Following a 9 hour journey home from the holiday we had a restful day on Sunday. Ok we did stop for lunch during that time. Can you guess where? !
Sunday morning I popped down to check on the bees. Having quickly united two hives before we went I needed to be sure all was well.
The girls were the nicest they’ve been all year. The sun was shining and I was still in holiday mode. Miss C was at home with hubB so I had no need to rush.
The bees are in a wonderful copse of trees. Many are native varieties and as I worked a buzzard had been cruising slow around above my head and sitting on a nearby branch and calling to me.
The trees are very overgrown with nettles which are good for wildlife and make the area unattractive to local children, I hope.
Many of the trees are hazels and as there doesn’t seem to be any squirrels around I decided I was allowed to pick some of the nuts which were just falling to the ground.
It was quite difficult to get to some of them but no pain no gain. It was so worth a few stings (nettle rather than bees is novelty enough!)
I’m very happy with my freebies. I don’t think it saved me enough to afford the whiskey at Gretna but I will almost definitely enjoy them more!
Hubby spent most of the day building the hens a new coop. We used an old kitchen cupboard so that’s novel. I forgot to take a picture though so maybe tomorrow!
Later we realised the Gert who had been with us all day, getting in the way and generally being a pest, had vanished. Now last week I wouldn’t have worried as I thought the garden was secure. This week I know different.
Soon after letting the girls out early the other morning Miss C came downstairs saying she had heard our neighbour shouting my name over the fence. Turns out Gert had managed to get into his garden and had been caught by his dog. Fearing the worse he opened his car boot and I extracted a very frightened hen from amongst the paraphernalia. Seems the dog, a rather quiet Labrador had carried the hen to him very happily and he had put it in the nearest place. Gert was none the worse for the experience, her heart was pounding and she was a bit sucked looking but putting her down in front of the cats biscuit bowl soon cheered her up!
Anyway back to this afternoon and my missing Gert. I turned detective and basically followed the poo trail through the veggie beds.
Damaged tomatoes in the poly tunnel door…
Digging in the poly tunnel beds.
Chicken having a dust bath amongst the tomatoes. It was around 5.30 and the noise in the back ground is the start of the hundreds of sparrows coming in to roost in my Laurel hedge. Its bedlam in the garden at dusk each evening.
She’s right near the melons. ( Sorry I’m a bit proud of the melons and just had to show off AGAIN)
Lucky I had well watered the peas and lettuce I’d just planted. Wet soil is obviously not so attractive.
I left her, I’m nice like that! She repaid me by appearing minutes later and stealing the cat food.
Chickens in the house. Not actually allowed… but do they listen!
Later we found a rather dim but very cute Ring Collared Dove nesting in the tree.
It is a tree but only just.
She’s just above the lower of next door’s two roofs. Can you see it? The nest is smaller than the bird, her bottom is hanging over the edge. There surely can’t be any eggs.
The most exciting part of the day came as Miss C and I closed up the chickens for the night. We have been hearing a strange bird call for a couple of weeks but tonight after patiently waiting we finally identified it as it flew out of a tree and across the vegetable garden.
A Little Owl. Roosting and hunting in our garden. What a thrill.
It’s Easter Sunday. A day to rest and relax. For us this involved an early egg hunt and croissants at breakfast. Then a good long walk at a nature reserve.
We joined the hundreds of other families walking around the lakes and fields with bikes, scooters, buggies and dogs.
The wind was biting at times. Miss C befriended a dog who brought her his ball over and over again. His owner threw it into the water which was choppy and grey and looked totally uninviting, but in he went as ‘Happy as Larry’. We all made sure we were no where near as he shook afterwards.
We wandered down a side lane off the beaten track and visited this hide that is a replacement from our last visit. It seems to have been designed on a public convenience and was just a welcoming. As the wind whistled through and around us we snapped a quick heron shot.
We love hides and have been known to sit for ages in anticipation. Even Miss C patiently waits. This one was not an inviting place to rest and discover. Disappointing.
Other bird life was worth seeing though. Such skill.
The early bird catches the worm so I’m told but quite honestly this bird would rather lay in on a Saturday morning. Today was not to be. With the car in the garage first thing we were up at 6.30 as usual. Breakfasted, car delivered and drinking coffee in front of morning TV just after 8.
A couple of hours spent on my community voluntary project, car collected and lunched by 1.30.
Hubby popped off to visit Great Nana. Miss C escaped back to the stables. I escaped to the summer house.
The sun was shining. The seed potatoes sitting on the dining table were calling, and getting in the way at meal times…
I needed to do something with them and although they are destined for special vegetable bags, it is still to cold to put them outdoors. The bags have holes in the bottom, the summerhouse floor is carpeted, so not waterproof, and the trays I had intended to stand the bags on have seed pots in. 1 litre pots are the answer, I can drop them into the bags later on.
Some went into the last tray. The rest went straight onto the shelf. They will have to wait until Monday to be watered in after hubby goes and gets more trays. How lucky that he works in town for all my shopping needs!
Beside them you might be able to see the peas I’ve sown in toilet roll tubes. They stand on a shelf from Miss C’s toy kitchen. Everything is reused in my garden, and abandoned toys are fair game!
I nipped down to check the chickens and rescued this little fellow from the run
They wander in through the chicken gate to steal the pellets and then get stuck trying to fly out.
This one might be the same one I rescued yesterday as he seemed very calm about the whole experience.
Visitors are always welcome in the hen house it seems.
This is ( from left) Flash, Gert, Peggy and Hettie. The bench was a wedding present 15 years ago. It is past its best but I’m to sentimental to throw it away so the chickens got it instead. They love to roost on it looking in their mirror.
A treat in the garden today. I had let the chickens out only minutes earlier and as I checked them out of the kitchen window I was amazed they were nowhere to be seen. In fact there was not a bird in sight, pretty unusual so early in the morning on the feeders. Looking closer I saw the reason!
This is our local sparrowhawk. She and her partner have been fairly prolific this winter. Usually all we see are the feathers after the event, but it is often a daily occurrence.
We were able to find the video and watch as she made short work of plucking the feathers. She then struggled to take flight and made it as far as the fence post.
We watched for almost an hour as she plucked the chest and removed the wings before starting to eat.
We moved from the kitchen to an upstairs bedroom window. We were even able to open the window and lean out. She knew we were there but didn’t seem that worried.
The beauty of home education is that this happened at 8.20 just as we would have been leaving for school. Instead Miss C was able to stand and watch. We were able to discuss the whole event and follow that seam in our work.
Miss C did consider being a wildlife photographer for a little while. Watching an hour of wobbly video of bird, hedge, staircase, ceiling and the washing line perhaps it is just as well she changed her mind!!!
The bees are in a wonderful copse of trees. Many are native varieties and as I worked a buzzard had been cruising slow around above my head and sitting on a nearby branch and calling to me. 
acquest13 