Hobbies and Crafts

The sparrows here are very hungry and active so I think they are feeding young. We were out to a garden centre today and saw a buzzard flying overhead, there certainly seem to be more of them around these days :-)

Feeling very chuffed. Sitting in the conservatory having a lunch time sandwich I watched a goldfinch fly in and have some nyger seeds. They really are pretty birds. Hopefully he'll be back now that he has found us.

Lovely Vera, well done.

I love the Goldfinches.We had a couple here the other day pulling out the coconut matting from the window box .But I haven't seen them since.Fingers crossed Vera you get more visiting.
it has been a Squirrel day here.Both the male and the female (at different times).My OH always chases them away if he sees them .So I didn't tell him when they were feeding on the nuts :-D
The Magpies are getting a bit annoying now.Squawking and screeching and trying to disturb nests :-S

It is now the turn of the Wood Pigeons to take over the nest, the Collared Doves having recently been empty nesters, their offspring having flown the nest, so to speak.

I am not sure who it is that makes all the mess underneath, I think it is the dozy Doves. I picked up loads of sticks a few weeks back, there don't seem to be any there now.

We have a new generation of Sparrows and the Swift population both in Surrey and Somerset seems to have increased in the last week or so. My son has House Martins flying round his garden.

On the minus side, the Magpies appear to have been busy once again this year and the adults and young take great delight in terrorising the smaller birds.

Am getting through bird food at a rate of knots but although they all seem to like the new bird table I have yet to see anyone on the fancy white iron feeder my daughter gave me for Mothers Day.

M.

Our swifts seemed to arrive in numbers yesterday. Usually it is in the last couple of days of April that they appear.

A week or so ago I was worried that I hadn't seen any baby starlings. I needn't have - they are all over the place now.

I have still only seen the one Swift.There has to be more than the one.I remember last year they would all gather on our roof pecking at the tiles.I expect there were insects up there.

This morning I have had to move the Peanut ball away from the house.There were 2 Rooks and a Magpie around it :-S,and it is just under the bedroom window.So it is now hanging off a tree branch down the bottom of the garden.No doubt the Squirrels will soon find it .I just hope the little birds do.

Oh what a horrible wet day .All the birds are looking very bedraggled and tatty :-S
Tomorrow we are going to Hatfield House for a Arts and Craft Exhibition.I think it could be very muddy underfoot !!

Kandj has asked me again to thank everyone for continuing thoughts,and prayers during this very difficult time. <3 to Kandj

Mrs Blackbird just flew into the glass of our sliding doors twice. It was only after the second time that I realised that Mr Blackbird was chasing her.
If she didn't have a headache before I think she must have one now!

I am often hearing a thump on the Patio door or a window ,and then dread going outside wondering if there is either a very stunned bird or one with a broken neck lying on the ground.
I hope Mrs Blackbird gave Mr Blackbird a thick ear Pammy for making her go headfirst into the window
:-D

And we know what he had on his mind :-D

That's odd, one of the Dopey Doves flew into our patio door earlier.

Luckily, because they are so dopey, they don't fly very fast and by the time I got downstairs he was just sitting there looking even more dopey than ever, then flew off.

Tried to spend as much time as I could in the garden between the rain.

M.

The Buzzards have been very much in evidence recently, still only seem to be four of them at the moment.

There was a ruckus coming from the Rookery and several Rooks wre mobbing one of the Buzzards. Saw him off and soon the four Buzzards were circling round and round again.

The sparrows, I would hate to do a head count now, there are so many if them, were all sitting in the Thugs' Blackthorn shouting at me to hurry up and eat my breakfast as they wanted to get at the crusts of toast I had thrown on the patio.

When I went inside they demolished the crusts in about five minutes flat.

Nice enough to sit outside but very blowy.

Watch out for the Herring Gulls Ann, they will be after your chips !!!!

M.

Maryanna it was 30mph wind today with gusts of 50mph. Really blowy at Kynance, we didn't go far. Stopped in Lizard to buy lunch...... Pasties from Ann's pasty shop, the best in Cornwall!,, lovely but eaten in the car away from gulls. :-D :-D :-D :-D while eating lunch a Skylark landed on top of the wall in front of the car.

I love Kynance Cove Ann.I remember spending some lovely days there as a child .Somewhere I have a photo of me and my Sister on the cliff top there and both of us sucking a stick of rock :-D
One day when we were there there was a terrible tragedy.A young boy playing football on the grass above the beach slid when chasing the ball and went right over the edge and died. :-(I think I was about 10 at the time.

Now a good Pasty you just can't beat :-D.I had one yesterday with OH when we went to Hatfield Living Crafts Fair.It was made in Bodmin and delicious.I bought some home with me :-D.I hadn't realised you were in Cornwall now.Must have missed you saying that.

Maryanna I always think it is quite amazing to see the Birds chasing off the Buzzards and Kites.When you think of the difference in size!!.The big ones never fight back do they.
It has been a very windy day here too but so mild.

Ours were delicious Jane, real Cornish pasties, a bit salty though,we don't use a lot of salt. The best ones in Devon used to be Ivor somebody's in Plymouth.

This is a lovely accommodation but is on three floors, lounge, gallery kitchen and dining room and down to bedrooms, bathrooms. I can guarantee that wherever I am O H will be calling me from up or down some stairs with a question. i will be worn out after a week.

Yes the cliffs are pretty dangerous, we stayed back in the wind. :-)

We used to go to Kynance a lot as kids, last time I remember going was one Easter when it was brilliant sunshine and snowing at the same time !!!

We get some good pasties in Somerset but there are two fantastic pasty shops over the Devon border.

One in Lynmouth the other in Woolacombe, Yum, Yum. Haven't had a pasty for a couple of months or more. We have got an Oggy Oggy pasty shop in town but they never seem to have the right size with the right filling ready at the right time.

It's been blowing a gale here all day, with some terrific downpours every time I have tried to venture out in the garden.

M. :-)

Ivor Dewdney Pasties Ann(spelling might not be quite right there) .I had many an Ivor Dewdney pasty when I lived in Plymouth :-D :-D.The shop is still there down by the indoor market.It was there when I was a child so has been there for many a year.My Mum would never let me and my sister eat one in the street.(she thought it was common).But of course as I got older and spread my wings I became common :-D :-D

When Mum was still here and me and my Sister used to go down to Plymouth to see her we often popped in to Ivor Dewdney and say "Thank Goodness Mum can't see us "LOL

Are you sure your Mum and my Mum were not sisters Jane, 'eating in the street, very common'.

Yes Oh was born and grew up in Buckfast, when he was in the RN And on HMS Eagle
I used to drive down (1964) to stay with his Dad 3 year old in tow and drive to Plymouth to meet him off the ship, one of the ports of call was the indoor market for crab for his Dad, and the second Ivor D's for pasties for us.

Ann my Cousin David was on HMS Eagle in the 60's .I think he was a chef.What a coincidence :-D When he was in Port he always used to come to us.
Eating in the street was such a no no with Mum .I don't know where she got her airs and graces .I worked in that indoor market on Saturdays for a while when I was about 15 selling Bread ,Rolls and Doughnuts cream cakes etc.What a small world.