A Grey Invasion

Another morning with me wool winding and man handling Mules while Husband was left with all the jobs at home. The afternoon was intended to be housework and cooking. We never mind being interrupted by nature, and this lovely Grey Wagtail was a very welcome distraction.

Less welcome was a visit from our Local Red Squirrel 'coordinator'. A while ago we had offered him our help should the need arise, to check traps locally in the fight against the Grey Squirrel Invasion. This morning he had seen a young grey at one of his monitoring posts, so from first thing tomorrow, it's three visits a day to a secret location.

Mrs & Mrs Busy B

A Cumbrian family gathering, with Mum and Dad and Sister and Brother-in-Law here for the weekend kept us busy from Thursday until Tuesday morning. Sitting in the garden having a well earned cup of coffee and deciding how to spend the rest of the day - but suddenly it was all organised for us.
I was needed by one of our neighbouring farmers who was going to be clipping, Husband was needed by our Friendly Farrier, who chose today to fit our new gates.



Nothing here is ever too simple. We could have just hung new gates on the old hinges to replace the rotten ones, but common sense meant they needed moving further down the drive - so new hinges into the stone wall etc. It's very useful having such talented friends. Especially when they live opposite!

Well hung and Creosoted. They are a vast improvement on the last pair, which were literally dropping to bits.

Family Outing

I was first introduced to Cumbria by my parents. Our family holidays were always here - even before I was even thought of. In fact, 50 years ago, they spent their honeymoon here. It seemed appropriate then to do at least one fell walk while we were all together. Time being short, a short walk is called for. Little Mell Fell. the little fell with Big views.

Golden celebrations

A Family get together is on the cards to celebrate Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding Anniversary. Mum and Dad arrived on Thursday, followed by Alison and Chris on Friday. Saturday evening was already organised for a celebratory meal at Temple Sowerby House Hotel.
Husband and I have got to know it through friends, and hoped that the rest of the family would enjoy the experience as much as we have done on our previous visits.
The Happy Couple with their two wonderful (!) daughters

And not forgetting the unforgettable Sons in Law

We were delighted to find that we were treated just as brilliantly as we had hoped, although the taxi journey on the way there is another story completely........

Baby Boomers

In recent days there have been many phone calls between here and Northamptonshire of a competitive nature. Who has the most interesting baby birds in the garden! Like everyone we have had fledgling house sparrows and blackbirds for weeks, but here is a montage of some of the cute ones we've seen in the last few days.

We have two baby Woodies currently visiting - here's one getting a little encouragement from Dad.

The Tree Sparrow family launch themselves from the fence
And Mrs P paid us an early morning visit - complete with family (who I didn't spot till they were leaving!)
Our nest box Blue Tits have fledged - 6 we, think but one sadly flew into the window and died. Here are two of them with the two of the Great Tit family
And you have to look carefully - they are well camouflaged. About a week later than Northants, our Nuthatches have fledged. Here is one youngster being fed in the tree, so far we have seen two babies.

Wildlife Bonanzer

Still on a high from our recent squiggle visits, we have also had another infrequent visitor for the past couple of days. A Jay has swooped in and fairly swiftly swooped out again. Never when the camera has been handy so you'll have to take our word for it. Also off camera have been a couple of Dragonflies. One was probably a Common Darter, and the other was an 'Unidentified Red One'. Pond life continues to amaze me. Water Boatmen, lots of wiggly things some Protegee Great Diving Beetles (we think), lots of various water snails and a whole host of very small things.
In ever decreasing numbers, the tadpoles are growing up, many are committing suicide by climbing out and drying to death and I'm sure the early morning birds are making The Puddle their Breakfast Bar, judging by the stones that are strewn all over the place in the mornings.

WARNING - Photo Overload

What a day we had yesterday. We were off racing to Hexham, where one of my regular winter mounts was running. Forestside or Dippy as we call him, won at Hexham 11 days ago and was favourite today. He ran in the first race - and won again. As this was Jame's 3rd winner in 11 days (Kingsmoss - Mossy - won in the week at Wetherby), he took us all out for a celebratory meal last night.
But before we even left home in the morning the day had got off to a good start....

Is This Bragging?

We have a friend who loves Clematis - particularly Nelly Moser. Sadly she hasn't managed to locate one in a Cumbrian garden centre yet. I guess last time she was here, ours wasn't flowering so she would not have realised what variety it was. Well it is now!

Wildlife in May

Much of the UK is in terrible drought conditions, yet we have had 4" of rain - with rain falling on about 24 days of the month. Good month for sitting watching wildlife then! Fledgling birds galore in the garden, but the highlight of them all so far has to be this little chap. They really don't come much more cute than a baby tree sparrow.

Another highlight of the last couple of days has been another red Squirrel visit - sadly no pictures of the squiggle itself, but here's some evidence instead (footprints for those with small screens!).

Christmas All Over Again

Just over twelve months ago, the side garden looked like this.


The area immediately in front of the gate and wall was just a bodged semi path, the gate opened (in our opinion) the wrong way, and as the main route for wheel barrows into the back garden, it was a bit of a pain in the neck.


After removing some of the conifers etc last year, we made use of the space for a few veg as a temporary measure



Since then it has been a bit of a building site, although we have been busy turning it into a more proper veg plot and installing a turf path up to the gate without a slalom course for the wheelbarrow.
But now, thanks to a belated Christmas Present 'Busman's holiday', Husbands son has turned the gate around and given us a wonderful hard standing area in the gateway and along the wall.

A quick coat for the gate - an how's that for a transformation? All with stuff we had saved from our predecessors landscaping efforts - and a bit of windbreak for the beans, donated by the local farrier!

Stormy Over Barton

A day of well publicised storms, although thankfully we have not had it anything like as bad as some. We have had our fair share of winds, with gusts of over 40mph battering us throughout the day.

It seems bizarre talking to family and friends, who have not had a drop of rain for months. We emptied 7mm this morning, taking May's total to date to 3" (I know, I'm mixing imperial with metric - but I bet all the rest of you who measure rain do exactly the same!). At least another 7mm has fallen through the day today too. For those who are struggling to remember; this is what rain looks like.

At times it has really closed in. This is the view of Barton Fell from the sunroom (notice the angle of the bamboo in the tub!).

Through all that wind and rain, our daily visitors kept up their routines. This one's for Bilbo....

Did you spot the Tree Sparrow?

How Not to Photograph Wildlife

The light is beginning to fade. It is 9.30pm and we have had a pretty horrible day. So trying to take pictures of a visiting Leveret probably wasn't very bright - but when did that matter?
A bit of photoshop auto brightening and 'hey presto'.

OK, so it's a crap picture, but at least it's evidence!

Busy B's

We seem to have some new residents this morning. The Blue tits in the nest box on the shed have gone from the peace and quiet of incubation to the frenzy of activity of feeding newly hatched chicks. Having seen little of them for a while they are in

and out constantly this morning. Pooh sacks carried out and the lot!

More Pond Life and the First Swift

How exciting (if you are a nerd!) We have at least one tadpole with all four legs, and we saw the first swift of the season this morning - nearly a month later than last year, so maybe they've been avoiding us.

Not only that, we have Dragonfly larvae too!

Hard to believe there wasn't even a puddle there 7 weeks ago!

For those who are less excited by pond life than me (and my friend Bilbo who will be REALLY impressed with the dragonfly), this is what the re landscaped bit of the back garden looks like at the moment..........


you might want to double click to see that there is a bit of colour there now.

A Splash of Colour

After a short absence, we had two of our most colourful visitors today. A male Siskin (normally they are abundant, but just at the moment there is just the odd one every now and then) and a Male Redpoll (we haven't seen one for a few weeks, but briefly we had two this morning).

Both tiny birds, but beautiful additions to the feeders
To my delight, the Redpoll decided to investigate the puddle and then have a bath!

Metamorphosis

The back legs have arrived..........

Happy Hour Again

Corny title I know, and it will be lost on anyone who isn't familiar with Paul Heaton's music, but our House Martins are back.



They arrived on the 19th April last year. Although it is quite possible that they have been here for a day or two and we've missed them, it still seems pretty late considering how early this spring has been

Mistle Thrush

Simple things please simple minds..............

We are really thrilled to have a few Mistle Thrush appearing at close range most days. I guess they may have finished nesting by now, but as we haven't seen any fledglings, but have seen frequent trips into a nearby sycamore by one or other; perhaps there will be more to come.

Nature Trail

Our walking these days seems to be limited to walks straight from the door. Not for any reason other than that there is just so much to see on our doorstep and we have acres of private woodland and farmland, which we are lucky enough to be able to wander at our leisure. On a couple of occasions recently, we have seen evidence of a flock of less well known residents. Today, we thought we'd see if we could find them.
The reason for today's exploring? These piles of pine cones

dropped beneath hawthorn trees around the edge of a (mainly) coniferous wood.

These are the evidence of a flock of Common Crossbills. Which take the cone from it's tree, onto a nearby tree such as hawthorn, where they then use their amazing crossed bill, to remove the seeds. Often with the help of somewhere to hold the cone steady.

Having seen a brace of deer, two Jays, a song thrush and countless other everyday birds, we were finally rewarded with the sight of a female Crossbill, high up in a pine tree. Too far to be able to see her bill, but given away by her (and her fellows in the area) chirpy song.