Hobbies and Crafts

Happy St George's Day.

No sign of the Magpie again Jane....... very strange to see one as we don't get them.

Just washed out the two bird baths. Not one of my best jobs to be honest, but it is a beautiful sunny morning and I think the birds will appreciate my efforts.

OH Heard a Cuckoo when he was on his walk.He wasn't sure ,until he came across a lady who asked him if he had just heard 'the CUCKOO'..So he is sure now that it was :-D :-D

Still no sign of any Swallows here..I might have a wander down the lane acrosss the road tomorrow as that is where they seem to first appear .

Just seen a BIG Heron fly over our garden :-D Amazing Birds.

Lovely to see them fky. They look too heavy to get off the ground.

We used to get herons land in the field behind our old house and they would stand so still that we would sometimes have to look again to make sure they weren't posts.

I am still only getting a couple of doves and pigeons and one or two blackbirds in the garden, though recently I have seen one great tit and a pair of blue tits. They have been back a couple of times so I am hoping they are nesting nearby and will be around for a little while.

Is it today Ann goes to Madeira?.I seem to have lost all sense of time :-S

I am happy to say that the Goldfinches have definitely found their Nyger Seed Feeder.I can see a whole crowd of them now all trying to get on there.It is amazing how fast it empties !!!!!. The smaller feeder has been untouched so i reckon that must not be in the best place.Time to move it I think.

I haven't seen the Heron today.But I am sure it comes and goes from the lake next door.It just amazes me how the just seem to glide (just like a Glider).They never seem to have to flap wings to stay up !!!!!!The wonders of Nature :-D

Ann is already in Madeira. I think she went last Monday and I seem to remember that she said she would be there for 2 weeks. She's left the country at just the right time as we have had rain, hail and cold temperatures since Friday.

We never see goldfinches on our nyger seeds but OH has convinced himself that they are going down. I shall have to change all the seeds again tomorrow anyway as they have got so wet and nasty again.

I hope you are having a great time Ann.No doubt having much nicer weather than here !!

Hi Jane yes, really enjoying it, weather better than home but not as warm as it would be in the Canaries. A couple of hot days then several with chilly winds. When do you go to your hols?

Avignon and Paris on the 16th :-D.I shall soon be counting down the days.It seems ages since we were last away. Glad you are enjoying Madeira .Heve you been in one of those cart things that you come down the hill in? (I think that is Madeira).At least you are getting some nice hot days.We have had another snow shower here today :-Sand then lots of sun.It is all very strange.

I now know what you meant about the mess the birds leave with the Nyger Seeds!!!!
There is a massive pile of them on the ground under the feeder.I thought it just looked like wet moss ,but after a closer inspection I saw it was seeds :-S :-S.So I will not refill the feeder again for a while and hope that the birds might just feed from the ground and do a bit of clearing up.They might be a bit wet and soggy though ,so it could be a brush and pan that is needed :-S

If they are on grass Jane they will take root.
No we watched the toboggans but didn't go down, they go really fast.

Today we went in a church founded by Jesuits. It was the most ornate, most beautiful church I have ever been in. Hopefully I will put photos up when I get back, before we go to Spain.

If they are on grass Jane they will take root.
No we watched the toboggans but didn't go down, they go really fast.

Today we went in a church founded by Jesuits. It was the most ornate, most beautiful church I have ever been in. Hopefully I will put photos up when I get back, before we go to Spain.

Just as it was starting to get dark I went into the garden to put some frost protection over a couple of pots of tender plants. I've been holding the covers in place with some large pebbles and in the morning I've just been putting the covers and pebbles on a garden table.

I covered one of the plants, reached out a hand to pick up a pebble and it moved! It gave me the fright of my life. It was a very small, fluffy baby blackbird that had hunkered down amid the stones. It was a pretty little thing and not a bit bothered by me. I left it there in the hope that its mother was around somewhere. When I checked later it had gone so I hope it is OK.

Needless to say, it had left its calling card all over the table so that's another cleaning job for me :-|

Saw Vera they are so sweet. If it was on the table I guess it could fly a bit so you did the right thing. It will have found Mum or Dad.

OH just went out to see what the cat was peering at so intently in a corner of the garden and found it was the baby blackbird trapped by the fence. Himself was able to pick the cat up and shut her indoors and we watched the baby flutter very unsteadily to the top of the fence. It's now a bit wobbly and perched there as though it doesn't know what to do next. It's such a cute ball of fluff :-D

A male blackbird has flown up to the fence and looked at it a couple of times so perhaps that is Dad keeping an eye on it.

Male blackbirds do seem to take over looking after the young. One sad thing though is, if a baby is injured they seem to abandon it and concentrate on feeding the healthy ones.

Any news on the Baby Blackbird Vera?
I now know why there is a heap of Nyger Seeds on the ground........It is the Squirrel !!
I just saw it hanging on the side of the feeder.Its weight was tipping the feeder so I guess that is how all the seeds are coming out of the little slots :-S.I didn't realise that Squirrels went for the Nyger Seed.

I think they go for anything but it doesn't,'t mean they actually eat them Jane. Greedy things

We haven't seen our baby blackbird at all today, though there has been a pair of blackbirds, a male and a female, in and out of the garden all day. Hopefully baby is safe somewhere. There have also been a pair of bluetits doing acrobatics in a witch hazel and picking at something on the branches - insects of some sort maybe.

It is raining hard. Might even be sleet?? Very very cold and few birds around now.

I hope your baby blackbird is safe Vera. Squirrels will eat most things Jane.

Hope you are enjoying the warm weather Ann. It is very cold back home.