Hobbies and Crafts

Lots of sparrows again but not much else, but the sparrows are eating me out of house and home. I fill the seed feeder and the feeder for fat balls and next time I look they are empty again.

OH found the feeding tray for the ground feeder so I have given it a good clean and will see if that attracts anything else.

Still thinking of Kandj <3

Good that he found it then Vera, if he is like my OH he will have already earmarked another use for it.

How well you know him Ann :-D

Pleased to see your OH found the ground feeder tray, hope it attracts some more birds Vera. I know what you mean about the food going quickly, the only problem we've got is it isn't the birds eating it, it's the squirrel. I was going to try and buy a squirrel proof feeder this week, but I caught a bug so it'll be next week now.

Ann I have just seen your pics of Westonburt. They are stunning. What a sight it must have been.
Isn't Annx beaded star beautiful .

I hope the ground feeder is getting the birds now Vera. I still just have the one window feeder down on the Greenhouse. It is empty everytime I go down to fill it,and am sure it is the Squirrel :-S Yesterday morning we had a Green Woodpecker and a Jay .At first I thought we had a Grey looking Magpie !!! but then realised it was the Jay.We also had a Pheasant wandering around.

Not a sign of a bird going for the meal worms in the ground feeder. I soaked them for a while, then put them out. Since then they have been rained on several times so they have been well hydrated. The birds might need a couple of days to get used to the feeder again.

There were plenty of sparrows and pigeons earlier on and I did see a couple of blue tits having a go at the peanuts but there doesn’t seem to be the variety of birds here that I would have expected.

The other thing that surprises me is that I never see chaffinches around here. I wonder why :-S

I haven't put the mealie worms out for a while as a crafty magpie was pinching them and we didn't see the blackbird. Might start putting them out again soon though. I actually put them out dry and the blackbird loved them.

Jane pleased that you liked the photos, it is always a lovely sight.

The birds maybe need some time to get used to the ground feeder Vera like you said. Now the weather is cooling down I'm sure it won't be long before they arrive for the food.

So the magpie is taking all the food and not letting the blackbirds have a look in Ann. I have the same problem with a squirrel. OH said he'll take Sandra and I out one day next week to see if we can find a squirrel proof feeder, although I doubt we'll find one as they are crafty things and will probably get to the food anyway.

It sounds like you are having the same problem Jane with the squirrel in your garden. They can be a nuisance sometimes can't they. I don't mind them but when they take everything and the poor birds don't get a look in, then that's not on, is it?

I noticed a hedgehog walking down our garden in daylight, does anyone know if that's right. He was such a little thing and didn't look like he would make it through the winter with being so thin. I always thought hedgehogs came out at night. I'm a bit worried about him now.

It has been so warm Gill that I don’t think they have hibernated yet, they do need to be a good weight before they hibernate but I don’t know a lot about them

Thanks Ann, I can't stop thinking about the poor little thing. I hope the weather doesn't stay cold for to long and he has a chance to fatten up a bit before he hibernates. Chances are if I put some food out for him the squirrel will eat it. Last year we had a rat running around, coming in from next door so I don't want to encourage it in our garden either, so I don't really know what to do for the best. Hopefully this cold snap will only last a few days and it'll warm up again so he'll have some time to eat more before the winter sets in.

It may not have stayed in your garden Gill so don’t worry about it.

We haven’t seen anything on the ground feeder yet but two thirds of the mealy worms I put out have gone. It could just be our normal flock of sparrows but I hope it has attracted some other small birds.

Have you seen your hedgehog again Gill? We saw one here some while ago. It was quite a big one and it set off our outside security lights, but we haven’t seen him since. Not sure if I am glad or sorry that he hasn’t been back. I would happily have let him eat all my slugs, but then he might have eaten my frogs as well :-)

No I've not seen the little hedgehog again Vera, he was happily going all around my pots, hopefully eating all the slugs. I think he might of gone into next door, that property is empty at the moment and the grass hasn't been cut for a while so it might of found more slugs there. I didn't know hedgehog ate frogs though. We have a few in amongst our pots so I hope they are okay.
It looks like your ground feeder is being used if the food has gone, maybe it's a hedgehog, if it's not birds.

Yes, Ann I thought the hog might of gone next door to. Luckily it's not gone as cold as I thought it would so hopefully he'll be okay and manage to find something to eat.

I've been busy today wrapping up all my Christmas presents, so they're all done and ready to put away now. I have a few jobs that need doing so with me buying most of the presents I needed, I thought I'd wrap them up so I can get on with the jobs. Now I've finished insulating Sandra's bedroom I want to get on with doing the spare bedroom next, then I need to put the drawer fronts on the drawers in the kitchen. We've changed all the cupboard fronts and only have four drawer fronts to do then it's all finished. Then when I've finished the insulation I want to wallpaper in there and I've got to buy a new fridge and freezer so I can make a start on buying all the frozen food for Christmas, I can't believe it's less than 2 months away, where has this year gone? So quite a lot of things to keep me busy for a while yet.

I was given some material the other day which I've washed but the edges frayed so I want to use my pinking shears to trim around the edge then I can iron it ready to make something. I'm not sure what I'm going to make yet, so might take a look online for a few ideas. Sandra likes the material to so I might make something for her bedroom, maybe a cushion or two for her bed or some padded stars for her Christmas tree. The material has small red roses on a white background, it's Laura Ashley and very pretty. They were curtains so I had to unpick it all before I could wash it and I have some white material that was the lining, so the Christmas tree ornaments might be made out of the white material. I'll see what Sandra wants first.

Stars might be difficult for Sandra to sew Gill, how about small hearts, or a heart shaped cushion for her room Is this going to be hand sewn? Does she have a chest of drawers? If so she could make a runner for it.

Very blustery here this morning. Birds are loving the meal worms as well as the nuts and seed. No gardening today, although the roses will need pruning at some stage. At the moment they are still in bloom and looking a treat, so we're leaving them for a while.
Haven't even thought about Christmas yet! We don't reckon to until after Remembrance Sunday as for us it seems a bit disrespectful. But each to his own!

Ann’s suggestion of a runner is a good one if Sandra has a suitable chest or dressing table surface or perhaps she could even make one of those decorative strips of material that hotels put across the foot end of their beds.

By the way is your daughter usually called Sandra? When ours was born I said I wanted her known by her proper name but I wasted my breath. Everyone but us and our son calls her Sandy. In fact even her identity card at work is in the name of Sandy ———.

All the food on my ground feeder had gone by this morning. The cage over the food only lets in small creatures so a larger bird or a hedgehog can’t get at it. It may just be the sparrows who are around all the time who are eating it. There was a robin and a blue tit in the garden this morning so I hope the robin at least got some.

However, I have my suspicions. We haven’t seen starlings for a few weeks but today there were a couple in the garden. They are quite a slim bird and I know they can just about squeeze in and out of the cage. They were the reason we stopped using it a couple of years ago. They are such greedy birds :-|. I’ll put some more food out in a while and keep an eye on it.

Pity you haven't got a video camera with a night light on it Vera, you could point it at the ground feeder and then you'd know who was eating the bird food. Yes Sandra has always been called Sandra, or if I call her for something I sometimes just say San. Her dad sometimes calls her junior, I can't remember where that nickname came from as she's had it since she was little, but mainly she is called Sandra. She was named after my sister who is known as Sandy, although our mum still calls her Sandra, much to her annoyance.

Our Sandra is a happy bunny today. We went out this morning and bought a large bird feeder with all the feeders included, so that is now up in the back garden full of all sorts of goodies for the birds. It just pushed into the ground and I was worried it might be blown over so OH and I made a stand for it to make it more stable. I then covered the metal pole with Vaseline to make it as slippy as I could in the hope the squirrel won't get onto it, whether it'll work remains to be seen.

I did put some nuts on the bird table for the squirrel which is way down towards the bottom of the garden well away from the new feeder which is closer to the bungalow where Sandra can see it better, so hopefully it won't be to long before she'll see some birds and maybe have a laugh at the squirrel slipping down the pole if he attempts to climb up it. I even put some Vaseline on the top of the feeder incase it jumped off the fence and got onto it that way, so either way he tries to gain access, is slippy now. It'll also protect the metal from the rain so hopefully won't go rusty.

Isn't that funny Ann, I was thinking the same thing, that stars might be a bit to much for Sandra to sew so mentioned hearts to her which she liked the idea of. I didn't think of a runner for her chest of draws, that might be a good item to start with as she'll be doing things by hand, so having straight lines would be a good beginning, then she can move onto the hearts if she wants to, if not I could make those for her.

The strips at the bottom of her bed is a good idea to Vera and if she had a cushion or two to match it would look lovely. There is so much material that I think I might make a long dressing gown for myself too, I've been meaning to make myself one as I'm having problems buying a cotton one. I made myself a cotton dressing gown last year but only a short one and now it's getting colder I could do with a longer one. I'm only small about a size 8 to 10 and around 5ft tall, so it won't take up much of the material and there'll be plenty over for Sandra to make something to.

I don't normally wrap up Christmas presents until the end of November at the earliest Liz, but I have so many jobs to get through I decided to do them the other day while I had some spare time. I still have a few more presents to buy so they'll probably be wrapped up nearer the time, but for now most of them are done so I don't have to think about it.

I've noticed a lot of plants are still in flower, it must be nice to see your roses still going well, good idea to wait until they've finished flowering before pruning them. It's gone really cold here now, I only went to put some rubbish in the bin and I was freezing when I came back in. They say it's going to be -1 tomorrow, I'm pleased we've put the food out for the birds as it'll be harder for them to get to the worms if the ground freezes over. There's plenty out there for them, they just need to find it now. I'm sure it won't take to long though.

I'm wallpapering a spare bedroom for my neighbours daughter tomorrow, she has problems with her hips and might need a hip replacement ,so although she was going to do it herself she's in to much pain, so I offered to do it for her. She's the one who gave me the material and she also gave me a chest of drawers the other day, so I thought it would be nice to help her out to. OH has done the painting and I'll paper it. It's only a small room so should only take a few hours to do, then I'd like to make a start on the insulation in our spare bedroom, then it can be wallpapered. Can you tell I like to keep busy? lol ;-) ;-)
We've still got the kitchen to finish, but that's only 4 drawer fronts, so again won't take to long to do.

Sandra is beside herself at the moment, the bird feeder has had so many little birds on there, she is so excited and settled herself down on the sofa watching them. We've had Great, Blue and Coal Tits and of course the Robins and I think a Wren, although I'm not very good at identifying the small brown birds as they all look so similar.

The Vaseline worked to keep the squirrels off the feeder, OH said he saw the squirrel try three times to jump on the top of it from the fence, but slipped off every time, he's now given up. I did noticed what looked like a bit of Squirrel fur stuck to one of the hooks, hope the poor thing wasn't hurt, but at least I know he can't get to the food so the little birds can happily come and go as they please now.

We did have a pigeon on top of the feeder but again it was to slippy for him to go anywhere else, so he soon flew off. I've put some nuts on the bird table down the bottom of the garden for the squirrel as he had eaten all the food that I put down yesterday. So now everyone's happy. Sandra was watching two squirrels chase each other around the lawn earlier.

I think I put the feeder in the right place, in between my two large 10 foot Red Robin plants, the little birds go from the plants to the feeder. It's so nice to see <3

It sounds like you have definitely got that positioned right Gill. The blue and great tits usually take a seed and retreat to a bush or tree branch to eat it and the small birds like to shelter in trees and shrubs/bushes as well.Poor squirrel but funny to watch I expect.

You have obviously got your feeders in the right place Gill. I am very jealous of your birds. They have found you very quickly. Five years in this house and we still get mainly sparrows or starlings, a few blackbirds and the occasional robin or bluetits.