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This has been a Week Of Home.

I haven't wanted to stray far. The dogs and I have wandered the garden, camera in hand, eyes open, enjoying all the small things and the ever-increasing warmth of the days, the lessening of the gales that howled in the beginning part of the week, the arrival of more baby birds and the return of the Goldfinches.

 
The garden, for the most part, survived the bluster of the winds. All except the ox-eye daisies, who threw their arms up in the air like hysterical women at the first sign of trouble, and then bent so low to the ground in supplication that they found, once the Wind had withdrawn, that they couldn't get up again without help. They reminded me of old ladies curtseying too deeply to an irascible King they were trying to placate.

Anyway, horseshoe nails and garden string resolved the problem of their infirmity and now all they need do is turn their faces back towards the sun.

I have Become Friends with some Hairy Shieldbugs who are living in the hedge woundwort with their friend, a Speckled Bush Cricket, at the top of the garden near the wild area.

Yesterday, I found one of them sitting on a nicotiana seedling on the patio. 

The patio is some distance from the top of the garden so I was surprised.

Later, I went to show M the HSB but she'd gone. Look what I found instead...

HSB eggs! They are tiny- a mm or two across only. It makes me wonder how many eggs and new lives are lived in our gardens that we never notice, and what a resource they are for our wild things.

I also found a caterpillar that looks to be pupating hidden in the groove of a trowel...

 And another caterpillar steadily munching its way through an Honesty penny...

Meanwhile Brian (my Orange Tip pillar), has doubled in size over the last few days to 6mm in length. Luckily, He stays put on his Cuckoo Flower in more or less the same place at the moment so I can find him easily and photograph and measure him every day. When he gets a little bigger I'll move him into the butterfly cage so I can make sure he has enough to eat as the Cuckoo Flower we have won't last long and there is no Jack In The Hedge I can put him on in the garden. Two eggs were laid but only Brian hatched.

 
Other Children keeping me entertained this week include this adorable but Highly Demanding Blue Tit Child who appeared on the feeders with his parent....

The Starling Mob...

It turns out there are FIVE babies. They rather gave the impression of secret agents from the 1940s stalking their mark in a cloak and dagger sort-of-way as they followed their parent across the lawn...

Also, this rather Chubby Blackbird's Child...

Dad performed some Impressive Acrobatics in order to get her her supper, while she sat on the grass watching impassively...

With the return of warmer weather and still air have come the Butterflies. Two peacocks, a Red Admiral and a Comma. I sat with one of the Peacocks for ages yesterday, watching her as she moved busily across the scabious....

The Red Admiral is, I suspect, a migrant newly arrived from across the sea, judging by the battered appearance...

And the Comma is so perfect it must be a fresh emergent from today. The white 'comma' that gives the species its name is evident in the pic below.

One of my pupae also emerged- a Lunar Yellow Underwing...

Unfortunately, one of the hindwings didn't fill out properly and remained twisted, making it highly unlikely this moth will be able to fly and therefore survive.

The garden is buzzing with bees. It's such a delight to hear and see...

And my Wildflower Turf is also attracting lots of pollinators as more and more flowers bloom...

 
The Banjo-Playing Frog has been getting about. This morning, I found him sitting by the other pond. Clearly, I will have to keep my eye on him :o)

I'll leave you with some shots from around the garden. It's done me good to have a Home Week. 

 

Salad Burnett- a good plants for moths and other insects

And finally some shots of T and P, who clearly find pottering at home exhausting.....
As Teddy's eyes appear to have disappeared it's a good job they're off to see Mrs Danning for a hair cut in a couple of weeks :o)

And finally finally, a bunch of flowers from the garden for you all (some of which are courtesy of Poppy, who's been very busy indeed investigating voles and knocking the blooms off in the process :o)

Happy Days,

CT :o)

An Update On Bop, The Baby Tawny Owl

I've just got back from driving over to Wiltshire to see Jill and Bop. He is now feeding himself (3 mice in the morning and 3 or 4 in the afternoon) and Jill thinks he will be OK (although with all wild things you never say never). It will take him longer to become independent because he's not being reared by his parents and he needs to learn how to be an Owl.

Jill reckons he is about four and a half weeks old and if he were in the wild he'd be hopping about in trees and trying to catch his own food now, instead of sleeping in a basket being fed already caught and dead mice. Time will tell, we'll keep everything crossed for him, eh? All that focused good will must count for something....

He was very sleepy, this being his night time, and although he came out of his basket for a few seconds, soon decided that actually he'd rather be inside it and asleep, so he hopped back in, settled down and watched me with his eyes first blinking and then drooping. He has definitely grown and now has his adult wing tip and tail feathers and is starting to fly in small goes, which is All Good. I experienced an almost unbearable urge to bring him home with me, which I resisted. It was hard.

Jill was telling me that she'd had two more baby Tawnys brought in last week- these were only a day old and had fallen a long way off some bales. One died on Sunday and the other yesterday. It is so hard with wild creatures. She's also had several hedgehogs in who have also died. But on the positive side, she showed me some photos of a Tawny she raised a couple of years ago who fledged successfully back to the wild. He would sit in her kitchen and stare out the window with her cat on a chair behind him- the Owl and the Pussycat....

Anyway, I didn't want to disturb Bop, so I admired him for a few more seconds, told him he was beautiful and that I loved him and would pray for him to grow up Big And Strong And Safe and turn back into A Real Wild Owl when the time was right, then I took some photos for all of you to enjoy (and us too) before leaving him to his nap. I will check in on him again in a week or so and let you all know how he is.

Keep your fingers crossed for him.

CT :o)

 

A Round Up Of News From Ted

Hi everyone,

I was Determined not to leave it so long between my posts so I'm grabbing half an hour now while mum is eating caramel ice cream to celebrate getting through her interview in one piece.

Here is a Rather Nice picture mum took of me last week. No sign of Poppy anywhere :o)

I'm a bit cross with her at the moment- I gather you all heard about how she tried to blame her weekend indoor wee on me- that backfired on her, but she tried again this morning by doing a poo AND a wee on the floor. Luckily, Dad was wise to it and knew straight-away that it was Poppy and not me :o)

We've both been out running with Dad this weekend- we did 5 miles on Friday and 7 miles on Saturday. Annoyingly, this barely tires Poppy out so I have to endure her jumping on my head and chewing my ears when we get back when all I want to do is sleep (not that I'm getting old, you understand, even though I am nearly SIX).

I have been active in the garden on Rat Watch. This is different to Pigeon Watching, although I've been doing that too. Rat Watch takes place at garden level for one thing and rat's can't fly for another. Although some rats seem to think they can by climbing up on the bird table and leaping down again. This one just sat there eating for TWO HOURS until all the bird seed had gone. 

With my superior knowledge of Rat Ecology I realised that no amount of barking, whining or jumping up and down or even balancing on your back feet to stare was going to shift him so I went and had a lie down and left Poppy to make a fool of herself on her own....

I actually caught a rat this week, and although Poppy grabbed it out of my mouth, ran off with it and then sat with it in the garden licking it, Dad knew there was no way she'd caught it herself and said well done Teddy instead, which I was pleased about :o)

Here is the Classic Rat Watching Stance, in case you want to try and replicate it at home..

It helps to get right into the hedge and you may need to hold the position for quite some time so make sure it's sustainable.

Poppy hasn't the patience for real serious Rat Watching (or pigeon watching either, come to that) so it's the one time of the day I'm left alone and can get some peace. Otherwise, it's like this.....

1. Trying to push me in the pond

2. Being ferocious

3. For once I am in charge

4. But not for long

5. A slightly more peaceful run out doors

6. But that doesn't last long

7. Getting a good head start is helpful

8. As is hiding under the bench by the apple tree

9. An early morning run helps tire her out a bit

 

10. Mum loves it when we both walk through muddy water

11. I do sometimes get my own back bu chasing Pop

 

12. And on frosty mornings it's generally not too bad trotting along behind her

With only rare occasions like this....

I know I complain about her a lot, but I do love her really, even though she annoys me most of the time. Yesterday, for example, she wasn't feeling very well when we got back from the woods. Mum knew straightaway because she had her tail stuck between her legs and she was giving mum a funny look, which is what she always does when she doesn't feel well. Dad only knew because she refused to eat some of his left-over hair after his hair cut. Mum gave her a bath and she felt better afterwards, although she hates baths. I didn't laugh at her because I knew she hadn't felt well and I do miss her when she's all quiet and sensible.

I can't really remember what life was like without her, and I do especially like night time when we all go next door to the sitting room where we have a choice of three beds, all in front of the fire, and snuggle up together...

I think she might be getting a bit more sensible, but I'm not sure. She's definitely more sensible than one of our cousins, Toffee, who stole a bunch of grapes from her kitchen and had to be rushed to the V.E.T.s to be put on a drip and monitored last week. According to my aunty, if they hadn't realised what had happened and got Toffee to the V.E.T. ASAP she might have died!

We don't have grapes here, but if you do and you have doggies please remember this :o)

Anyway, life has been Pretty Good here this week, if you ignore all the baby bird dramas and the fact we had to share our house with a baby owl for half an hour last week (mum says she's hoping to be seeing Bop tomorrow and will post pictures for you all and an update). 

This meant we were shut outside while the owl was indoors. Poppy said something had gone wrong because surely that was the wrong way round? Owls are supposed to live outside and dogs inside, so I had to explain about Mum and her propensity to collect small injured things in need of help. We very nearly had a baby Nuthatch to look after this morning when one woke Mum up at 6am by sitting on the windowsill of her and Dad's bedroom squeaking. It nearly came indoors, but at the last minute decided not to and soon after the parent came to collect it. Thank Goodness.

Anyway. that's about it from here for now. I hope you are all well and looking forward to the warm weather that's meant to be coming if you live in the UK. If you live elsewhere I hope you have Good Weather Too because that sort of thing matters to humans. It only matters to dogs if you've a favourite Warm Lying Down Place, as I have, like on our front step.

It's my birthday on Wednesday. Poppy and I are having cheese to celebrate (this is a very special treat as I'm not often allowed it since I ate half a coconut filled with suet and gave myself pancreatitis). I am All Better Now but Mum will worry....

Best regards as always,

Ted :o)