h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Hope the side effects won't be bad.

Even more felt symphony then .
I can really feel for you. I need to check with the quaky but I think my finger joints are going that way. They certainly didn't like that cold spell, and hurt like if I bang them... The joys of being an eternal teenager! At least in the mind...

Think I need to recycle my body, but I would have liked a chance to have at least cycled it first!!!

Sending positive thoughts (and a robin ) your way!

Gentle

MMF

Thanks B'el.

MMF, i hope you're not getting arthritis, it's horrible and i would'nt wish it on anyone
Cold weather can affect it, especially if it's damp aswell. Though for some reason mine does'nt respond to weather, just does whatever it likes.

For the Robin, i'll send you another batch of 'C's'

Venus.

You got a pheasant Now that's something, though they are appearing in gardens more and more it seems. A friend even had two on the roof of her house!

I fancy a peacock myself. There have been a number of cases of peacocks dropping in to gardens in our area, and some have stayed quite a while. The strange thing is no-one claims ownership yet they must have come from somewhere. Unless there are enough on the loose to breed!

Is it rheumatoid or osteo arthritis you have? Not nice whichever. Mine is osteo, and a real nuisance in the damp and cold. Summer (well what passes for Summer) is a bit better.

Take care,

Websailor

Webbie.
Yes, there is a beautiful male pheasant thats visits occasionally. I've tried to get photos of him, but he's not the most co-operative of birds and legs it as soon as he sees me. I managed to get a fuzzy shot of him sitting on the fence, not good enough to view though.

Theres a village a few miles from here thats been plagued by peacocks for years. Apparently it started of with just 3 of them flying around and squawking at the first sign of dawn. They've ended up with approx 10 of them, they have bred quite well. One of the ladies i work with lives in the village. she said that they have attacked small dogs, damaged gardens and congregated on roofs for a sing-song. I think i'll stick to the pheasants.

It's rheumatoid that i have, which is not nice as it does'nt confine itself to attacking the joints, it likes to attack internal organs aswell So far i've been lucky with the internal stuff, it's only affected my thyroid as yet. Yesterday i had the pleasure of more steroid injections to try and ease this flare-up. The injections are really painful, but the results when they work are great.
Stay warm and dry this time of year, it will help with the pain and summer is'nt that far away now (yippeeee)

Venus, that has put a new comlexion on the Peacock issue. Perhaps I should be careful what I wish for as most of my wishes have come true apart from the Green Woodpecker!

I thought it might be rheumatoid from what you said before. I am so sorry, that is no fun, at such an early age too. It must make your job doubly difficult. Do you have to do much heavy stuff?

I do hope your injections work quickly. I hope too that your angiogram next week is clear. I try to stay warm and dry, but feeding birds and badgers means going out in all weathers, and shopping is a bind as I don't have a car, but it is all exercise which helps.

Take care.

Websailor

Webby, don't mention the 'B' word... Venus will have an attack of the vapours or somesuch!

Don't know which she dislikes more! 'B's for digging up her garden and destroying her orchids, or 'C's just for being 'C's!!!

She'll gladly swap them for you!

MMF

You're getting to know me pretty well MMF. For that i'll hunt you out a few more 'C's' as a special

Sorry Webbie, i'm not a big fan of the brocks. There is a sett somewhere in the vicinity and the residents like to dig craters under my fence, huge craters in my flowerbeds and lawn and digging up my prized lilies! I'll swap you my badgers for something less destructive?

Oh, I see! Venus, I suppose if they do that to you they are not going to be popular. For three and a half years ours have behaved, so I am ok with it. But then, my garden leaves very little of interest for them, except the bird food and as far as I am aware they don't visit our immediate neighbours. There are about a hundred setts hereabouts and many people are used to having them visit. I suspect it depends how much freedom they have. Some are encircled by housing etc. which is bound to be a problem. Ours are free.

There was a bit in the paper the other day, where a family had them in their garden digging up things so I see your point.

Thanks for the tip-off MMF.

Websailor

*Whispers* What are the C's that you don't like either? Could I take some off your hands . Just so long as r-a-t-s are not mentioned.

Websailor

Webby, just in case Venus is around...

If I were to mention "Sorting the wheat from the Ch***", and double that last word, but inserting 'I' instead of the other vowel, you'd have it... Latin name: Phylloscopus collybitus


Venus, turn your ears away NOW!

Bird call - http://www.virtual-bird.com/songs/phylloscopus-collybitus.mp3



MMF

Whoops, it is then. Thank you dear MMF, A bit convoluted but I think I get the message. Just as well she doesn't follow my thread then

Websailor

'Ahem' It's too late, i now have the dreaded sound in my head! Onced tuned into a Chiff-chaff you can never tune out

I would'nt mine the badgers, if they did'nt do so much damage. I know they are only looking for worms and grubs and have no idea how much destruction they cause.

Have i missed an interesting thread somewhere?

I did say 'turn your ears away NOW!'

Anyway, at least it is one bird you'll recognise from a thousand paces!

MMF

The thread in question is definitely one of the most interesting on the planet Venus - Three years old and counting... http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1694533?thread=745775&show=20&skip=5780#pi5788

Sorry, Venus, I think your garden must be just too tasty Do the dreaded visitors have a lot of natural space, or are they restricted? Ours have free range.

As for the interesting thread it is not my place to say, but Scorp has very kindly done it for me. Enjoy if you can bear it Read the first few posts and then jump to the end 5787 posts is a bit much to catch up on

The badgers haven't been for two nights, which might mean they have gone to sleep. We are in the midst of a great deal of unusual activity at the moment, about which I cannot speak which may be preventing them from coming. We shall have to see. There will be no food out tonight, but they will leave their calling card if they come! No, not that sort, they are very clean, but they tip my table over.

If you have time to browse you can see some pix here - click on McWebbie's Bistro here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/websailor/



Websailor

Oh you know what it's like MMF, someone posts a link and you just find yourself clicking on it Maybe i was having Chiff-chaff withdrawal?

Thanks for that link Scorpio, it's a bit long so i don't think i'll bother with the backlog

Webbie
The badgers have a whole orchard to roam and it's a big orchard too. The farmers that own the orchard are very wildlife friendly, using very few chemicals where possible. So it's an ideal place for the badgers to forage, but they are obviously not satisfied with just the orchard
I always thought that badgers hibernated? There has'nt been an activity in my garden since October. Maybe it's the unusual activity thats keeping the badgers away?
I will have a proper look at your photos on the weekend, it's my weekend off so i will have some leisure time. My concentration is'nt very good just now, after a full day at work.

That's ok Venus, no rush, you don't have to look if you don' want to.

Strictly speaking badgers do not hibernate. Their time underground is governed by temperature above ground and availability of food. The fact that we feed them daily means they know food is there if they want it, so perhaps we are disturbing the natural order of things a bit! From mid March to mid December they rarely miss a night unless there is unusual activity in the form of humans. Then they start missing the odd night, sometimes two or three then they disappear completely till mid March. Of course that may also be because after two or three missed nights I tend to stop feeding

The sows are usually underground anyway as this is the time they have their cubs, and we often only see males or 'single' females (as not pregnant) till late May.

I am not feeding them tonight but I will know if they have been. As I said there has been so much unusual day and night activity round here this last week that it may be putting them off.

I have to say, watching them nightly, they appear a mixture of pig and bear, and are most amusing to watch. It is the pig side of them that destroys plants, lawns etc. as they forage for worms and anything else that takes their fancy. We give them a huge assortment of food rather than the standard peanuts and raisins. Like bears they love honey, or molasses but it is bad for their teeth

Have a nice relaxing weekend if you can and take care.

Websailor

I had a look at your photos, how do you manage to get so close to the birds? All i've managed to photograph clearly so far is the Robin.
How many hours did you wait to catch those badgers and foxes on camera? You have some lovely photos there and i'm totally envious that you have Bullfinches visiting your garden.

I think the badgers that visit my garden are 90% pig and 10% mole