New squirrels, noisy blackbirds and a charming robin.

The garden has become home to more new squirrels. There are at least 3 of them. As usual there is one that comes to visit the most, who is excitable, frisky and downright nosy.

I put some raisins out for the blackbirds, the young squirrel obviously did not know what they were. He crept up on them, in the usual squirrel way. They walk sideways tail up and very slowly.

Creeping up on the raisins.

As he got closer he stretched as far as he could and sniffed, just to make sure they were safe.

The squirrel decided that the raisins were not going to hurt him, grabbed one in his mouth and ran to the wall to eat it.

Next he had a look at the nutbox. He didn't know how to open it. 

He looked from above,

Put his nose into the gap in the back,

He could smell the nuts, he could see the nuts, but still could not get the nuts.

He thought very hard about how to get the nuts.

Then it came to him in a flash.

 He lifted the front of the box, up went the lid, there were the nuts.

Squirrel was happy now. He knew how to get to the nuts!

The sparrows are sunbathing now instead of taking showers,

Mrs Blackbird is making a noise looking for Junior, however he is away doing his own thing,

Mr Blackbird is on the lookout too with no more luck.

One of the woodpeckers is calling in again,

So are the greenfinches,

and the robin is being his usual charming self.

Until the next time...

The hot weather is having an effect on the garden.

The garden has been very quiet over the last few days. I think it has just been too hot for the birds and definitely much too hot for the squirrels. On Wednesday we got a bit of a break when it rained, the garden came alive for a few hours.

The Sparrows took advantage of taking cooling showers. The bushes were full of them all along the garden in front of the shed and in the sycamore tree. 

The Robin had also enjoyed the rain sitting on the wooden frame in front of the greenhouse shaking himself to remove some of the water from his feathers. After his shower and shaking he flew into the bush where he tilted back his head to sing a beautiful song to all the garden.

Squirrel had been struggling a bit climbing the fence, he decided he needed a break.

The Squirrel looked very soggy sitting on the fence shelf, where the rain had been falling onto him giving him a cooling break from the sun beating down. He had been just sitting there enjoying every minute of it he looked like he was almost smiling.

Yesterday I was happy to see the Goldfinches had returned to the garden again! There was about four maybe five of them, I took some photographs and I was very happy with the results.

I can tell you that the cat situation seems to be quiet at the moment, maybe it is too hot for the felines as well. I suppose it will not last, either the weather or the cats staying away. 
I am struggling a bit as well my eyeballs are like jelly again, swollen, watering and very sore. Not that I am complaining of course!

Until the next time...

A day out at Roundhay

Yesterday Elvira took me to Roundhay Park in Leeds. I have not been there for a while, in fact I think the last time I went it was with Elvira.
Elvira picked me up from home just before 10.00am, Tony waved us off, (he was probably glad of the rest) at least he would have some time to himself.

The weather for a change was really good, the sun was out a bit of a breeze good weather for strolling round the lake.

First we visited "Jeans willow tree" where Elvira placed some red roses. (Jean is Elvira's daughter who died from cancer a few years ago).

"Jeans Tree" had grown quite a lot since I last saw it.

The lake had some beautiful swans with cygnets swimming along, in front of them. 

A family day outing.

The large male swan came out from behind some reeds and put on a show for anyone who cared to watch.

Swan Lake Ballet.

He was an enormous bird, it is easy to see why the male swans can be so intimidating. However they are so graceful at the same time.

There were lots of coot's with babies on the lake. I have to admit I think these chicks are one of the ugliest of all the chicks I have seen. However they do change a lot as they grow, coots are quite cute .

Coots and their chicks.

 

As we walked we were getting quite hot the sun had become hotter, we sat on a bench and Elvira bought me an ice-cream. It was delicious. The ice-cream on the cornet had been dipped into caramel which had set hard on top. The taste reminded me of the Caramac bars we used to eat when we were younger. I would love to find another ice-cream van that sell's them. (I hope the one at York car boot sale does!)
We set of walking back in the direction of the car, watching all the people jogging, skipping and riding bikes. One person had caught our eyes. This person was quite over weight, he had ridden past us 2 or 3 times, this meant he had ridden his bike right round the lake that many times. The lake is about 1.5 miles round so he had traveled  about 4 - 4.5 miles it doesn't sound a lot but for the size of him believe me it was a lot.

As we approached the cafe the sound of people became louder, the seagulls hanging about in the air waiting for bread that young children were throwing, the laughter and chatter of all the children excited by their day out.

The seagulls hanging in the air waiting for food.

The black-headed gulls stood along the edge of the water waiting for anything that might be thrown to them, or simply resting in the sun. In amongst them was a young bird that was making itself known by shouting at the top of it's voice.

A young gull on the right made sure it was noticed.

The most unusual bird I managed to take a picture of was a cormorant. This bird had been swimming in the water with just a head showing, then all of a sudden it climbed out of the water, climbed on to the post and spread out it's wings to dry.

Cormorant

I enjoyed our day out, the company was excellent, the weather was good, the ice-cream amazing, I got the chance to take some different photo's. Of course the day would not have been complete with out the last picture.

A wild squirrel

yeehaa!

Until the next time...

All who enter the garden must know the rules.

The garden is certainly full of wildlife at the moment and the cats are not being too much of a problem, with the exception of one small tabby who will just not learn the rules of the garden. The main rule being, 

 DO NOT HURT THE SQUIRRELS!

We have young Great Tits

We have young Blue Tits

A very scruffy Blackbird

We have very energetic squirrels

We also have solved the mystery of the nutbox.

The hedgehog on the right is the one that goes inside the nutbox. Tony was taken by surprise last night. As he was watching one hedgehog in the garden, the nutbox lid flew open and the other hedgehog sprang out like a "Jack in a box".

It is good to know that we have at least two hedgehogs in the garden, Tony is putting the Trail Cam out in the hope that we might find something else. We know there has been foxes in the past and we have heard Tawny Owls. It would be lovely to catch either of them on film.

Until the next time...

An enjoyable trip, but now it's squirrel watch!

Tony and I have had a visit to Scotland since my last entry. We stayed at a lovely little apartment called "The Hayloft". It was quite small however it had everything we needed and we would go again. The people that owned The Hayloft were very friendly but the friendliest of all was their black lab "Megan". Megan would come up to see us when ever she got the chance, we didn't mind she was no problem except for all the hairs she left behind.

The second week we stayed at The Rural Retreat looking after the pride for Bassman and Matchgirl.
The cats are all lovely and cute like cats usually are, however one of them has a secret side she is...

THE ORIGINAL CAT BURGLAR.

She stops and looks round there is no-one in sight, or so she thinks. Maia has not seen me in the window of The Rural Retreat.

A quick glance in the cat flap to make sure all is clear

                                                             A soft push with her nose, to open it.

 Gently she edges her way in,

           moving ever so slowly not making a sound.

She is half way in it must be alright no-one at home

Just the tip of her tail and she disappears into the house.

After a few minutes she pops out like a cork

The rascal doesn't know she has been caught!

(I hope Bassman and Matchgirl will enjoy that bit of fun, I just could not resist the photos).





I did take some other photos while there, mostly woodpeckers and seals. (The seal photos will be on soon)
We had a few trips to Loch Fleet we enjoyed it there and if we go to Scotland again we will probably look for somewhere to stay round there.

Female feeding young.





 She spent hours flying backwards and forwards collecting food for the youngster.

The youngster looking for mum after she went to look for more food.

Mum passing a peanut to the youngster

Rescued from the jaws of death

This one was released back into the wild hopefully to live another day.

I am still looking through the pictures I took at Scotland, and I have taken some since I came home.

I am pleased to say that the first day we were back the squirrels were in the garden.

 Including this cute little boy. He is the son of the little Mum who was pregnant when we went away. She has been in the garden a few times and is very protective of him and another young one who came with her. We have still got a battle with the cats who sit in wait for the squirrels, they will be trying to catch the babies now. Tony and are will be on squirrel watch, we will be watching out for those bad old buddy tats!


Until the next time...