hello fellow animal and wildlife lovers

[madboutcats]

back from looking after my mums cat big ginge for the week, and ive had a lovely week watching the happy birds that inhabit my mums garden. thought i was a wood pigeon less on thursday as i came back from work to find a almost perfect print on the living room window of a woody, could even work out its beak imprint. couldnt find a corpse in the bushes so hopefully it survived its headlong crash with the window.,,,did count my usual gang of now 4 woodys so fingers crossed... while filling my tubs with a fresh bag of bird seed i spilt some and was watching blackie and his 2 kids hoovering them up, they still wanted dad to help feed them and my death wish starling now nick named bronson was up to his tricks of coming into the porch under the nose of a dozing mog, hes also come into the house via the door in the living room which opens straight into the garden, i'll get his picture one day.....if he lives that long that is......!! whats been happening with you all, ive missed the chat with being away from my computer.

[bensmum]

Hi madboutcats. Been relatively quiet here - lots of the young birds have fledged and are still hanging around. I have been watching the magpies this week. There are 3 young and the other morning I saw 2 of them on the kitchen window sill pecking at the glass then at the window sill. A couple of days later all 3 were having a good old game playing chase in and out of the picnic table. They are just like children! Most of the noise has come from the magpies and the crows. The crows have 2 young and they have very loud arguments with the magpies! Loads of chaffinches all of a sudden too which is good to see. The robins are as tame as ever - I remember a couple of years back I went down to feed them and one came and sat on my head. I did have a green hood on so he probably thought I was a tree!
That's one brave starling you have there - I hope he doesn't come to a sticky end

[madboutcats]

ive grown quite attached to bronson bensmum so i too hope nothing happens to him as there is many a cat that uses my mums garden as a passing place from point a to b. lol at your magpie young, bet their better behaved than some children.xx

[Kleiber]

I saw something really sweet yesterday - on my peanut feeder was a young great tit, getting fed by one of its parents, when a baby blue tit appeared and started begging for food. The adult great tit fed it, too!! I thought that was cheeky, but lovely. Later in the day, I saw a male sparrowhawk flying towards my field across the road, with something in its talons ( looked like a blue tit), so I guess mum's sitting on a nest nearby, maybe with young. Sorry, girls, but I don't share your enthusiasm for magpies - I've seen them go to a nest of robins in a hedge and take all the young and eat them.

[madboutcats]

Kleiber i hold my hands up and fully admit to being a born and bred townie, its only with being on A&N on AB that ive discovered how cruel magpies can be. I dont think ive ever seen one in my mums bird haven garden, just the usual suspects,blackbirds, starlings, the tit family, the odd wren and my woodys(i have a soft spot for the wood pigeon).

[chappie]

Hi madaboutcats,

I once rescued a wood pigeon from a chinese takeaway!

I was waiting for my chow mein, and he kept waddling into the takeaway. I kept shooing him out, but he kept coming back in. He seemed dozy and not quite right. I was worried he might end up on the menu, so I took him home with me and put him in one of our aviaries. I could see no visible signs of injury, but he was definitely not right.

Anyway, after a couple of nights rest, and some food and water, he was much improved, so I released him.

[madboutcats]

so glad you rescued that wood pigeon chappie, hate to think he might of ended up as pigeon sweet and sour(yuk). i do think they are quite comical, mine are right greedy guts and are eating me out of seed and home...the looks we got thru the window when i ran out of seed a month or so ago,....id be six foot under.....LOL

[chappie]

Nono, don't know what you're talking about ....... what fox? How many shandies have you had? Come on, truth now ..... :o)

Mad, a huge wood pigeon was having a bath in my bird bath the other day, and he filled the whole bath up. It looked really funny. He seemed to be enjoying it very much.

[bensmum]

Morning everyone - just been down to feed the birds. The blackbird is taking off beakfuls of food so they must have another brood somewhere. I think the sparrowhawk is back again as there was a pile of feathers out there yesterday. I haven't seen one for a while but last year the hen was perching on top of the feeder pole so I may see them soon. Unfortunately there are plenty of baby birds around for the taking and the sparrowhawks have young to feed too.
I get wood pigeons in the bird bath too - I have to refill it once they have finished as most of the water ends up on the ground.

[madboutcats]

morning all. my woodys are the same, hog the bird bath and as its only a small one they fill it, ive found that cat litter trays make brilliant cheap and colourful bird baths that can be dotted around the garden for all to enjoy, ive even seen big ginge drinking out of them,.....maybe the water is bird flavoured.!!

[alfieblue]

Good morning madboutcats!!!! So lovely to hear from you again - have missed our chats!!!!

Where did that week go?? - It's flown past - since you said you were looking after 'big ginge'!!!!

Hope your mum had a lovely holiday - what lovely messages as always.


Will be back in a mo - just doing a wee bit or ironing (well quite a bit or ironing!!!). Not my favourite occupation but needs must!!!

Will be back shortly. :o) xxxxx

[alfieblue]

Oh dear - the fingers are not going on the right keys!!!

Should have read 'of ironing ' on both counts!!!

Sooner the laundry is done the better!!! Catch up with you in a mo. xx

[madboutcats]

hello alfieblue, yes the week certainly flew by, my mum had had good weather, better than id have, though i did manage to get a bit done out in the garden, and gave the porch a good tidy and got rid of a load of old and rather crusty and stiff gardening gloves. big ginge..he first turned up in the garden as a stray and he would eat the bread put out for the birds and he slowly worked his way into the house, and as we didnt know his name we'd say theres that big ginger cat again and it got shortened and it stuck,...though hes really more of a pale sandy and white colour. when my brother is visiting he gets called bagpuss. any way the day after my patch took his last trip to the vets 6 years ago big ginge moved in and hes very uch my mums boy....xx

[alfieblue]

Hi madboutcats and all! Lovely message about big ginge!!! I can almost hear him purring with all the love and attention he gets!!!!

Your mums garden sounds wonderful - a real haven for wildlife. Lol - I too have a few pairs of stiff gardening gloves to dispose of (doubt they will come in handy - excuse the pun!!!) - they are no use to anyone - but there they stay - ho hum - one day they will be cleared out!

Hope the pigeon is ok? Sounds like he/she survived the crash landing into window - but perhaps it was seeing stars for a while!!!! We have two big fat pigeons in the garden - so well fed! They hoover up the seeds off the grass that have dropped out of bird feeders - and they too dive into the bird bath (well - sort of crash land into it!) - def case of instant water displacement (is that the correct term?) - they end up with just enough to paddle their toes in!!!! I am forever filling it up!!!!

Ok - just going to continue this in another message cos you know what i'm like! I either lose the plot, lose the thread or delete the whole message before i have sent it!!!
Bear with me! :o)

[alfieblue]

2nd installment!

Bronson sounds such a character!!! No sign of Yellowbeak i'm afraid for a week now - I'm just keeping fingers crossed that he is just resting somewhere after another busy season of courting lady blackbirds and producing many offspring!!!! He has been a busy old boy!!

Spied a woodpecker the other morn (while I was looking out the front bedroom window, having a nose, as I do!!) - The bird was actually on ground level (never seen one before out of a tree!!!). I thought it was injured - but no - off it strutted pecking away at grubs and ants etc - happy as larry. Was a touch concerned because it was heading for neighbours garden where there are two puddy cats who
would have loved to 'play' with it, thankfully tho the bird had its fill and off it flew back into yonder trees!!

Wildlife in my wee back garden still busy as ever. Usual visitors - chicks have now grown up but coming back for their feed. Lol - have lost the use of my rotary line for a while! The line is near to a lovely old (fairly tall) lilac tree - unfortunately the tree is past its best so grew a lovely climbing plant up it - lots of bird seed n nut feeders hanging from it etc. Anyway - the climbing plant went a bit rampant and is now growing up through the rotary line!!! The little birds now see it as a tree extension and the other morn there were 3 bluetits on it - happy as anything! Can't use it for laundry at the mo - but am happy to watch the birdies on it through my kitchen window! Could watch them for hours ..... perhaps that why I always end up burning the dinner!!!!!

Love to u, your puddy cats and big ginge!!! Alfie n pup :o) xxx

[madboutcats]

i decided to be ruthless alfieblue and threw out old light switches and sockets and rusty old screws that my dad had kept, and he died over 20 years ago, though i couldnt throw out the old hinges i found, with an oiling they might come in use......!!!??? big ginge will be glad to see his mum back, he'll have a knee to sit on again, i do offer him mine but hes mums babe thru and thru. he gives mum many fright thru the night when she hears a loud thump from downstairs....hes rolled off the table or windowsill, he likes sleeping on hard surfaces..:-))

[alfieblue]

Oh yes! I have stuff in the 'for tip' pile - then I have stuff that I think may (!!!!) come in handy (not exactly sure what for!!), then there is the loft full of my kids stuff (over 26 years of stuff!!!) - just can't bear to part with that - ho hum ..... !!!

Lol at big ginge and his sleeping arrangements!!!!

Pup also makes my jump through the night (he sleeps in my room) and, for a little guy, he can make quite a noise when he changes positions and moves around then collapses (loudly) in another heap before sending up the zzzzz's again - meanwhile I am then wide awake!

Ps - He has also been known to try and nick my duvet - Lol!!! It's a dog's life!!!! xx

[alfieblue]

makes 'me' jump - apologies - my typing is not up to scratch today, must be the excitement of finishing all the ironing!!!! :o)

[yogasun]

Hello lovely people!

Have been ridiculously busy this weekend but was lucky in being able to watch some bird ringing on Friday morning and get really close to baby Kingfishers, so sweet!

My son has been out looking for glow-worms. Fascinating creatures, this is the time of year to see them, round the edge of certain lawns.
Love to hear all your bird and animal news.xxx