Hobbies and Crafts

I have just been out and filled the feeders yet again. I thought I was seeing things just before I went outside but I wasn't a cock pheasant strolling up and down like lord of the manor. I have not had one of those in the garden before though frequently see them over the fields nearby. Robin is a happy chappy I have restocked with mealworms one of which he has taken from my hand as always.

Ah, lovely LG. We have mealworms but they are eaten by the Great Tits from the feeder, Robin on the ground. :-) when we lived in that area we had pheasants in the garden.

We occasionally get a Male Pheasant land in our garden ,looking all a bit confused LOL "Where am I? "
I am still getting the Long Tailed Tits on the window feeder.There just seem to be 2.I still haven't managed to get a pic of them though Ann. As soon as I move to get my camera they are gone :-S

Thomas (cat) is now on the hunt for Rabbits :-S. That time of year again. He is gone for hours and comes home very sluggish .(Tummy full).He hasn't looked at his food now for 2 days.

The Jay came back to the feeder today and loved the fruit I had put out, unfortunately so did the bloomin squirrel :-| :-| :-| :-D.
Our cats are too lazy to hunt much :-D :-D

Well quite an experience today. I went out to empty some rubbish in the bin and heard a rustling in the shrubbery. On closer inspection there was a young Fox hanging by her back leg from the top of the 6' chain link fence. Poor thing was well and truly stuck and hanging about 3' from the ground. I phoned the RSPCA who came and released her and took her away to have an antibiotic administered because she had a cut on her side. Poor thing it nearly had me in tears every time I checked on her while waiting for the lady to come. Hopefully she will be off and free again very soon.

Ah LG that would have been upsetting to see, thankfully she will probably survive now but what if you had not been in and not seen her, how lucky for her you were there. Presumably she had tried to climb over the fence.

Just so Ann, I guessed something makes it's way across the front garden as there is a permanent crushed grass track,maybe it is her. I do hope she does not come back and get stuck again it was so upsetting.

Oh that must have been shocking for you to find the poor Fox like that and in dreadful distress!!. Thank goodness you found her and hopefully with treatment now from the RSPCA she will recover well and be on her way.
It reminded me of my neighbours dog that was found in the same kind of situation.He had probably be caught on the fence for a couple of days before being found and sadly had to have a leg amputated.
A Deer also was found , again caught on a wire fence and a brave neighbour managed to release it. It doesn't take much for animals trying to jump these fences to get trapped .

The RSPCA are wonderful.Some years ago a couple of telephone engineers were doing some work just up the road from me and as iwas passing them they asked if I could hear the sound of barking coming from under the road !!!. I could hear it.So rang the RSPCA and a lovely young man turned up very swiftly. He discovered that it was the sound of a dog that seemed to have got into a Culvert on the other side of the road .He spent about 2 hours digging out earth ,and debris from the culvert in stifling hot weather ,having to strip down to just his trousers because of the heat. I was going back and forth from home to take cold drinks for him. Eventually he managed to pull out 2 little Terriers .They had got into the culvert from the field and got stuck .They were exhausted and the man said they wouldn't have survived much longer.As soon as I saw the dogs I knew where they came from.The Stables down the lane .So they were able to be taken straight home.The RSPCA man deserved a medal for his perseverance and determination to save these dogs.I don't know how he had the stamina to keep digging with just a spade and his hands for so long.He was a Hero .

Oh that's awful. Thank goodness you were on hand to call the RSPCA, LaG. Hopefully they will be able to patch her up and send her on her way OK.

We are in Madeira at the moment. I filled the bird feeders the night before we left but I expect they are empty again by now.

Right now I am sitting up in bed feeling absolutely bloated. We went to a very nice restaurant that we found last year. Everything about it is great but it is not very cheap, though it is good value for money. They do a thing called Special Concept, which is a set price for three courses with wines but you choose what you like from the a la carte menu. I assumed it would be a glass of wine with each course but they kept topping up the glasses. We got a glass of a sparking wine to start, then some bread with dips, then a little amuse bouche, a sort of pea purée. Then a starter with a white wine, followed by a palate cleanser thing, a cauliflower cream, unusual to say the least. Next a main course with red wine. As red wine brings on a migraine for me they came back with more white for me. This was followed by a desert with a sweet Madeira wine and coffee with petit fours. We also had a couple of bottles of water, all included in the set price.

We then staggered uphill back to our hotel. OH has gone to sleep and I am wide awake and just a bit light headed.

Ann, no freebies so far this year apart from the basket of fruit that I think everyone gets but we have been given an enormous room.

Enjoy it Vera, what view have you got from the balcony? I am pretty sure we didn't go to that restaurant, our favourite was one diagonally across from the hotel. Think of the name later. The waiters were so friendly there.

I think I know the one you mean Ann. We went there last year and we went there again on Monday. It's not far to go and, as you say, they are very friendly. Tonight we are going to eat at a restaurant called Leeno's, which was recommended to us but again isn't cheap. I think we might need to economise a bit over the next couple of days - we really have been hitting the bank balance a bit. Oh well, it's only money....

We were in the Forum shopping mall today when OH glanced up and there was a chap in the roof garden area with a bird of prey on a tether. I wondered if he was there to scare the pigeons off.

Hope you enjoyed your meals tonight.
The Forum was very useful on the days it rained and C&A was very useful for baby clothes. :-D :-D

Vera, It sounds lovely where you are. Madeira is somewhere I have always fancied .
How long are you there for?I bet it is a fair bit warmer there than it is here !!!!

We do like it here Jane. The people are so friendly. Constantly walking up and down hills is getting to us a bit though as we get older. We get back to Gatwick very late on Monday night, so we will stay there overnight and drive home Tuesday. I am sure it is warmer here than at home but it hasn't been very warm. It's been very overcast with a bit of a nip in the breeze. Today it has been sunny and a bit warmer. No rain though so that's good. :-D

Haven't seen much in the way of birds and animals, apart from lots of little lizards and the ubiquitous pigeons but we did see a chap pushing a supermarket trolley containing blankets and cushions on which two very contented cats were dozing. Attached to the trolley by their leads were four dogs, two either side. It did look funny.

Ann, we have had our first little freebies - a new basket of fruit containing 2 oranges, 2 pears, 2 bananas, an apple and a kiwi fruit and also two little gold boxes each containing a few nice sweets. I can't wait to see what comes next ;-)

Vera,you wouldn't want to be back here today.It has just been rain ,rain and a bit more rain :-S
Was the chap with the trolley and his cats and dogs a homeless man? It always amazes me when I see people like that with cats.I wonder how they don't just run off,unless they are on leads too .

We have a field of pregnant Ewes just up the road ,and I saw a van parked up by the field gate. The writing on the van said ' Lady Scanning' so it must be a mobile scanning thing to check on all the expectant 'mums'.I haven't seen that before.
I have put different suet pellets in the window feeder today.I bought them in Pound Stretcher . I don't think they are going down too well.A lot of the birds were just tossing them out onto the ground :-S. So I think it will be off to buy the usual stuff tomorrow.

Lots of pairing up of birds observed locally....mostly seagulls and wood pigeons.

Mallard ducks are also on the prowl, to see whose garden best suits their needs for nesting.

Before we lived here,I'd never before seen them perched on rooftops, but it's quite a common sight around here in spring, when they are surveying.

Nice to have ducks Gwyn makes a change from pigeons and starlings

Lovely to have ducks Gwyn. Where I used to work we once had a mother duck sitting on eggs laid on the soil of a large patio pot. We all used to tiptoe round her and the plant in the pot died as no-one could look after it for fear of disturbing her. Sadly I don't think the eggs hatched and mother duck just disappeared one day.

It's been a much warmer, sunnier day here today and we have seen lots of butterflies. None of them would settle long enough for us to photograph them but I am fairly sure there were some Monarch butterflies among them.

And guess what .............. when we returned to the hotel, more freebies :-D. This time it was a Bolo De Mel (Madeiran speciality cake) and a half bottle of Madeira. I had a think about this Ann as you didn't get gifts and realised that we didn't get them the first time we came. I wonder if they are just given to "returners"? We certainly don't spend any money with them. This week we have had one dinner in the restaurant, not even bought a drink at the bar.

Vera ,you have been lucky with your freebies :-D A bit of cake and Madeira sounds just the ticket :-D.
I hope you have a good flight home tomorrow.Wrap up warm,you will need to :-)

I have just seen (I think a Jay) flying off from the window feeder. :-D

Not exciting for you Jane but I saw two Red Kites on the way back from Hampshire today, near Newbery.

Safe journey home Vera, hope flight takes off on time and it is not windy! :-D