Little White Birdie

Regular readers of my blog will know that we love watching the birds that visit our garden.  We put out food for them, especially in the cold weather and the nesting season.

Early this morning, Mr LizzieMade put out some mealworms (dried… I can’t quite cope with wiggly live ones!).  A group of birds came down to feed, bringing their fledged chicks with them.  Dave noticed a nice little grey-white collared dove baby – he’d never seen a baby collared dove before, so he stopped at the kitchen window for a closer look.

Only, it wasn’t a baby collared dove at all….


A little grey-white baby Starling!

An albino…maybe, we’re not sure – it doesn’t look quite white and I think it may still have dark eyes – so it’s just a pigment abnormality, rather than albinism.  Still, it’s very rare and a bit exciting. 


Not a great photo, but here’s one of the adult birds, feeding white-baby with mealworms and seeds.

We’re not sure what his chances are, of surviving very long.  He’s obviously at a disadvantage, as he doesn’t have the camouflage that his friends and family have.  On the other hand, he seems to be fit and healthy and starlings look after each other.  Maybe he stands a good chance of a long life – and perhaps we’ll see him in the garden regularly. 

They flew away just after I took these photos, so I was grateful to Dave, for waking me early, so I could see them.  I had to share with you all – such a rare event is really too good not to share!

Starling Suppertime!

Spring is definitely here now - despite the fact that it's really rather cold today!  We have had sunshine. The blossoms are out, the spring flowers are blooming. 

Our garden is full of birds.  We even have a family of blackbirds, who have all fledged and spend their days following their harrassed parents, begging them for food.  The blue-tits are nesting in the nest-box on our acacia tree - I think their babies will soon be out of the nest too.

And these guys:

 

Starlings having supper

 

Dave put out some mealworms last night, on the bird table and on the step.  We immediately had a large group of starlings descend on the garden, filling their beaks as fast as possible. 

 

I do like starlings - they are so funny and squabbly and friendly.  Their legs are attached in a funny way, which makes them stalk along in a most comical fashion.  They have gorgeous shimmery feathers.  They are so clever and each one invents its own song. They're clever mimics and some of their songs are a really complicated series of phrases, including whistles & squeaks, chirps, warbles, clicks and even imitations of machinery, cars, motorbikes, telephones, people and other creatures. 

 

It's very rewarding, to feed the birds - especially when we get treated to a Starling Supper Party!

 

A Waffly, Catching-Up sort of Post...

Well, the last few days have been so busy... I hardly know if I'm on my head or heels, but I've been having a lovely time!  

Friday DH and I went to Milton Keynes, which is about 20 miles from here, to search for some essential supplies for a book commission that I need to start. I needed moss-green silk, but couldn't find any locally. Also wanted some papers and possibly some ivory silk too.  Found the silk, along with some lovely linen/cotton mix fabrics, which will make lovely Summer-time books (if I only get on with it!).  Limited luck with the papers though. Luckily I had an order through from Shepherd-Falkiners' in London, which had some of what I need, so I'm hoping I can get started on the Wedding Guest Book this week, once I get confirmation of the fabric and paper choices from the customer. 

Green Silk Dupion and Natural Linen Mix;  Ivory Silk Satin and Natural Linen Mix

  

Ivory Silk Dupion;  Handmade Mulberry Paper with Large Mulberry Leaves

We also had a lovely lunch out, at "Bella Italia". I am rather keen on Italian risottos, so I was pleased to see a butternut squash risotto on the lunch menu. A plateful of this, with a glass of San Pellegrino Limonade and I was happy for the rest of the day.

Saturday was all jobs, as usual. I managed to get through 6 loads of laundry and some housework, as well as ferrying the Boy to his Saturday club in the morning.  He earned extra pocket money by helping with the laundry and vacuuming the downstairs rooms for me.  That certainly was appreciated, as hoovering gives me a backache still.  DH had a rotten cold and went to bed for a good rest, so me and DS had a quiet afternoon (in between hanging out and fetching in our loads of clean clothes!).  We all had a lazy pizza tea, as we were tired and no-one felt like cooking - it was a warm day as well... zzzz

Sunday was the hottest day so far this year. It got really warm by 11am and my two nieces came over, with the babies.  We had planned a picnic by the river, but it was really too hot, so we sat in the shade, in the garden and enjoyed our picnic there instead.  Later we had a short walk to the riverside, where Keri-Anne took some photos and we all messed about, but it was so hot we soon headed home again for a drink and a rest.  By 5:30pm we were all worn out. Keri-Anne's husband came to fetch the girls and babies, who were all desperate for bed-time! We had a "left-overs" dinner, from the freezer and all crashed out for the evening. Everyone had an early night on Sunday and slept like logs!

Me, DH and C. by the river (with baby in pram, boy & baby Elle somewhere and Keri-Anne on the other side of the camera!).

Monday was "jobs day" for me, as usual.  I have moved the shopping delivery forward to 8-9am, which meant that it arrived nice and early (7:45 actually, but who minds 15 mins in the right direction?). I had the time to get my home jobs finished, then went and did Mum's jobs too (take her shopping over, collect her pension from the P.O., pick up her prescription from the dr., collect the eggs from the lady who keeps hens, post letters, hang out washing, make sure she's okay before I go away again....). Luckily all was well and I got home by 12pm.  I spent the afternoon working on a lovely book, which I have made for a friend's birthday present (can't show you until she has opened her present, so I'll post it at the end of next week!). 

Today was another busy day. My friend D. called for me at 8:45, once our kids were at school. We have both started walking for our health, but her walks are much brisker and a lot further than mine just now.  So, she did her circuit of the village at her own speed, then called for me and kept me company while I did my somewhat shorter circuit - round the corner, around the big, grassy playground, then home again. It took ten minutes, but I went further today than I have done up til now and I felt okay when I stopped - which is progress, as I was quite dizzy last Tuesday when J. came with me for my first walk!  We will do this again tomorrow and plan to walk together on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday (on Monday and Thursday I will go to Yoga class).

This afternoon, I finished the Birthday Present, then made these:

The two little girl pictures and the patterned background papers are all by Kirsty Wiseman, from her first two CD's of printables - available Here in her Shop - do take a look, they are all fabulous and great value, as you can print the papers and various little images as often as you want.  The papers all print a bit smaller than A4 size, but they are great for card making and useful for scrapping too. 

I also made a number of books last year, covered with Kirsty Wiseman papers!

So, all in all, it's been a bit crazy round here! I think I need a holiday... Busy day again tomorrow though - two appointments (optician and osteopath) and I need to find time for some housework too!