Charlie is back

That's great, mine are back too....

I ve got a wonderful clear photo here of it they are lovely colours, what a treat to have him back.

I'm always pleased to see him back especially after shooting season !

So pleased to see he is back safe and sound.....

I'm pleased to Angela , Oh HB that is so sad I do worry as we have a visiting ginger cat I have seen him pouncing on the birds even pigeons he hides round the corner from the feeders and waits for them :o(

wow, that's a visitor I wouldn't mind coming here ...

Hi, Charlie. And where is your wife?

He's a lovely visitor Fran and very welcome each year , I haven't seen his wife this year yet Kat last year he had two ! they may be in the field looking for nesting sites ....

maybe i'm not in the right kind of country. but i'd be happy to see *any* birds visit here; maybe they do, and I just scare them off by checking!

The little birds take a while to get use to you feeding them Fran ,perhaps the previous tenants didn't feed them in which case they haven't be looking for food put some out at a regular time each day the birds will soon come looking for it once they know ,our birds are so use to their breakfast they sit on the fence waiting for it :o) I'm sure you don't scare them Lol ...

there was a bird feeder station, Amy, which I've inherited, but they had it right at the end of the garden, mostly hidden in overgrown foliage, and there was only one feeder on it (that's how I spotted it, seeing a flash of white in the greenery). I moved it a yard of so away, but the wind got it, so I moved it again, nearer to the house, the only patch of ground I could get it into.

I bought some mealworms the other day - given my vsion, I had to get really close to see what this tub of "sweets" was, then went urk! I've put some out, but still no takers yet. The birds will take time to get used to the new setup - and maybe they've got enough natural resources not to be in immediate need of a "buffet".

They love meal worms Fran, I have a coconut with holes in the sides of it hanging from a tree I put a few worms in each morning the Robins & blue tits get right inside and the funnies thing is watching the blackbirds get in they are so determined it's a wonder they don't get stuck inside ... when your birds know you have their favorite treats on offer I'm sure they will be there , they do like a tree or shrub near the table to dash backwards and forwards to . .. I keep my meal worms in an old sweet jar it makes them easier to handle but the smell when you take the lid off is enough to knock you out !! if we put a new feeder up in a new place they tend to ignore it for a while until they get use to it .. good luck :o))
BTW they often give sweet jars away in sweet shops I keep pasta and rice in some ..

good idea about the cocounts!! I've saved the last two shells, more or less intact, wondering if i could glue them back together to make nest boxes, but feeders sounds good - provided thebirds know there's food inside the first time; after that I suppose they'd check

there's a flat tray on the feeer, I put some on that. I keep the jar in the shed, to make sure I don't confuse it with human food! and i opened it in the open air, so wasn't aware of any smell - mind you, having a cold might help there.

i did use to ask local shops to save large plastic swet jars, but bought some from a local shop, which do the job - prob with sweet jars is getting hand or scoop in to get flour our, so I tend to use boxes with clip-on lids. Maybe I'll recycle them as some kind of garden ornament ...

If you have sweet jars you don't use they would make brilliant Cloches to cover delicate plants from the frost in the winter another year Fran ... I hope your cold is soon better we caught them at christmas time and are still not quite over them !

Thanks, Amy, I hadn't thought of that! I've seen terreria made from large jars, but doubt I'd be able to do that - too fiddly for me, I fear.

Got doc's appointment today, hope they'll give me something to sort tihs cough; I've had it over a month, it's about time it realised it wasn't welcome! (lol got it, or got it back, through trying to cut down my smoking! Thought that if I only smoked at the back door, I'd smoke less. And did, cut down by two-thirds immediately, but got this to make up for it!)

Good luck at the Doctors Fran we had colds at christmas time and are still not properly clear of them , I stopped smoking 10 years ago without any problems but OH has struggled he finally managed it 6 months ago but he has a cough which he can't get rid of I personally think it,s the lungs trying to clean themselves I read somewhere it does take time to get rid of the stuff in them .. it might be that it's your cutting down that is coursing the cough , good luck !

Hi Amy, that cold seems to have invaded our family too and we've had it for weeks. When you think it's gone it seems to erupt again and you feel as though you are drowning in your own spit...cough! cough! Let's hope with the warmer weather due it will help. What a handsome pheasant. We had a partridge visit on Christmas day....not seen him since.

It seems a lot of people are having the same problems with colds this year Linda I tried everything to avoid them in the first place this year including ' 1st defence ' from Boots along with a multitude of other things for coughs and colds ,I'm not sure if an of them do a lot of good you just have to go through it one day at a time until it's better :o( ...

I opened some of the windows today to air the house and will do the same at the weekend if it's going to be warm. Perhaps that will do some good.

Lovely boy Amy, good to see him again, the largest birds we have here are two wood pigeons, so friendly, Lottie loves chasing them!