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...