Weekly Six 17th - 23rd September 2007

Item 3: The Big Knit

Innocent drinks are making excellent progress with their big knit campaign and in tribute to the fabulous contribution of hats made by Bowledover I would like to post these pictures.

I am afraid that Parp was not available to model them but he knew of this fabulous group of extras passing through the area who were happy to assist.

They have kindly agreed to model the hats throughout this posting.

Some of the wardrobe displayed today is from the Caged Minutes Collection circa 1980. My thanks to Bowledover and Mac's Niece.

Item 4: Birds Update

I have great news on the bird front. The one legged starling is alive and well, and was recently spotted feeding on our bird table. There is no end to that bird species talents.

Additionally the jackdaws have returned much to our delight.

Our neighbour has had to block off her chimneys due to the many years they have been nesting there and they disappeared for a few months after she did it. It had to be done and I wondered how they would react.

I am therefore happy to see them return to the area, their descent into the garden for food is always nothing short of expert and graceful.

And finally we had two interesting visitors to our garden this morning, the heron and a sparrow hawk! I do not anticipate the heron making this a regular stop off due to the size of our garden and lack of pond; the sparrow hawk visits every 4 or 5 months. His entrance is preceded by a simultaneous emptying of the garden by all winged visitors!

It's been a great year for the birds, although our gold finches disappeared while we were on holiday (we returned late August) and the niger seed has been untouched since then. Has anyone else have that?

Item 5: New Things.

Sunpat and I treated ourselves to some new things recently. Our families do not live in the really immediate vicinity and therefore visiting is not as often as we would all like.....I am fairly sure we are all in agreeance there!!! So I thought I would post some pictures of the new things so they can all have a look.

Garden table and chairs.

Planter with juniper and heather at the front.

Door stop. This chappie originated from Dun Vegan on the Isle of Skye, home of the McClouds.

Item 6: Frog

I spotted this chap in our garden this morning. We have seen frogs here before however none this big and we don't see them too often. It has been suggested to me that this may be why the heron is visiting but I really don't think the heron will be able to land on the ground here, he's just too big!

Anyway, we do have a small water feature: a barrel with a rustic tap over it, which is good for breeding insects and associated predators so I'll keep my eye out for another siting there.