Joys of Winter

so you have.
there are lots of LBjs that are hard to identify. warblers for instance... so useful catchall term.
Welcome Back super
Oh the red kites are wonderful. They are carrion eaters I believe so unlikely to attack LBJs . But if people teach them to associate food with proximity of humans they will be a nuisance . Like gulls are in some places. I saw one fly past and nick a sandwich out of a girl's hand not so long ago in NSW. Tourists think they are cute and feed them.
I have seen them to the north, south and west of here, but still hoping they will hit town, or at least come over to say hello...

Jess... I think I've done it, can't manage the photos tho yet!

Jess.... very late reply.... when I learn how to do it!

Annobel

Lovely poems, both of you. Glad you and bloshy cat are in good shape, super.

Lovely bagitha We've lost a willow, but the birds' cherry tree is still standing, thanks to being tethered by rope and anchored by concrete blocks.

Went out with a hedge cutter
To trim the Golden Bush
That is leaning at an angle now
After that wind hit it smack.
But it rained
So the hedge cutter went away and I
Went out with a rake
And a wheelbarrow and a bucket –
Soon filled respectively with dead fern
And stems and soggy grass
And blown off twigs of a half dead
Bird cherry that blossoms each year
From its dead half
With honeysuckle, holly, and cowberry,
And sometimes, in summer, in the middle of that
With eggs laid by a sunbathing hen.

What an experience you've had, Supernana! Mother nature certainly knows how to cast her opinion occasionally doesn't she?! Welcome back.
Hope you're not too busy picking up the pieces, and pleased to know that Bloshy Cat is doing his thing.

Lovely to have you back At Last too, super.

LBJs are Little Brown Jobs (garden birds). They can be anything you like.

Lovely - you and bloshy cat safe and sound

Wonderful word pictures from my special friends.

At last
I can stand against the mighty wind
That has felled trees - demolished sheds - cast litter
Far and wide.
At last
The drenching rain
That has made a moat of our garden
Filled ditches
Created waterfalls
Swamped fields
Has ceased for a time.
At last
The angry sea
Permits the gulls to feast
And soothes the battered beach
With gentle swell.
At last
The islands step from behind
A curtain of heavy mist
As if to take a bow.
At last
The bloshy cat
Has stepped across the threshold
And sits - as only a cat can
With a superior grin
Upon his big black face.
At last
I'm back with you
Another reason to be glad.

Right-o Bags. Just read your other thread. So, what are LBJs? (thought I was being thick)

There's a school round there somewhere Annobel where the kids are scared to eat anything outside because the red kites were snatching their food! That does get a bit scary!

Last time we were in Suffolk Bags they had a campaign going to stop the re-introduction of sea eagles. The farmers were worried about the lambs.

You can't look out of the window in Didcot without seeing those red kites. Some foolish people leave scraps of meat on their shed roof for them!

Mind you, they'd be OK in our 'garden', but I think we're a bit too far north for them. We've had a sea eagle (scared the geese and the hens ran for cover), goshawk, buzzards (all the time), kestrels, sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons. Also tawny owls. Lots of the lovely little LBJs as well though.

That's good to hear, jings, both about the red kites and your newly acquired ability to protect your wee feathered friends. I guess you're right in the middle of an important red kite territory. Used to love seeing them above the A40 when we lived in Oxon. Fabulous birds but not ones you want in the garden! People shouldn't feed them but I can understand the temptation to do so.

If you see this Bagitha, can I say how glad I am I got that bird table with the "cage" over it that you linked to a week or so back. There were two huge Red Kites swooping over our garden this morning! The neighbours must have put some scraps out and the kites were trying to get up the courage to land and eat them, along with a load of seagulls.

Not too keen on having either of those in the garden tbh.

There's something about the language he uses that makes the scale very accessible. Good for DD3! Occasionally I've had a fancy for a rain gauge and I was given one for Christmas...

we were looking at the wiki entry the other day. Fascinating.

Love your loosely woven basketry of twigs, butty. We have that outside our bedroom window too and because of that and seeing the stars, I open our curtains after I switch out the light so that I can see both when I wake in the night. The tree is a good indicator of wind strength as well.

Talking of which DD3 surprised me the other day with her knowledge of the Beaufort Wind Scale as judged from the state of the sea. [impressed too]

Brings a smile, doesn't it, Ariadne.

AND, I have two very small roses on one of the old bushes! Saw them as I looked down on the garden.

You've been looking at some lovely birds, JessM. Can't beat a flock of lapwings with their flash. I miss being by water - maybe in another life!

butternut
Lovely jog round the big lake today
Calm and sunny
Swans, geese, ducks and coots
A flock of lapwings high over the water
And even a little white egret
Walking delicately on water (weed)