All behind with the news and musings

It has been impossible to get on here and write for the past few days which is really frustrating because I wanted to write some entries about my recent jaunts out.  So my blog will now forever be lacking my tale of trees full of fledglings at Hickling and stunning close views of Marsh Harrier and Treecreeper at Strumpshaw fen.  Or that they have Spotted Flycatcher nesting at the centre.  Not to mention the late afternoon walk that Action Dog and I had in the woods and saw a baby Muntjac.

Ah well, I will write about today instead.  Another of Action Dog and I's forays into the woods.  We walked out as far as the lake today and managed to find a short cut which misses out the last windy bit of path.  I am not sure how much shorter it was but it felt a lot shorter.  All along the way there were dozens of fledgling Great Tit.  Nothing else just them!  I am sure I read of heard somewhere that the adults like to feed the young on grubs which are only found on Sycamore trees.  If this is right, and I really must check up on it, then my wood is ideal for Great Tit chicks because it has tons of Sycamore in it.  I can be flash and say that now that the Tree Surgeon has given me my tree ID lesson! 

At the lake we (that is Action Dog and I) were watching young coot and dragon flies when I noticed a small brown bird whizzing over the lake out of the corner of my eye.  Upon closer inspection it was a Kingfisher, my first this year!  Some little brown bird!!  It just goes to show how mad their colouring is that they can appear brown when they are so dazzling.  No wonder they can look so inconspicuous in a tree.  I watched him zoom up and down for several laps of the lake before he finally shot into a bush and vanished.  Action Dog was not impressed and prefers squirrels.

When we got back to our garden I had a peep with bins down the side of the summerhouse to see how Sunny was getting along.  She was not on the eggs so I had a closer peep.  I was amazed to see that four of the eggs had hatched.  At least I assume they have hatched because the end is off them.  There was no sign of Sunny or chicks so I can only assume that the information I read was correct and the mother leads the chicks away very soon after birth.  I can also only assume that the eggs left behind were sterile.  I will check again later but it all seems a bit of an anticlimax.  The amazing thing is that earlier today she was sitting on the eggs with no sign or sounds of chicks.

The other hot news is that we now have a pond.  Not an massive 6000 gallon Koi pond like in the last house but a lovely modest little pond with no filtration which will hopefully attract frogs and newts not to mention somewhere for the birds to drink from.  Also not to mention somewhere for the Grandkids to fall into especially the accident prone little one.  It's not very deep so they will only get wet and muddy if they do fall in. 

I am sitting here looking out of my study window and can see a female Pheasant.  This is a great rarity lately.  I have seen Hoppy and Luke a couple of times in the last few weeks but no females.  I found out that the gamekeeper rounds them all up at laying time and puts them in the big pens I saw in the forest so that they can hatch their chicks safely.  I would love to know how she rounds them all up, it gives me visions of her charging all over the forest in her buggy with a lassoo.  I will be glad when she lets them all out although the Tree Surgeon's dad tells me I may be asked not to go into the wood for a while after that so that I don't disturb the birds.  Then what will I do???