Hobbies and Crafts

I hope your niece and her family are safe and that the water level is receding Jane :-)

I've been out from early morning till dusk so I haven't seen any bird activity today :-(

The way the photograph has been taken does make M's mittens look enormous :-D I've called that picture the goalkeeper :-D :-D :-D

Lesley

Bless her Lesley she is sweet.

Bird tally going up slowly. this morning we had 6 godfinches in the tree and two were feeding on the nyger seed feeder, the restw ere squabbling as they couldn't work out how to get themselves all on the feeder. We also had a few sparrows, a robin, a male and a female blackbird and two chaffinches besides the usual collard doves and starlings. :-) :-)

Ann did you get my email of the Blackbird?As you know I was having trouble :-S
Well the feeder this afternoon has been emptied again.It was like Piccadilly Circus.There are the feisty pushy Blue Tits and a Thug of a Robin that like to hog it and then the others have to sit in the branches and wait until it is all clear before swooping in grabbing a pellet and then scooting off quickly .

Great description Lesley of the' Goal Keeper ' :-D :-D.Brilliant :-D..She looks a little darling <3

Touch wood things in Tewkesbury and my Niece's house look safer now.I just hope the levels keep going down .

Hi Jane, no not received an e mail from you at all :-(

Ok Ann I will try again tomorrow.I wonder where it went?? :-S
I will just try and send a test email now.

Lesley, liking the goalkeeper idea ha ha.

No nasty Sparrow Hawk today. Don't know where it came from. Don't know where it has disappeared to either, but I'm pleased it's not around any more!

Still not had any tiny birds. I have put fresh berry pellets in the feeder today (again) and scattered the old ones on the ground (hoping no little mice will come around!!).

Plenty of starlings, a few magpies, a lot of gulls, our regular Mr and Mrs Blackbird popping in and out of the border shrubbery throughout the day, along with a couple of thrushes........ where are the teeny, tiny, little birds hiding and why aren't they hungry?? I was tempted to put white bread in the window feeder and see if we get any takers for this!

Jane, I hope that the water levels go down so that your niece won't have flooding in her home. We have watched interviews on TV and feel so sorry for those who have been affected (some for a second time too).

The birds in our garden have gone bird crazy today:-S and are eating for England:-0 as Ann has said they squabbling with each other at the feeders :-D

kanj try the bread it wont hurt this time of year, MOG's uncle has only ever used a bird seed mix in his window feeder and he gets plenty of takers:-)

Jane I hope the floodwater continues to recede around your nieces home:-) .......... did all go well with your plumber........or shouldn't I mention him :-D

Lesley x

Jane's photo of the blackbird on the window feeder is on my photo blog. Let me know if you want the addy.

Jabe I had not pictured that type of feeder, the window feeders I have seen are smaller, the large aperture is probably why it empties so fast.

A few visitors this morning to the bird feeders before we went out, besides sparrows, blue tits, starlings and collard doves, there was a goldfinch, a blue tit and a female black cap.

I think there is a fair bit of squabbling going on .Especially my Robins.One keeps dive bombing the other if it is on the feeder at the wrong time lol

Thanks Ann.She is quite a big blackbird isn't she :-D.

Lesley ,the plumber will still be coming back on Monday,hopefully that will be the last day.We did discover yesterday that the spare tiles we had (which we needed) are not the spare ones for the en suite.They were the ones from the Bathroom !!!.Panic stations !!!!!!!..The ones we need are no longer made,but luckily the plumber went with a bit of broken tile he had taken off and managed to get some that are a pretty good match.Not perfect but will have to do and only £10 for the box(which was the last).

I think the water levels haven't risen anymore at the moment so hopefully now they are out of the woods..It's about time they can relax a bit.They had to be rescued from their upstairs window back in 2007 with their son who wasn't yet 2 and their big black Labrador.They were stuck on the back of a trailer but the poor dog had to swim to safety as there was no more room . :-S.Then the following day the men in the family waded a good half a mile in chest high water to get the 2 cats and Tortoise out.It was 12 months before they were able to move back in !!
Then there was the problem of no fresh water in that area .Bottled water sold out and those tanks that were put in streets for people to collect water from ran out too.So I went to our local shops here and filled my car with bottled water and my Sister drove to me to get it.About a 200 mile round trip.They won't forget that year in a hurry.
Oops sorry I seem to have rambled on a bit there :-S

Must refill the you know what now :-D

Jane 2007 was a bad year for floods as we knew to our cost. We were not flooded but the electricity sub station was and Severn Trent at Mythe had problems. We had no electricity for 2/3 days and no drinking water for two weeks. Yes bottled water sold out but the Severn Trent managed to get bottled water from other areas and we had more free bottles than we could drink in the end. Every time we drove into a supermarket car park, or the local garden centre car park, when we stopped somebody would open our boot and heave in a huge pack of bottled water. That was after about 4 days of buying. Water for washing machines etc was off for a week but we went to our daughters in Hampshire and did the washing. :-)

My Sister brought all the families' washing here too Ann ,and had a bath and good hair wash .I remember her saying they just used a little bottled water in a cup for cleaning teeth.How far are you from Tewkesbury?I know it isn't that far.
It has turn very cold here now and all the birdies have finally gone to bed for the night.Sensible idea I think :-D I hope they are all tucked up nice and warm .

A real shock when I opened the blinds first thing this morning. It was white all over the grass, road, roof tiles opposite. I thought it was snow but thankfully it was a hard frost.
I have de-iced and filled up the two bird baths with fresh water and filled the back garden feeders too.

Lesley, I have taken your advice and put bread into the window feeder on front lounge window, so we await with interest to see if this will interest the little birds. The feeder has been in place since 19th December and we are both disappointed to have no birds, so our fingers are crossed they might find the bread more to their taste!!

I can't understand why you have had no visitors at all Kandj.I would be so upset .
It has been like The Battle of Britain on the feeder here just now.I have never seen anything like it.I nearly went out and took the feeder down at one point as there was so much squabbling and scrapping going on.
There seem to be large flocks of Seagulls around .They suddenly appear in the sky and then vanish as quickly as they came.
I caught a glimpse of the Pheasant taking off from our wood shed .I think I frightened it as I went near the window.It made a right hullabaloo as it went ,probably over into next door.
The Squirrel has finished off the latest coconut again.I think I only put it up the day before yesterday :-S
These birds are costing me far more than it cost me to feed my dear old dog.(he went to doggie heaven at Easter) :-(

The window feeder was filled with bread early this morning..... NO birds have come anywhere near the feeder?? Getting fed up now.
I will give it until 19th January (a whole month) and if there is still no interest, I have decided that I will take "the ornament" down.
I guess that it will most probably end up at next church white elephant stall boo hoo.

Is yours the same design as Jane's Kandj? I know we once had no success with a smaller one then Janes but I think it has a lot to do with location.

Jane we are about 9 miles from Tewkesbury, maybe not as far as that, about 20 minutes by car. :-)

a dull dark and cold day here today and only really seen doves and pigeons

I'm guessing the problem might be is that there are no trees or bushes near the feeder.
Have you tried Googling to find out why Birds might not visit a Window feeder?.That might be worth a go.

So not far at all from Tewkesbury then Ann.I knew you were near but didn't realise you were that close.

We don't go there much but used to shop regularly in Morrisons there until a large new Tesco opened near here.

Ann, I'm not sure of the style of Jane's window feeder. The one I bought is a
RSPB window feeder in plastic with 3 suckers which fit well to the window. I thought this was more stable than others with 2 window stickers. The middle section is cut-out and see-through, so we had hoped to be well entertained but we are still ever hopeful and trying to be patient.

Jane, we have well established hedges in the borders of the front garden which provide good cover for our garden birds and they pop in and out and nest there too.
Neighbours either side have trees and across the road is a huge high conifer which we can see is well used by the birds around here.

I did find the Google info very interesting so thanks for that idea. I will continue with the bread for a week and then try some wild birdseed mix for a further week and see what happens then. This will bring us to 26th January and hopefully we will entice the birds to feed and come along to entertain us.
If that doesn't happen, then the feeder will have to go methinks.... watch this space!

Kandj if it is at the front of your house could it be that there are people walking past all the time to disturb the birds?