Nutz!

My plan to get the squirrels closer is still working. Today not only did Rose return for the hazelnuts but Patch came for some too.

I have put together a very short movie of the squirrels coming for the hazelnuts enjoy.





I have also discovered we have yet another new squirrel in the garden

This squirrel has different colouring to all the other squirrels, it has a darker face with a light coloured ring around it's eye. The squirrels tail seem's browner as well the usual squirrels all have grey tails.

Until the next time...

She's moving closer.

Rose the smallest squirrel in the garden is moving closer to me every day. Today I gave her an extra treat, a small piece of white chocolate.

Mmmm chocolate.

Rose then went on to explore the garden a little more before returning for the last hazelnut on the table.

I decided to put a couple of nuts on the window ledge of the shed, just to see if she would come for them while I was in there.
Rose kept looking over at the nuts, then she moved a little closer.

Rose sat and thought, she really wanted the nuts but was she brave enough to come so close?

After a few minutes Rose moved again,

Rose had crept up to the window ledge and held one of the nuts. She moved away quickly taking the nut with her.
I thought that would be it she would not come back, I was wrong!

A few minutes later Rose was back,

She looked in the window to see if I was there,

She couldn't see me, so she helped herself to the last nut,

Rose was not shy or timid at all. My plan is working she will be eating out of my hand soon I hope!














Until the next time...

Rose has been exploring

Rose is finding her way round the garden, 

She loves the hazel nuts and is very dainty when she takes them from the table.

She found the peanut butter in the cross bar post.

She found some more in the bush.

Then she found if she squeezed she could fit in the little bird house and eat the sunflower hearts.

There is nothing left in the garden that Rose has not found. 

Until the next time...

What a beauty.

We had a ride to Leeds just for something to do today, I as usual had a camera with me. Tony spotted a car that he thought was very impressive.  It was an old Riley Elf. It was in fantastic condition for it's age so of course I took some pictures, I hope the owner doesn't mind.

Until next time...

A sweet addition

The squirrels are coming to the garden most days, the one that is visiting the most is a young female who I am going to call Rose. She likes grapes and poses very nicely for her photo taking.

Taken by surprise.

Isn't she sweet?

Rose is the smallest and newest addition to the squirrels in the garden, however she is the one that is getting closest to me. She comes into the garden while I am putting out the food sitting only about a foot away from me. I hope very soon she will be eating out of my hand.

Until the next time...

A very busy squirrel

I hardly had time to close the shed door before Patch appeared.
He ran along the fence, looked on the shelf nothing there,

he leapt on to the table

and found just what he was looking for, hazelnuts.

There were 6 hazelnuts in a plastic tub,

Patch tried to fit 2 of the nuts into his mouth, he decided however that was not going to work.
 Patch shot back along the garden fence only to return a few moments later to repeat the same sequence of movements. This continued until all 6 nuts had gone.
Patch returned in hope of more hazelnuts, but he was unlucky. I had not refilled the tub. When Patch realised there were not going to be any more hazelnuts, he began on the nutboxes which had monkey nuts in.
Patch must have emptied one nutbox the amount of running backwards and forwards he did. He must have been tired but he carried on nonstop. I think he wanted to hide as many nuts as possible before any more squirrels turned up. I did not see any of the other squirrels in the garden today. Patch could have taken his time after all.

Until tomorrow...

Bad old puddy cat

This morning I saw the next door neighbours cat rush out from under the laurel bush at the bottom of our garden. Which poor bird is the dam cat after now I thought (or something like that) . However it wasn't a bird it was trying to catch, it was one of the squirrels!
As the cat pounced the squirrel ran, straight up the fence and up the tree, where it sat chattering at top speed and full volume. The cat slunk away across the garden, you have to be faster than that to catch
our squirrels I thought.
It did make me wonder if the cat had anything to do with the disappearance of Mandona.

Until tomorrow...

Testing a battery

I bought a battery from eBay so I needed to test it to make sure it held a charge. I looked around for something to photograph, it could be anything really it didn't have to be that interesting. I took one of a plant in the room,

I took one of a picture on the wall called     HAT TIME

  ©ATHENA INTERNATIONAL LTD  LONDON 1987 Phill Babb  PRINTED IN SPAIN 308119N

Then something caught my eye,   

The Postman having a rest while waiting for his lift.

Until tomorrow...

A very quiet few days

The start to the new year has been quiet, nothing exciting has been happening.
The garden is becoming livelier so hopefully there will be more photo's and stories to tell soon. The weather has not been kind to us, so we have not been anywhere either. Except of course to do the essential shopping trips and to keep doctor and hospital appointments.

The squirrels are making daily visits, except "Mandona" who seems to have vanished into thin air. We are guessing that she will not be coming back after the weeks she has been missing.
Patch is coming out of his shell, he seems to have decided that he is the boss now. He may be the smallest of the three remaining squirrels but he is defiantly making his mark. Patch is there before it is daylight some mornings making sure he is first to the food, and he is last to leave to make sure nothing is left behind. He rushes round the garden like a train on a track, he has mastered every feeder in the garden, either hanging or at floor level. Patch can smell peanut butter from miles away, as soon as I put some out walk back to the shed and close the door, there he is face in the peanut butter and a soppy look on his face.
Patch visits all the surrounding gardens burying nuts, Pretty Boy sits in the sycamore tree watching, when Patch is out of sight Pretty Boy digs them up and moves them. I would love to know what goes through his head when he does it.

Patch taking a hazel nut to bury in a garden somewhere in Wrenthorpe.

An old favourite we usually have by the dozen is returning to the garden in quite large numbers now at last count I had seen six in the garden at once. The are fighting over the fruit and suet, but apart from that seem to be getting along quite nicely.

The Male Blackbird

Until tomorrow...

The squirrels are driving me crazy

I went into the shed yesterday, it was freezing,  there was very little to photograph but I was looking for Rusty. Tony and I had spotted him sneaking through the garden, over the fence into Margaret's garden, down the path under the gate, over the gate and away up the road. The people up the top of the Drive , drive their cars as if they were on a race track. Rusty would not stand a chance if he came head to head with one of these. I did not see any of the squirrels in the garden, I went back inside, cold and with a heavy feeling of dread. Not again I thought, not another squirrel loss not so soon, not so early into a new year!
However I heard Tony shout from the kitchen this morning,"Soo there are two squirrels in the garden" I shot out of bed (if you can call it that it was more like a stagger) into the kitchen. I looked and there was Pretty Boy and Patch. I carried on watching to see what they were up to, Patch had found the chestnuts in the bottom of the nutbox and was running in every direction burying them. I don't know why because he would only forget where he put them. Pretty Boy took a hazel nut from the table and ran away with his prize. Patch just carried on with his running and burying. I saw a squirrel coming down the fence, I thought it was pretty Boy coming back. I looked again, did a double take to be sure, it was Rusty. I was so glad to see him to know that he had survived his adventure. I just hope he won't be going on another one too soon. The only other thing is we haven't seen Mandona for quite a while now. I am worried about her.

Here are a couple of pictures so you can remember what she looks like.

Until tomorrow...

Black is beautiful

Meet Asha.

This is one of three cats that live with Emma and her two children. This cat is very timid, at first he would not come out from under the bed. However with a bit of coaxing and a ball, he soon changed his mind.
The  other two cats are a ginger tom called Tig and a black and white one called Lilly. Emma is a very conscientious of how she looks after her cats. They are all chipped and neutered before being allowed out into the big wide world, they all get their booster shots and if anything is wrong with them she takes them to the vets straight away.


Until tomorrow...

Fun with the kids.

This morning I spent time with my grandchildren while their mum Emma went to work. Tony went for a walk into town, he was amazed to see a kingfisher fly onto a perch near the stream that runs at the bottom of Westgate. He phoned me up in disbelief. Of cause he didn't have a camera with him, we will have a look another morning to see if it is there again taking a camera just in case.

The kids put a dancing disc on the Wii and competed against each other, it made me tired just watching. Then we watched a Harry Potter film. They had a break for lunch. Tony returned just in time for the Star Wars DVD that was the next film put on. Emma came in soon after, she was all smiles and pleased to know everything was ok, she was surprised how well the kids had been. I told her they were very different to her and her brother and sister when they were growing up, they were always arguing.

When we got home I was straight back into my 'onesie'  it's amazing how tired you can get just sitting doing nothing.
I have taken some photos today but I just have not looked at them yet, so just to keep you going here is a picture of a squirrel

Until tomorrow...

Welcome 2014

Today has been a miserable wet day, I don,t think it ever really got light.
The new year did start with a bang though!
Just after the new year had started I received texts from Chris, Emma and Lynsey. It,s nice to know that whatever they were doing they had time to remember mum. Tony and I listened to the fireworks going off outside, it was so loud at one point it must have sounded a bit like being in the blitz. The fireworks lit up the night sky, we could hear the cheers and singing from the local pub. We didn't,t need to go out we could hear enough while laid in bed warm and comfy.

So no photo,s were taken today, I never got the camera out, it will be back out again tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...