgeons are driving us potty at the moment with their courting /fighting or what ever it is they are up to. Plus the usual mess they leave :-| :-|

We got back yesterday evening from holiday. We had a week in Cornwall and spent a couple of days each way on the journey, so about 10 days in all. We saw plenty of birds but nothing different to what we see at home, apart from a few buzzards.

We went to the Seal Sanctuary, which OH and I had visited many years ago. There weren’t so many seals there this time and there were none in the hospital area so there wasn’t so much to see this time, but it is good really as it means most of the seals are being rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

When we got back home and walked round the garden we found that the birdbath had dried out but was filthy and about half the water in the little pond had evaporated. We topped them up but I haven’t had time to clean the birdbath yet. Another job to do :-|

I think I might have to have a check on woolies here then :-S. I have seen some very small moths in the house.
I saw the request for people to do the Butterfly Survey but I imagine it might be quite difficult as unless they land on plants it could be hard to tell what they are. No problem spotting the Cabbage whites though !

It is as black as your hat here right now but only a few tiny spots of rain. I got quite excited LOL But I have a feeling we may not get the rain after all. Areas around us have had a deluge this afternoon .Just not here. We have had the Wasp Man this afternoon to deal with a wasps nest . It has meant keeping all the windows shut for a while ,but I think now it is safe to open them up again. At least a little bit.

Ann
I guess the answer is wrapping freshly laundered items in plastic bags, if storing things made of wool.
On TV, I saw a programme saying you can wrap a damaged item in plastic to contain any grubs, then place it in the freezer for a while to kill any eggs, so halting the cycle.

On a brighter note, I saw a garden tiger moth yesterday. It flew onto the footpath in front of me and closed it's wings. It was the first time I'd seen one that close. It was very striking.


Saw on TV this morning that there is an on-going moth and butterfly survey and they are asking for people to send in records of their sightings.

Hello Gwyn, We have had a couple of OH's wool sweaters damaged by clothes moths, not sure of the best way to prevent that, none of my sweaters are pure wool these days.
We have had the comma I mentioned ( seen once), plus a few tortoiseshells and lots of cabbage whites and one small ble early on in the summer, not seen it in the hot weather.

We also have two very juvenile blackbirds in the garden, male and female.

Lots of butterflies locally too. I've seen plenty of cabbage whites, but this week there have been tortoiseshells and one peacock one.

I wish there weren't so many moths around. Apparently there is an invasion of them in the south east counties and some homes have had clothes moth damage on wool carpets and natural fibre materials. They got to a beautiful Welsh honeycomb/ waffle style wool bedspread at my daughter's house.

There are lots of Butterflies around here at the moment Ann,but none have settled long enough for me to see what they are !! (Other than the Cabbage Whites !! )

We were pleased this morning to see a Comma butterfly on the Budleia, very pretty and good to see. Did see one last year and hoped they were still in the area. Seen several small tortoishells otherwise so far just cabbage whites.

We had rain yesterday afternoon and evening and it seems to have brought the birds back to the garden. Yesterday evening we had a very tiny robin looking around and the past couple of days we have had one Goldfinch return to the nyger seed. Today we have had great tit and blue tit and more than one blackbird, some of them look like this years. Yesterday I am 99% positive we had a thrush in the garden but I was looking from upstairs, by the time I got down it had gone.

Vera,we have had a trapped bird before under a net. As you say how on earth do they get in !!!. I hope your Blackbird hasn't had a good feed on your Blueberries :-D
It is all very quiet today bird wise.Maybe like me they are staying somewhere in the cool. It is sooo muggy here :-S
Last night or I should say this morning at 4 am I was woken by a Muntjac in next doors garden .The first 'bark ' frigthened the life out of me ,but then I realised what it was. I thought someone was being attacked !! I just hope that tonight it decides to go elsewhere at that time of the morning . I had only just settled back into bed after letting Thomas out at 3.40 .When I opened the back door to let him out I was hoping for a little bit of nice fresh air but it was very close even then.

I didn’t think about Hedgehog mess :-(. In fact the pigeons make so much mess I don’t think I would notice a bit more - I am fed up with having to scrub the garden chairs and table every other day.

Today through an open door we could hear a strange noise in the garden. OH went to investigate and found that a blackbird had somehow got inside the fruit cage that goes right over my big pots of blueberries when they are nearly ripe. It was obviously frightened and as soon as OH lifted the top off the cage it flew right out, practically into his face. I was very glad OH was here to deal with it. We still haven’tworked out how it got inside :-S

I hope your lovely big Hedgehog doesn't make the same kind of mess ours did last year all over out patio !!!,but does eat all the slugs you might have :-D. We had to hose down every morning Vera :-S
How nice to see the Thrush. I'm not sure we have any at all at the moment. Lots of the usual little birds and the great pooping Woodpidgeons :-S What a mess they make.