Hobbies and Crafts

We woke to about 2 inches of snow this morning.The feeder was empty and OH said whe nhe came downstairs there were several birds looking hopefully from the patio table.The feeder has been filled twice so far today and it is looking pretty empty again !!!!.
The snow has melted a lot now .But what is left is now freezing.
I would have thought the birds would be looking for your food Vera.Must be all here again ;-)

No snow here, we have been lucky so far.I looked out this morning and could see a little bird inside the anti squirrel bird feeder, wondered what it was, it was a bit gloomy so hard to see, then realised this bird had a long thin tail!!!! Yes, it was a very hungry tiny field mouse. we let it have a feed but will have to move the feeder away from the adjacent trellis. Had three blackbirds in the garden this morning, plus a chaffinch having a drink and a few blue and great tits on the seeds. Haven't seen the Goldfinches today yet.

I think there are lots of hungry little creatures around at the moment Ann with this freezing weather.Something has gobbled up the innards of mice that Thomas left around the patio :-S
I have had to fill the feeder twice so far today .I went back to Aldi today and bought 3 more bags of their Suet Pellets.it is such good value at £2.99 a Kilo.I cleared the lot today just in case they don't get any more in.
All our snow has gone now.We must have had a couple of inches but it soon went.Now the temperature is really tumbling tonight.It is absolutely freezing out there.
We will keep the heating on tonight for sure.

Luke has changed a lot since the old photo Ann. Not long to go before baby is here!

Vera, you and I don't do very well for attracting the birds. We can just carry on and hope they will become regulars soon.

Not liking the mice at all. Please keep them away from our garden and garage.

Jane, we are meant to have an Aldi supermarket opening before Easter this year. I haven't ever been inside this store before, but the bird food sounds worth a visit.

No snow but very cold, early morning frosts here, but it clears up mid morning.

Yes Kandj, around this age they do change a lot, he is not a baby any more, he is a litle boy.

We won't send little mousey your way then although he or she was very sweet, so tiny.

Just the usual birds heretoday, filled up the feeders and I have just noticed a collard dove eating the niger seed, would take a lot of that to fill up a dove.

very frosty here today, had to collect my car which went back in as whatever they did on Wednesday last week wasn't the solution to the door not unlocking. It needed a new door catch and that cost mme another £220 this morning. It is going to have to go this year.

also had a denists appointment for a check up, now got two appointments for deep cleaning under local anaesthetic. :-( :-(

I'm bringing out the bubbly and celebrating tonight - there were 2 robins eating the seeds this afternoon :-D

Apart from them it has just been pigeons and collared doves. They do seem to like our bird bath and I had a laugh at them skating over it till I took pity on them and broke up the ice.

It's been a bright sunny day here but it is so cold...very icy everywhere. Take care if you go out everyone.

Vera, can you send a robin to Yorkshire please (after you have finished celebrating).

Keep the mouse in your garden Ann. No mouse is "sweet/tiny" to me, they give me the creeps. I am still putting the peppermint oil in the garage. We must have the nicest smelling garage in the village ha ha.
You are not having a lot of luck with car repairs Ann. Just had mine in for a Winter service and was shocked at the price...... hey ho. The joys of motoring!

We have heavy frosts and it is very cold, but we are already halfway through January and seasonal, so I'm not grumbling, especially compared with all the flood victims.

No frost this morning thank goodness as I have to go to town to the chiropodist. No sign of mousie either Kandj.

The lady in the bungalow at the end of our garden feeds the goldfinches as well as us. Yesterday in the flowering cherry tree (well not flowering at the moment), I counted 12 goldfinches waiting to eat, some then came our way and some went her way. We also had four blackbirds in the garden as well as one greenfinch, a couple of chaffinches, a few sparrows and starlings (nowhere near as many as used to be) and the usual blue, coal and great tits.

This morning I have seen just one blackbird and a couple of goldfinches (no frost tis morning).

We had a very heavy frost this morning. It was all white on the lawn and the
roof tiles across the road. The birdbaths were both frozen over so that was an early morning job for me to do first thing. Nothing unusual came to visit us today, maybe tomorrow will be different.

I hope your mouse isn't headed my way Ann!!!!

A real change (back) in the weather it is pouring with rain again, so back to soggy gardens. I do hope there will not be any flooding anywhere.

A really heavy frost yesterday. I've got some grasses in pots and they looked sensational. Like white fountains. Stupidly I didn't think to photograph them.

Heavy rain this morning but a bit warmer. No sign of any birds, apart from a couple of pigeons, yesterday or so far today. The food is hardly going down at all so the birds aren't coming when I'm not looking :-(

Yep,soggy day here too today,and a lot warmer.The Gt Spotted Woodpecker has been on the window feeder again today :-D.It is funny when it is on there as I can see all the other birds waiting in the branches for it to go LOL.They don't like to interrupt .

Vera I really want to get some lovely Grasses.We have never had them.

Not a Goldfinch in sight here.I think they are lovely birds ,but it seems to be just a few times a year we get them. The good thing is I still have my one legged Sparrow
:-D :-D :-D

I was reading on the other thread about your car Jane, have you got it back now. Nice though to have a brand new one, what is it? Anyway hope it has been made better now. Blessed cars, a necessary evil.

Still plenty of goldfinches, can't remember if zi said but on the frosty day there were twelve godfinches on the tree at the end of our garden. And we regularly now get four blackbirds in the garden. 3 male one female.

Lucky you still having the woodpecker Jane.

Ann,no I won't get my car back until either the end of Monday or Tuesday morning.
Yes it is a brand new one.I have got to the great amount of 31 miles.
There is a problem with the boot lock.Turns out there must have been a problem in manufacturing and the lock was replaced ,but with the wrong one.The car is made from Renault and Nissan parts.So a new one is on order.It is a Dacia Duster(Laureate Prime)...I have a courtesy car now which is Banana Yellow !!!! :-S :-S.Little Renault Twingo.
I saw you had to fork out a lot on your car :-S...Maybe we should have a bike :-D :-D.Much cheaper and healthier LOL

I love seeing the woodpecker.It hangs on the feeder and looks in the window.I have to sit so still though when it is there ,as one movement and it is off.The strange thing is that Thomas seems to take no notice of the birds on the feeder,He just looks up from the comfort of the settee when there is activity there and then curls up and goes back to sleep !!

Let's hope that it is finally fixed when you get it back. Disappointing for you though as I am sure you were looking forward to your new car.

A bright sunny day here today. A real tonic and no mistake.
A few sparrows, our regular Mr Blackbird and lots of starlings so far.

Lucky you Ann, having so many goldfinches around. Such pretty coloured birds.

We had a couple of ornamental grasses in our first house very many years ago Vera, we had two different species that grew only 2' high but they were calming to watch swaying in a breeze.

Banana Yellow Jane?? You will easily spot that colour in the car park!
How disappointing that your brand new car has the fault. Hope it is mended for Mon/Tues so that you can get back to driving a lovely big car.

Very dark and cold with strong winds today, very few birds around at all to be honest.
Must be hiding away in the shrubbery and keeping warm.

Much the same here today kandj. The winds weren't too bad this morning but I can hear them picking up now and we have had some rain with more to come. I hope it isn't too bad in the north of England. Those poor people need a bit of a break to recover from the earlier floods. East Anglia, where I live, is the driest part of the country but even here the ground is so sodden that I don't think it can take much more.

I think the birds have all hibernated. Very little activity here though the fat balls have gone down a lot so something has been around. It was probably starlings before I was up.

I hope your car is back and running OK Jane.

I have seen a couple of goldfinches but little else today, really windy, wet and dark all day. Not a good day to have to go to the hairdressers. :-) :-)

Car back and all good Vera :-D.Fingers crossed now no more problems.There better not be.We took it on a good run today and all seems fine :-D
The trouble is I am having is I keep forgeting to take the key out of the ignition when I get out .My last car was one where the key could just stay in my handbag and the car would start ,and automatically lock and unlock without me having to actually use it.Now I have to physically use the key by pressing the button to open the car and then putting it in to start the engine.I'm sure I will soon get the hang of it lol
I have been out all day from 8.30 unitil early evening.MRI Scan ,Hips X-rays and then out for lunch and Cinema so haven't seen which birds have been around today.
OH went for a walk the other day and said he saw a White Heron.Is that unusual to see one ? He said it was a lot smaller than the normal Herons.