Christmas greetings

Christmas this year was spent over in Bentham at the home of one of Tony's son's.
They are a very close family. Tony, Elvira and I were treated to warm welcome and made to feel at home. The two children, a 5 (almost 6 ) year old boy and a 9 month old girl are very happy and pleasant to be around. I have never known a baby as placid as this little girl, the only time she cried was when she was tired. The young boy is very polite and intelligent for his age and eager to please. Both parents are really laid back and easy going, I think that is why the children are so content.

Tony and his son cooked the Christmas lunch which was very tasty, there was a cranberry and port sauce which I really liked.
We stayed the night and this morning Tony's other son who lives in Morecambe, called in to visit along with his wife and two son's.
The boys have both grown and the younger one has reached his aim to outgrow his elder brother by about half an inch, now he just wants to take over his dad.

We left Bentham to arrive home mid afternoon, the roads were not too busy so it did not take us too long. After a soak in the bath, a homemade lamb curry and rice, it was time to turn in for the night.
So  when the phone rang and Lynsey said have you got a lot of snow there then?
I looked out of the window and was surprised to see about 2 - 3 inches of snow and it is still falling.

I hope you all had a good Christmas,
Until the next time...

Seal's at Donna Nook.

On Monday we went to Donna Nook to see the seals. We have gone a few times it is always a fantastic sight to see, there are hundreds of seals there.
We just missed seeing one baby being born by seconds, the mother was just cleaning the pup when we arrived. You can tell the newly born pups because they have a yellow tint to their fur.

The one we just missed being born,

The bull seals are enormous and lay about waiting for a chance to attract the cows. They fight the other bulls for the cows, many of the bulls have battle scars.

You might think he's asleep but he's watching everything.

The cows will fight the other seals if they get too close to their pups, it doesn't matter if they are other cows or bulls the pups come first.

Two female seals arguing over their pups.

Feeding time means peace for mum as well as baby, another new baby born today.

Doing what comes naturally.

I think the seal pup was wondering what we were, we must have been the first humans it had seen.

Who are you?

As the pups get a few days older they turn white in colour.

Time for a rest.

Until they roll in the mud of course.

Playtime.

Then mums looks for them, what does she expect, she was a pup once.

Keeping an eye out.

Until the next time...

Brave or daft?

I can only apologise for the loss of photo's on my blog, I do not know where they have gone or why, it is a complete mystery to me.

I have replaced the Red Kite pictures with some more but I cannot remember what the other pictures on the previous blogs were so I am sorry but I will not be replacing those.

Today Tony and I witnessed a very strange happening in the garden!
Tony shouted to me from the kitchen (as he often does) "Soo get a camera". I know this means there is something in the garden to photograph. I picked up my camera with the 150mm- 500mm lens attached and headed for the kitchen.
Outside on the "raster bush" wash a Sparrow Hawk. We both took some shots of it as it sat on the bush, then it moved back onto the fence where Tony had first seen it. The sparrow hawk moved a little further up the fence as though it was looking for some thing, then all of a sudden one of the young squirrels jumped on to the fence. I expected the squirrel to turn tail and run, however I was wrong!


The squirrel stopped and looked out of the corner of his eye,

He edged a little closer,

A little closer and the sparrow hawk leaned forward,

The sparrow hawk spread his wings and the squirrel turned tail.

The sparrow hawk threw his wings over his head,

The squirrel began to slow down as the sparrow hawk sat back.

The squirrel turned and ran back up the fence, the sparrow hawk got into position,

 he flew from the fence and squirrel ran away not knowing quite what to do.

The sparrow hawk landed on the cross bar and watched the squirrel on the fence.

The sparrow hawk flew across the garden to the fence at the other side, landed, looked up to the kitchen window where we were watching from. Looked at us as if to say "Stupid squirrel"
Then he flew away over the rooftops towards the park.

A bit of excitement in the garden, I am not sure whether the squirrel was brave or just daft!

Until the next time...

He Loves Sunflower Seeds

The garden has been very quiet lately, we are still having problems with the small black cat. The cat is growing and is becomming quicker and more devious. The other morning it was waiting for the squirrels to come into the garden. The cat was crouching low in the grass close to the fence on the left hand side of the garden, knowing the squirrels would appear on the right hand side. The younger squirrels appeared on the wall at the bottom of the sycamore tree, ran along the fence and one of them went straight down to the nutbox. The second squirrel sat on the fence twitching it's nose and tail, it knew something was wrong. The cat was in position, bum waggling from side to side, getting ready to pounce. The squirrel on the fence saw the cat and shot back along the fence and up the tree. The squirrel on the ground had his head deep inside the nutbox and did not see him go. The cat edged forward a few inches, the squirrel lifted his head from the nutbox, turned and saw the cat! He ran across the garden as fast as his little legs could go, the cat just behind him. The squirrels heart must have been beating so hard it felt like it was going to burst. He just managed to get up the fence and jump into the tree as the cat made a leap for him. The cat missed, maybe the cat managed to catch some tail hairs but nothing more.
Tony was at the kitchen window by now ready to see that the black cat left the garden, however the black cat is learning and when he heard the stretch of the elastic he looked up at the window, sailed gracefully over the wall into the adjoining garden and disappeared .

I had to visit the dentist this week, not one of my favourite places. I had bitten into something and swallowed part of a tooth with it. Unfortunately as it is with dentists they always find something else that needs doing, so I have to return next week for her to fill 2 of my teeth. How anybody can enjoy a job that is poking about in other peoples mouths all day I will never understand!
I have to go for a blood test on wednesday this week another thing I don't look forward to but I have to do it every 6 months to make sure my thyroid levels are ok.

Tony and I bought a rug to put in the room underneath the dining table, however when we returned home and tried it out neither of us liked it. Guess where it is going? In the shed, oh yes it is getting very posh down there.
We have been clearing the shed out so the rug has come at the right time. I will be very cosy down there when the weather turns any colder, nice rug to warm up the floor, calor gas heater to warm the whole shed, rocking chair for me to sit in, flask of hot water to make coffee or soup and a good book for when there is nothing to photograph. What more could I ask for?
I do have to share it with Tony of course so some days he will have the luxuries of the shed and I will stay indoors.


I have made a "Mini Movie" of the youngest male squirrel enjoying his sunflower seeds I hope you enjoy it.









Until the next time...

Here come the kites

As I promised I am going to tell you a bit more about

 “Gigrin Farm, Red Kite Feeding Centre”

You have to go and see it for yourself to understand just how fantastic it really is!

We have been to a red kite feeding centre at Scotland called “Tollies” compared to “Gigrin”, the one in Scotland is no competition at all.

There were too many birds to count they appeared from everywhere, the sky was just full of red kites, a few buzzards and crows.

We had been told the crows would come down first and then the red kites. Wrong the kites just swooped down grabbing lumps of meat in their talons and flying away again, as soon as they had eaten they were back for more. 

There were a couple of smallish buzzards that were in among the kites, one of them grabbed a lump of meat and no matter what he was not giving it up.

The buzzard was knocked about, bowled over jumped on and still he hung on to his meat.

 There were a couple of red kites I managed to catch on the floor, the one with the number 62 on his/her wings spent most of the time on the floor. I wondered if that bird was part of the rehabilitation centre there.

I think this last photo of the red kite shows how wide the span of their wings are, they seemed enormous when they came close up to the hides.

Some people who had gone to see the kites had paid £22 (+ £5 entrance fee,) each to go into “The Tower Hide” this meant they were above the kites so they could get better pictures, there were other hides ranging from £8 - £12 plus the £5 entrance fee,  or the free hides which we chose to use, so it cost £5 for me and £4 for Tony because he was over 65years old.

http://gigrin.co.uk/  this link will take you to the web site for Gigrin Farm so you can read more about it.

I would definitely go back if we were near “Gigrin Farm” it is a sight I will never forget.

Until the next time...

Llanwrthwl, Crych Du & Hurricane Gonzalo.

The garden is very quiet again, I suppose Tony finding a mauled Collar Dove behind the shed this morning did not help.

There is a small black cat that appears in the garden most days, it sits on the shed roof or the fence waiting for the small squirrels, (grrr!) when none of them appear it seems to make do with anything that does. The cat never attempts to eat anything, just kills it for the fun of it.

The birds in the garden are very nervous now so are the squirrels, the black cat is not put off by mint imperials or aniseed balls so we are going to have to think of some other way that will stop the cat but not the squirrels, hedgehog or fox.

We had a week away recently we went to Wales. The cottage we stayed in was the best we have stayed in for a long time. It was very secluded, peaceful and relaxing. 

If you want a look at this link,

   http://www.sykescottages.co.uk/cottage/Mid-Wales-Cardigan-Bay-Llanwrthwl/Crych-Du-2940.html

We spent a lot of time in the conservatory. We had the tail end of “Hurricane Gonzalo”, that day the rain was torrential, the wind was blowing about 100 miles an hour,and the  hailstones were the size of hazelnuts,so we sat watching the river rising at the bottom of the garden, from the safety and warmth of the conservatory. 

One morning while we were there it was just like being at home, there were 5 squirrels running around burying acorns. It did make me wonder how my squirrels were doing at home they must have thought I had abandoned them.

There is a bird table just outside the door to the conservatory at the cottage, it was visited every day by nuthatches, I was amazed at the beginning of the week but by the end of the week it was just “oh look another nuthatch”. 

We walked along the river and we saw a Dipper, I have wanted to see a dipper for as long as I can remember, of course you know how my luck runs, I had the wrong lens with me, Tony had the right one, he managed to get a photo, I didn’t. Well maybe next time because we will be going back.

There were some chickens and a couple of roosters at the cottage. I have never seen any like them before, they came around every day to see if they could find anything to eat. One of the roosters liked to dance.

I think one of the highlights of the holiday was The Red Kite Feeding Centre at Gigrin Farm. That was an amazing sight to see. However I will tell you more about that the next time.

Until then...

How many nuts can a squirrel get in it's mouth?

The young squirrels are running amok in the garden, they have discovered how to open the nutboxes, they can hang upside down on the feeders to take the sunflower seeds and to empty the log of peanut butter. One of them was amazed to see me in the Greenhouse it took him a while to figure out what was wrong,

 he kept coming to look at me to see if I was still there, so when I moved back into the shed he just didn't know what was happening.

 We bought some hazelnuts when we went shopping the squirrels like them and the supermarkets have them in now it's getting near christmas,(oh no not that again).

While I was in the Greenhouse the squirrels had a look in the blue dish on the window ledge to see if I had left any hazelnuts in there but they were too late "Greyflanks" had beaten them to the nuts he had already taken them all.

One of the youngsters was quite happy to sit on the fence and eat the peanut from out of the nutbox now they knew how to get them out.

As for Mrs Squirrel she was just seeing how many nuts she could get into her mouth in one go, at this point she had 2 hazelnuts and was trying her best to get an almond in as well.

Until the next time...