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

Hope you're feeling much better today WS.I dread migraine attacks
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Thanks Smurfles,

Much better thanks. Thank goodness they are few and far between these days. I used to get two or three a month, lasting for 3/4 days. This one lasted just a day but has left me feeling like a wet rag. I swear it is my body doing a detox!! Have never been able to pinpoint the cause unfortunately.

Websailor

They do seem to lessen as we get older,but they leave me feeling for a couple of days.I really sympathise with you,mine usually affect my arm and leg..they go all weak and wobbly,but the aura is quite pretty
So glad you're okay though.
As an added thought,i got my first one when i was pregnant!!!

Afternoon WS et-al!

This has nothing to do with badgers; but I thought it might amuse.

Yesterday, I was just driving out of the car park of a large supermarket chain, when a blackbird came out of the bushes and ran across the road right in front of me to some other bushes on the opposite side. He didn't offer to fly. Naturally I stopped and waited for him to cross - He was on a car park zebra crossing after all I had tears in my eyes from laughing for ages.

A blackbird with road sense scorp.....that's lovely

Scorp, they are such aristocratic birds aren't they, so they would expect traffic to stop!!!

Lovely story.

Websailor

Given that we now have a Harry person, you will realise that his main joy in life - apart from sleeping and eating prawns - is catching birds. (one of these days I'll kill the little bas***d)

So! We have done rather well today - himself happily snoozing on the sofa/settee whatever you wish - we have been visited by four blackbirds, one dunnock (who unfortunately kept being bullied by a male house sparrow) three collared doves, snarlings too numerous to mention, two robbins, three blue-tits and a jenny wren in the hedge/border for quite a while.

Later on, I refilled the bird table with seeds various, robin mix, soaked sultanas, re-hydrated mealworms and last but not least some grated cheese. Now! if you are not a 'cat person' you will probably not know that cats love cheese. At some point I looked out of the kitchen window and said to SS "have you seen that Bl**dy cat?" Harry had gone from a large pile of slabs waiting to be laid and landed in the middle of the bird table - again - he was merrily muching the damned cheese. As if we don't feed him at least three times a day, you'd think he was half starved.

Oh thanks for the warning Scorp, I didn't know cats love cheese, though I had learnt that the raisins/sultanas can give them kidney problems, so if you can't stop him pinching stuff you might find the job has been done for you. Oh, Scorp, you wouldn't .....would you

I am not a person, but would never hurt one deliberately, though I can't vouch for PHM if he was enough!

Websailor

Scorp, you have brightened my day . The blackbird you were telling us about made me , and then Harry eating the food that you put out for the birds .

I would like a cat, sitting on my bed while I'm typing away purring .
It took me a few years to persuade mom and dad to let me have a , a cat, definitely not .

Trouble is you don't get much response from a except the odd bubble or splash .

Take care.

Nigel

I'm afraid that for me, a cat is a 'must have' My real own puss is now 18 years old and spends 99.9% of his time fast a bye byes on my bed. He hates Harry with a vengeance - if you have never heard a cat growl, it is a thing to behold! Harry is terrified of Moppet

Fri. 7th Mar. 08
Weather: Bright and breezy

There was no sign of activity last evening but by 3.20am both the table and dish had been cleared, though again there was no sign of the culprit

This morning I woke to rain but in a very short time the sun was out and the birds were nagging for food. I got it all ready and took it outside and after a few minutes I was serenaded by the most beautiful song, or call. I stood still and looked up to see where the sound was coming from. A small bird was singing its’ heart out at the top of the stagshorn tree. The sun was making it difficult to identify the bird, so I waited and watched and sure enough it landed on a feeder and it was a nuthatch . I have never heard one sing like that, it made my day.

You can hear a bit of it here:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/n/nuthatch/index.asp

but mine had a double note, so it was more of a song than that call, but so loud and clear and much prettier.

Blue s, robin, 4 blackbirds, starlings, chaffinches and great tits dashed around. One collared dove, one bullfinch, and a woodpecker appeared at 9.28am. Then a magpie, three long tailed tits and two wood pigeons joined three squirrels, the latter getting shouted at by PHM for digging in the flower tubs and around the snowdrops

I am short of badger food and peanuts due to a delayed delivery (don’t ask) so I am taking Badger Trust advice and not making them dependent on us too much. I am feeding alternate nights for a short while so they have to go hunting for themselves, but I am sure they will pay a call and find something to amuse them - like digging up what passes for a lawn Everyone else’s lawn is growing furiously but ours is still short and neat (if you don’t look too closely).

There is still plenty of bird food fortunately so they are .

*See* you all tomorrow - keep ing - you never know what might appear next



Websailor

I was out in the garden this evening and the birds were singing, it is lovely to hear them .

This morning, after the rain stopped , I heard a lovely array of bird song .

Anyway, off to my comfy bed. My legs are really hurting me tonight .

Take care.

Nigel

Nite nite. Don't let the bed bugs bite

WS

There's that young lady again, checking that I am behavin meself .

I'm here....still ing!!
It's dull and cold this morning,the birds are quiet,and i've never seen so many frogs.I don't mind an odd couple in the pond,but thirty or forty

Ah frogies!
I love frogs, sadly there is no pond in my garden. I saw some last sunmmer in a still stream on my walk but non there the other day.
Apparantly there are some with bodies around 6 inches in the reservoir I go to which sounds a ridiculous lenght until I saw the photo from there of an enormous frog in a very large water birds beak. I think the man mentioned the name Bull Frog, but not certain.

Sounds as if you could be right. Take a look here and take a closer look at the reservoir next time you visit

http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/bullfrog.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5008940.stm


Websailor

It is very windy and dull here too Saturday morning, and threatening rain.
There is the usual Blue Tits flying around fast and loads of Starlings with a lone male Chaffinch in the bare Oak tree in my garden. I have openned my window a little to hear the starlings chattering away with their pips and pops. I never used to look at them but did recently and noticed their greeny speckly appearance and was impressed. I was looking at one in particular and noticed as its head was raised to call that their neck feathers lift up and quiver to their call in waves, quite far eastern looking really and more something you would expect to see there, a bit like the unexpected raising of head feathers on a Jay when agitated, one of the little quirks of nature in Britain that is unexpected but very welcome.

Smurfles, that's a lot of frogs! I haven't seen any yet. I usually get tiny babies hiding on my patio, and later I get bigger ones plodding around on humid nights, especially if I have used the hose.

I hope you don't get big ones like SS mentioned. I am afraid that would be too much for me

Websailor

I love it when the jay displays like that. I always think they should have a Sherlock Holmes hat and pipe. They can look cross too. The blue tits also have a little crest that is visible in the breeding season which makes them look so different.

PHM, my other half, goes ballistic at the starlings, being messy as they are, but they fascinate me. They are intelligent, and so colourful at this time of year, purple and green with white speckles, glossy and translucent, yet most people see them as just black. Then come the brown babies, who gradually turn in to speckly juveniles, with all a juvenile's bad habits!

It is the beginning of a fascinating time of year for bird watchers. Hope you find more excitement in the coming months.

Websailor