Hobbies and Crafts

Oh dear Kandj, it is lovely to see you but you sound so dispirited. Do you not have any help at all. I am sure the horrible weather outside, if it is like ours today, is no help at all. We are all still here for you, although it sounds as if you need more practical support than virtual. However, if you don't want to write on threads, feel free to pm me any time, I am usually around.

Lynda is still in N Zealand until about the 23rd. She gets home on the 25th. She and her party are now in Queenstown and back on their proper itinary. She is in a lovely hotel with beautiful views. She says theyw ere well looked after in Henman Springs by the hotel and were able to get away as soon as the road opened to the West. She said she felt more human once she had a good nights sleep. :-) <3 <3 <3

Good Afternoon Everyone :-)

It was very stormy here this morning, but the sun has come out now!

My sparrows are very active today, feeding, bathing in water that has collected in various places and preening and fluffing.
They are looking very happy little birds :-D

The starlings are having a turn now, and the jackdaw landed and changed his mind.


Yesterday we saw Mr and Mrs Blackbird.
First Mr Blackbird looked as though he was in a huge strop, picking up fallen leaves and throwing them.Then Mrs Blackbird appeared and they flew into the hedge.
We do usually see them in the spring further down the garden where they normally nest.

~~~~~~~~~~ to Everyone :-)
Hope you are all ok.

Glad your daughter is ok, Ann:-)
A terribly frightening experience for you all.

Kandj <3 <3 <3

Afternoon Jem. yes it was very frightening, strangely more so for us than daughter as we didn't know what was happening and she knew she was safe. She is in a lovely hotel now with beautiful views and has been on a jet boat and then a steamer on a lake. she leaves Queenstown on our Friday (tomorrow. they have had three days there.

you have busy birds then. We had four goldfinches feeding but the last few days have been very windy here and we haven't really seen many birds, the Robin was eating the mealy worms but the blue and great tits have not been round while we were looking. :-D

Evening all

Good to see you post Kandj. I wish we could offer more than moral support. Is there a church or local group that could give you a little practical help - sit with your husband while you get a little rest perhaps?

Glad you are posting Jem. We were getting a bit thin on the ground and there's only so many times I can say I've only got sparrows in the garden :-)

Good to hear your daughter is OK Ann. Hope she enjoys the rest of her holiday.

Thanks Vera, yes it was getting a bit like that wasn't it on the thread. :-D

Good to hear Maryanna is fine......Hi Maryanna :-D

Well I have a right stroppy Blackbird that visits the windwe feeder.. He stomps his feet on the edge of the feeder when he lands..I think it must be a way of stopping any other birds trying to get a look in !!!! He looks like he doing a jig from River Dance LOL

:-D :-D :-DJane his feet are probably cold.

At last the birds have decided it's much easier to come and feed in my garden, than go searching elsewhere.
I'm so pleased.

We have very few fiches ever, but this week has brought starlings, robin, sparrows, blue tits, collared doves, a magpie and a crow.

Seagulls are ever present, but I don't put food on the ground, so they generally don't visit the garden unless messy feeders drop a lot from the bird blocks on the tree. We often find small mussel shells on the path, so it's good to know they do resort to a more natural diet too.

No Mussel shells to be seen in this neck of the woods. We are just about as far away from the sea as you can get.
But I did get a surprise just now when I saw 2 Jays on the top of our big Yew hedge.
We had a Jay around 2 or 3 months ago but then it disappeared. The Robins are about again a lot more with bright red chests :-).The Chaffinches are still being aggresive towards any birds that try and land on the window feeder :-S

Blackbird still doing a tap dance when he lands on the feeder Ann LOL

aaw Jane, buy him a pair of booties you know you want to! :-D

:-D :-D Ann.......It looks like something in River Dance LOL

Funny you should mention chaffinches Jane as OH only said this morning that he hasn't seen a chaffinch anywhere in the area since we moved here 3 years ago and I have only seen one and that wasn't in the garden. It does seem strange as we are only 6 miles from where we lived before and the garden there used to be full of them. We used to get Jays as well but again I haven't seen any round here.

It's still mostly sparrows in the garden which I am pleased about but a bit of variety would be nice. Something - and I suspect a blackbird - has been throwing all the earth out of a shallow pot I planted with mini tulips :-| I'm thinking of making a beak cover for him to protect my poor bulbs. Shall I knit some bootees for your blackbird at the same time Jane?

Leather bottomed booties Vera.. He would wear out knitted bottoms in a jiffy lol
I wish you could all see this Blackbird .It is so funny :-D

Very many thanks to you all for your kind words and support. Very much appreciated.

Fingers crossed we will have better week ahead.

Heavy rain and a dark wet morning, could be in for the day as black clouds above.

Not many birds around, probably sheltering in the shrubs until the rain stops here.

Hi Kandj, yes maybe next week will be better, sending loads of positive thoughts that it will.

No rain here yet and OH out in the garden well wrapped up as it is very cold. It is dark though so I am sure it will rain soon. I am staying in, like most of our birds. All we have had is the goldfinches.

Good Afternoon Everyone :-)

Thank You All for your warm welcome. :-)

I don't know very much at all about birds, but I do like them (and all animals) and am willing to learn lol :-D :-D
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Jane you made me laugh... I am just imagining stroppy blackbirds doing Raindance now :-D :-D :-D
Mr Blackbird is still stroppily throwing the leaves about .... so it would be a great shame to spoil his fun and clear them up! ;-)


This last few days, I think we now have 3 or perhaps 4 Great Tits, but the sparrows were flying about them and I wasn't sure if my counting was wrong :-D :-D
Also the little robin has been about.


The collared dove is there at the moment. He's been down for a feed and has even been sitting on top of the privet hedge with the sparrows sitting around him.


The sparrows are brave little birds. They have been coming and sitting on the windowsill and even clinging on to the pvc frame of the window. I don't know whether they are trying to look in or they can see their reflection. :-D :-D

Thinking about you and your hubby, Kandj, and sending lots of (((((hugs))))) <3

Honestly Jemima ,this Blackbird is so funny when he does his dance on the edge of the feeder.I can hear it when he is in dance mode.It is the only bird that does this strange thing.
The Green Woodpecker spent a good 20 minutes on the lawn this morning having a good peck.I reckon all the rain in the night had made it easier to get all the insects/worms etc. Also a very cute Jenny Wren in the window box amongst the pansies.I could see the Pansies moving and couldn't quite work out what was going on .I then spotted the little tail :-D

Lots of love to Kandj <3 <3

Good to see you on here Jem pleased your feeding station is still popular. Jane that really is a 'one up' having a woodpecker on the lawn. We had a blackbird, a collard dove and a magpie scouting around our lawn, several blue and great tits and two goldfinches on the feeders plus a little robin on our patio right up outside oue window, all this in heavy rain.

Last spring, we had a green woodpecker regularly feeding here. It commanded a feeding block and other birds seemed to be content to wait their turn.The frequency of the visits suggested that there were young not far away.
I hope they return next year.
We have had a different woodpecker feeding on our grass, but not for many months now. I was amazed how long it spent pecking away between 8 and 9 a.m. one morning.
Seen very few birds, let alone in the garden, since 'Angus' hit this area.

Woody Woodpecker is around most days at the moment Ann. It 's nice to see him :-D
We had a huge Male Pheasant land in the garden this morning.It was only here a few minutes before taking off again making a right old racket !..I am thinking it had been in next doors garden and was maybe scared by their dog (a big German Shepherd called Kaiser ) or the miniature dog called Hugo :-D

Not too many little birds today as the weather has been atrocious .The cat has had a face like a wet weekend and didn't manage to get out until 4pm when the rain stopped.
It started spitting again a little while ago and he came in ,did a wee in his litter tray and then went out again :-S...He probably didn't fancy digging in wet mud lol