Nutty squirrels, strange sparrows and a very cute woodpecker.

The garden seems to have been taken over by wildlife again! We have five squirrels calling at the moment, at least three of them are young ones. One of them has a very misbehaving tail! His tail seems to want to go the opposite way to the rest of him. This causes him a few problems. A squirrel depends on his tail a lot for balance, so this little squirrel has a problem with balance. He puts his tail up, I think he thinks it is straight up, but it is not, it is bent over, so he leans over sometimes so far that he falls over. He has fallen from the shed roof a few times, luckily he always lands on his feet. He has fallen off the cross bar and he has fallen off various feeders around the garden. It has not stopped him from climbing though.

He can hang by his toes while eating sunflower seeds.

He jumps onto the table to take the largest nuts he can find.

 

Sometimes he only just makes it.

One of the other squirrels watches him from the bottom of the garden.

I think they all think he is a little bit crazy, he bounds round the garden as if he is hyper!

Mind you this one doesn't look quite a full bob with the hazelnut hanging out of it's mouth either!

The young Robin is amazed by it all.

The Goldfinches enjoy the show whilst eating.

The young Sparrow was so surprised she missed the water bath completely. 

 She had a dry bath on the grass.

Mr Blackbird has been collecting meal worms for baby again.

Mrs Blackbird got into a panic because she lost baby for a few minutes.

Baby didn't know what all the fuss was about, he had just been for a quick snooze in the hedgehog house. His mum should have known he would appear again when he was hungry. 

 Baby Blackbird 

The newest visitor in the garden to make another family complete is a young Great Spotted Woodpecker. Mr & Mrs Woodpecker have been coming for quite a while but over the last week the youngster of the family is here on almost a daily basis.

A Young Great Spotted Woodpecker

Nothing else exciting has happened to tell you about that I can think of. I spent a couple of days in bed at the beginning of the week. I don't know if it was a bug or a touch of food poisoning. However I am fine now and looking forward to the fish & chips Tony has been out to bring home for tea.

Until the next time...

A trip to the dentist...

I had to go to the dentist last week for a check up. I had been having a bit of bother with a couple of my teeth, I knew I would need a filling, I had lost one from a front tooth. I was right I had to return two days later. 

When I have an injection to numb my top gum, it makes my leg shake, if I have an injection in my bottom gum it makes my right arm shake. This is a reaction to the injection mixed with my usual medication.

On the first trip to the dentist, Tony had a ride to "Anglers country park".   He took this photo, it was like home from home.

Two Squirrels

We have more new babies in the garden 2 new squirrels, one of which seems to have springs instead of feet. It bounces round the garden like "Tigger". It jumps from the cross bar onto the nutbox, then over to the feeding station, across to the shed then over to the fence, up on the wall and spins round in circles. It makes me tired just watching it. It runs full pelt at the pigeons scattering them like skittles.

I saw this today and I thought it described how I feel most days just at the moment.

Tony and I went to Barnsley last Tuesday to see Chris, Joanne and Logan.

I finally managed to take a picture of Logan smiling.

Logan smiling.

I think he looks a lot like Chris did at that age, but he also looks like his eldest brother Lewis. Whoever he looks like it doesn't matter he is a bonny boy, but I would say that being his nana.

Until the next time...

Colourful visitor in the garden

Yesterday we had a very colourful visitor in the garden,

Male Bullfinch

His partner was there too, although she is not as colourful as him.

Female Bullfinch

Tony thought he had seen them a couple of days before, so when I showed him the pictures he was glad to know he hadn't imagined it.

The Starling babies are still making themselves heard. They just stand in the garden and shout until a parent flies down and puts food into their mouth.

Young Starling

Young Starling being fed by parent.

The Blackbirds are onto the second brood of chicks. Mr Blackbird is rushing about looking for food for them. He is always glad when I go into the shed, it means he has meal worms for the chicks.

Male Blackbird gathering meal worms.

The young birds from the first brood of Blackbirds are looking after themselves now. They are in the garden eating the shredded suet and meal worms everyday. I did notice today that Mr Blackbird has started chasing them, so I think he is telling them it is time to leave the garden and find their own space.

Young Blackbird from first brood.

The three baby squirrels are growing quickly. They come into the garden every day now. Usually two come together and the last one comes with Mum. Mum sits up in the tree keeping an eye out for cats while they play and eat in the garden.

One of them climbed onto the shed roof to try and eat the sunflower seeds in the ball feeder. He just could not reach and ended up falling off. Luckily like a cat he ended up landing on his feet so he didn't appear to hurt himself! His latest thing is trying to get the peanut butter out of the jars put out for the birds. The jar is fastened on to a wooden board, with small round wooden perch's for the birds to sit on. This is then fastened to the wooden frame near the greenhouse.

The Squirrel has to hold on to the frame, hang down, try to curl round, and reach round to the jar.

Squirrel trying to steal the birds peanut butter.

He only just manages to lick the rim of the jar. He did however manage to do this without falling off.

We had a bit of a shower while I was in the shed, most of the birds and the squirrels disappeared. There was one Starling that stayed s/he sat on top of the concrete post, lifted up it's head and began to sing.

Starling singing in the rain.

There is nothing else to tell, we have not been anywhere for a few days. Oh except for this morning, I had a dentist appointment (horrible places, but when needs must), I have to go back on Wednesday. I need 2 small fillings replacing.

Until the next time...

The week we lost the greatest boxer of the world. (in my opinion)

I was sad to hear of the passing of Muhammad Ali. I have never really liked boxing , but I did like Ali. I think it was his showmanship more than his actual boxing that I liked.
Ali engaged with the whole room, whether you came to support him or the competitor, he won you over. Ali ruled the room. He danced around the ring playing with the other boxer. Tiring the opponent out without even throwing a punch. Then when the punch did connect the other boxer would wobble and fall to the floor with a thud.
  "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", "I am the greatest Muhammad Ali".


 Muhammad Ali, circa 1970.
 Photograph: Chris Smith/Popperfoto/Popperfoto/Getty Images
 “Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd”.

Of course his last and longest fight was with Parkinsons Disease. 

Muhammad Ali died on  3 June 2016  at the age of  74years  after battling a respiratory infection and Parkinson's disease.  

My heart goes out to his family that is left behind he has left a big void in their lives, but so many memories.



Now just to lift the mood a little,

Tony and I went to Junction 32 on Thursday. While we were there I took some photo's.
Because it is school half term they had a "farm petting corner" for the children.
There were chickens, bunnies, a pony, 2 pigs, a goat, a donkey, a calf, 2 sheep and 2 llamas.
I didn't get pictures of all of them. There were too many children and parents about, so getting pictures without children was difficult.

Calf

Goat

Donkey

Sheep

Llama

Llama

Llama being cheeky.

Until the next time...

More new beginnings in the garden

The garden is a hive of activity, there are new babies appearing almost everyday, most of them are Starlings. However we have some new faces as well.

A very loud Thrush calling for a parent to come and find him/her.

The youngster had come into the garden to eat some suet and had not realise that the parent bird had left without them.

A very small baby Sparrow, we don't seem to have many of these yet this year.

However if the Sparrow Hawk visit a couple of days ago becomes a regular event, we might not. The hawk swooped into the garden and took a Male Sparrow from the fence to the ground. The hawk plucked the sparrow, then flew away with the carcass, no doubt to feed some hungry chicks somewhere. Tony took a video of most of this, if you want to see it you can go to his flickr site

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shutbug/

We have new baby squirrels, very small baby squirrels.

This one is very shy and will not come down to the garden alone, Mrs Squirrel is always somewhere close by.

She was watching from the wall at the end of the garden hidden in the ivy today.

She did find time to help herself to some hazelnuts from the sink.

Before jumping up into the tree where she could keep a closer eye on her baby and awatch for any cats coming.

The Blue Tits have been busy flying in and out for food but still no sign of any family.

Same with the Coal Tits plenty of activity but no little ones to be seen.

Mr Blackbird is taking it easy. I think they are between broods. The first ones have gone and the second have not arrived yet.

He is having fun while he can, he even looked like he was dancing today. That wont last long when the next eggs hatch he will be busy again.

The first born of the Starlings are all old enough to see to themselves now. There are squabbles and fights breaking out all over the garden.

The next brood has begun to appear though so there is still the eternal shout of the baby starling demanding food from the ever patient parent.

I found this plant growing in the garden behind the bird table. I thought it looked quite nice, so I decided I would try and find out what it is.

I am begining to wish I had not bothered. I found a website that showed a picture that I am almost sure is the same plant.

Lilac Oxalis  (O.Incarnata)

 It says it is a pest. That it should be removed or it will take over the garden. I will keep my eye on it for the time being and see what happens. I think it is pretty. So I will do a bit more research before I do anything drastic. Of course if anybody knows anything about the plant please do let me know.

Until the next time...