I was indoors tidying up today and heard SUCH a racket outside, birds twittering angrily, so I went out into the yard, only to see a Buzzard perched in the Sycamore tree at the end of the stable block, and 4 Swallows angrily "buzzing" it. As I went out, it flew off, with the Swallows in hot pursuit. It didn't matter than it was 30 times bigger than them, it was too near their nests and they wanted it to shove off! It just shows what parents will do to protect their children, whatever manner of creature they are.
I went to Llandod to do some shopping today as I have a friend of many years standing arriving tomorrow for a week, so if I go quiet, it's because we are out and about. It will be so good to see her again and I have some nice outings planned.
I went to the Charity shops and found a top I liked, and a little leafy design jug which is perfect for putting a rose or a sprig of something from the garden in, and I was choosing a book - only to find it was 3 for a pound, so got a couple for Keith too, and he was reading one this afternoon, something I've not seen him do for a long time.
I finally remembered to take a few photos of the area in the paddock I sowed the wildflower mix last year. Lots of Wild Carrot looking beautiful at the moment and attracting lots of insects.
Rosebay Willowherb - I'm gradually cutting it down with the shears, but could do with some moral support up there! My excuse at the overgrowth up there is I garden for nature!! Actually, having to stay away from the garden in June is what does it every year - it suddenly explodes and it is soon beyond what I can tackle by hand.
Discovery has several fruits. I know you are meant to pick them off the first year, but I didn't as I couldn't get to it because of the long grass (and pollen). All the trees have thrived, and even the plum tree which came with barely a root at all, is FINALLY starting to put out leaves, so I am glad I have saved it.
Of course, Ghengis came to supervise.
Close up view of the hills we an see from the house, barely visible in that top photo - these are just above the Hundred House road I think.
Keith is certainly having to rest up now - he's really gone backwards after several days of walking - truly 3 steps forward and 2 back. We will be seeing the Physio on Monday, so he will be able to advise Keith of the best way forward (I hope).
Lovely wild flowers.
ReplyDeleteHave a great time with your friend, it'll be lovely for you both
Alison in Wales x
They are beautiful flowers, that's for sure. Gay and I will have great fun.
DeleteProbably Keith needs to ration his walking....but finding the point at which one is overdoing it is not easy. Great that he can do more than he has been though
ReplyDeleteHe thought he could just carry on and there wouldn't be any problems but found out otherwise! But at least he has improved and we're going in the right direction again.
DeleteThey would need to be around here, Dam sparrow hawk took my wife's favourite blackbird she fed. She even chased the dam thing down the garden making it drop the bird. Trouble was Griff our dog caught it after I picked the poor thing up and it died in my hand a few moments later. My wife was really upset over it. Thing has had a few birds around the gardens here
ReplyDeleteSparrow Hawks have to live, like the rest of the wild creatures, but why do they have to take the favourites? So sorry that your wife's favourite blackbird died. There's not a real deterrent although I let the rose bush that my feeders are in grow a good bit to protect the bird feeders, and having the plastic dome over one also deters it a bit. They like to be able to have a clear swoop in and through.
DeleteLovely wildflowers! For the past few winters, a large female goshawk has taken up hunting my bird feeders from the tall spruces in the back. I know she needs to eat, and is a magnificent creature, but still I try to protect the small birds by moving the feeders into bushes. I don't know where she goes in summer. I hope Keith recovers quickly from overdoing the walking.
ReplyDeleteThe chap we had to tidy the two paddocks last year (HE won't get an invite back!) wanted to go over this area with his grass-to-mulch type machine. He couldn't understand me wanting to leave it as the plants were very young and just getting established. A townie gardener . . . Tried telling me that Bindweed was IVY!!
DeleteHave a lovely visit with your friend that will be an excellent break. Hopefully the physio person can give Keith some tips so he no longer does two steps back.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I'm looking forward to it. Tam may come over on Saturday too, so we could have a walk down to our little local church. Hoping the Physio can give Keith exercises he is able to do ashe was too fatigued last time.
DeleteWe call the wild carrot 'queen Anne's lace' here. I always look for the tiny red flower. My mother told the story that I imagine she heard as a child about poor queen Anne locked away, waiting her execution, passing the time by doing handwork. Blinded by her tears, a tiny drop of blood landed on her white lace. That tiny red flower is always in the white lacey flower to remind us of the poor queen.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it's more worthy of being called Queen Anne's lace than the earlier Cow Parsley, which doesn't have that tiny red dot. It's my favourite Umbellifer anyway.
DeleteYour wild flower meadow is looking good
ReplyDeleteHope a days rest will see strength return to Keith and the physio advice is useful
Have a good time with your friend
He's resting up because we plan to go to a small Antiques Fair this weekend and he wants the energy to walk around it. Episodes like this set him back a week. Hoping the Physio will have some PD specific exercises for him.
DeleteI can't wait to show my friend round.
I'm glad the swifts were able to chase off the buzzard, though buzzards are a favourite of mine but there isn't the equivalent of a Sainsbury in the bird world! Keith will just have to take it more slowly when out walking and hopefully the physio will help.
ReplyDeleteSwallows, not Swifts - wish I had those here though they do fly overhead, feeding. They will soon begone. Less of them down in the town so I don't know if the parents leave first (like the Swallows do) and the youngsters build up fitness before following. I should have asked that on the talk and walk we went on. More Kites than Buzzards round here now.
DeleteKeith has a good book to read so is pleased to rest and read.
Hi BB, I loved reading about your feisty swallows. We have been enjoying watching the swifts swooping around the meadow. And in the evening the moths are wonderful. I took down the curtain (actually an old white cotton embroidered tablecloth) in the bathroom the other day to wash (it and the open windows behind were filthy!) and the moths that fly in when I’m bathing are miraculous. Crimson underwing was huge, Sussex Green is probably my favourite and lots more… The tablecloth is still soaking in a bowl in the utility room. We were out first thing yesterday for 9.30 appt which went well. Saw the same neurologist who has increased Sinemet dosage from 3/day to 4/day. He has said a CT brain scan will be organised asap and the Parkinson’s nurse will be in touch. He recommended a Chichester-based PD Warrior Class, but as I had already looked at the online videos and S loathes organised exercise classes we will give that a miss. After the appointment we hot-footed it to West Wittering, parked and walked through the posh seaside houses and across the rippled glistening sand barefoot to the sea. The tide was right out and it was very quiet apart from the honeypot hub around the car park and cafe. We climbed up silky sand into the marram grass sand dunes and relaxed for a while and then back into town for a delicious lunch at Luckes cafe sitting in their courtyard garden. After lunch we had just over an hour on the car parking ticket for a bit of shopping and finally home to our peaceful garden. I found a Susie Watson linen remnant for £10 to turn my almost-finished spring flowers needlepoint into a cushion cover, a new pair of Birkenstock Arizona sandals (existing pair are very old and as I am wearing them all day every day at the moment felt I should invest in a second pair) and a summer-time treat of a big brown glass jar of Frankincense and Rose whipped shea butter which is anti-midge and soothing. Supper outside was homemade basil pesto with penne and purple podded French beans. Simple home grown food. Have a lovely time with your friend. The wild carrot and silky pink petals of malva moschato are the stars of our meadow too. Take care BB and look after Keith - these husbands of ours require careful calibration I find! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteAh, don't mention windows. After we had the outsides cleaned I began well in doing the inside windows and then ran out of steam. At the time the kitchen was being done, so that's my excuse! I love to lay in the bath and watch the House Martins swoop up to their nests outside. Another lot fledged recently - don't now where they go at night when mum is sat on another clutch.
DeleteWe had an Emerald Moth or two (like your Sussex Greens) in our old garden at Ynyswen. Or rather, settling on the outside of the kitchen window.
Glad the appt. went well yesterday and hope that the extra Sinemet help. We are still waiting for the night-time slow-release dose to kick in. Good to hear your husband can still manage the sand and beach walking - that was one of the signs we missed 2 years ago when Keith found it hard walking on loose sand. Of course, every Parkinsons' symptom was put down to the effect of the steroids. Getting the balance right with exercise is very difficult.
You had a successful shop too - that Frankincense and Rose shea butter sounds lovely and useful fabric ALWAYS welcome!.
I do hope the physio can help Keith.
ReplyDeleteYour wildflower mix looks lovely and is flourishing so well.
It is amazing what birds will do to protect their young. Have a lovely week with your friend.
At least he knows what is wrong with him now - in December we were all in the dark and exercises didn't help as Keith too fatigued to do them.
DeleteThe wildflower mix worked well - it was spread on a cleared site, so no couch grass or Yorkshire fog to clog it up.
Brave little swallows indeed. I think a lot of charity shops have mountains of books on sale now. We call Rosebay Willow Herb "The Lovelies" because my Nanna, smitten with them, would repeat, "oh, aren't they lovely". I think you may find that Keith's reaction is fairly normal, you don't see the effect of overdoing things for a couple of days. I know I often pay two or three days later.
ReplyDeleteI should think that they've all had bonfires with the thousands of copies of 50 Shades of Grey et al which got donated. Not something which would be on my bookshelf. I shall always think of Rosebay Willowherb as "the Lovelies" when I look at it now.
DeleteKeith has realized he can't push himself towards fitness like he did in the Army. He's even doing press ups, for Heaven's Sake!
Hopefully that Buzzard will think twice about coming back now he knows they are such brave little Swallows.
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling well of suddenly having a 'good day' and thinking that things are really on the mend, unfortunately you just have to do what you can when you can and I'm sure Keith will continue to improve, but it might be two steps forward and then one back for a while yet. I know that it's been over a year for me now and I have to keep telling myself that there have been improvements and noticing when I'm doing better.
I've never seen one perched out there before. We have far more Red Kites than Buzzards, truth be told. I think that one will think twice about coming back anyway.
DeleteKeith had a wander round an Antique Fair this morning and walked most of the way back to where I'd parked the car, so hasn't overdone things, and it was nice to see friends again. I hope he's learned his lesson. Do you have Physio exercises to do for your back?
Your bird story reminds me of an immature yellow-bellied woodpecker who has been on our double-sided suet feeder several times this week. He isn't very big yet, but when a much larger bluejay and another large blackbird tries challenging him on the feeder...well, let's just say, he stands his ground. Turns around and gives the other birds the evil eye--not to mention extending his very pointy beak in their direction as if to say, "Try me!" They don't. Flying off. Defeated.
ReplyDeleteHoping Keith gets some more direction from the physio on Monday. I'm months into PT for the post-ACL reconstruction on my right knee. At almost 72, I'm no spring chicken. Sometimes the PT goes well and I really push myself, and then I get a setback (i.e. pain or weakness) and have to pull back on exercises. Reminding myself: it's a marathon, not a race. Keith's case is different, but it helps to keep in mind that not every day or every week in the process is going to produce steady improvement. Still, hoping for more good days, than disappointing ones for him.
Your yellow-bellied woodpecker seems to have lots of confidence. He is obviously big enough and well armed enough to deter the other birds.
DeleteThe Physio was very good last time so I am hoping Keith will get some PD exercises now he can cope with and advise on strengthening his back and neck muscles too. I will tell Keith not to think he's back in the Army, and training for a marathon!! I hope you can get your knee totally healed. There was a lass competing in the women's football match last week (they WON!!) and she'd been off with because of ACL problems (op). I know she has age on her side but there must be hope for your complete healing too.
My surgeon said I was the oldest person on which he'd done an ACL reconstruction. Usually don't do them once folks hit their 40s or 50s, but my knee was just too unstable. Wasn't a candidate for knee replacement as I have very little arthritis in my knee. I think my ACL recon recovery is going pretty well as far as mobility is concerned. I do have nerve damage (including a large area of numbness) from the surgery which is a whole different beast, but I've recently seen a physiatrist who has prescribed meds that are helping mitigate the pain. Went about six weeks without sleeping more than a couple of hours a night due to pain. Like shingles--anything touching certain areas around the knee is like being burned by fire and there were/are quite vivid electric-like shocks across the knee (hoping that means the nerve is healing). Right now, about 80% better on those issues. I can live with that.
DeleteYou were very fortunate to have it done then. Healing is obviously a long process but it sounds like you're a fair way in. Commiserations over the lack of sleep though, especially when pain-related. Gosh, the burning and electric-like shocks sound unpleasant, but 80% better sounds a positive.
DeleteI again put my comment on the wrong post....''I belong to a FB birdwatching group--we had an oystercatcher pair [they return each year] that lost their first set of babies in June, we were thrilled when they hatched a second chick in late July. Her little life was loved and studied and celebrated, her parents cared for her so intensely---but on Monday a gull snatched the baby right from the mother's side and killed her, all captured on camera. I cried all day. Birds are quite caring parents and very actively will chase much larger birds.''
ReplyDeleteOh Lizzy, how upsetting when they had invested so much in their new chick only to have that gull snatch it. I'd have cried too . . .
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