But these fellas are always around since we dug the mini-pond last year.
The young House Martins have flown from their nest under the eaves. This was their first home, then another brood was raised in a nest at the other end of the house.
I watched the 100 plane flypast on TV but didn't see a single plane over here so they must have all gone back to their bases a different way to the day they practiced. Although if they had flown over I wouldn't have been able to run outside to see them because when I was watering the greenhouse plants on Monday night I must have moved wrong and my back went Ping, so I spent yesterday hobbling about slowly and very carefully, doing as little as possible and taking pain killers. How annoying and made me realise how vulnerable a person is on their own up the end of a lane! Hope it mends soon.......... I need to get the bathroom painted.
I don't often mention things going on in the world (especially politics or religion) but what wonderful news it was that the boys and their football coach were rescued safely from the cave in Thailand. Amazingly bravery all round.
And in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon - which rarely gets a mention but is great fun to watch - two young Brits beat the Number 1 seeds to get through to the Quarter Finals.
Oh and also welcome to new followers. I'm so excited as numbers are up to 400 which is only twenty less than the old blog and that took 4 years to get to 420 and this new blog is only 16 months old. (Childish I know............sorry!)
Back Soon
Sue
Not childish at all, it's lovely!
ReplyDeleteSorry to read about your back - like you, I hope it heals speedily and gives you very little trouble.
Re the bad back......I just get cross with myself for "letting" it happen, as I should do the exercises more often
DeleteHeather went out of mixed yesterday. Jamie out of men’s doubles, they just weren’t both up at the same time. Joe Salisbury also got through. Jay and Harriet very good as usual. Backs are awful when they go. Hope it unpings soon!
ReplyDeleteI wish it would un-ping as I'm not very good at patience and resting!
DeleteGood semis so far but predictable, good to see RF pushed to a 5th set
Oh spoke too soon - RF out big surprise!
DeleteHope your back problems resolve themselves soon. Hedgehogs in the garden used to be a regular sight in my previous home but I haven't seen one since moving five years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt is fantastic news about the Thai boys and their coach.
I'm not very good at resting with a bad back. I need more patience
DeleteWe have lots of (little) toads here around our shed in the garden. Due to a very small brook behind our house and wet ground.
ReplyDeleteI hope your back gets better very soon.
400! What a number, congratulations.
https://ruraltownliving.blogspot.com
We used to get more toads than frogs when we lived at the smallholding but haven't seen any here yet
DeleteWe have two ponds here - one with goldfish and the other smaller one is purely for wildlife. There are always lots of dragonflies, damselflies etc in the summer, water boatmen, bigger water beetles, plus newts, frogs and toads all laying their eggs there. We have had a few hedgehog visitors down the years but none recently (we would hear them rattling the cat bowl at the front of the house, where we feed Miffy (who doesn't want to be a House Cat).
ReplyDeleteAre your House Martins embarking on another brood? Our Swallows are and it is a joy to have them about the place. They are nesting in the hay barn, but sadly the cart shed Swallows must have perished over the Sahara trying to get here.
What a shame you didn't get your personal flypast. Hoping your back is better again today.
I tried to take a photo of a dragonfly on my sisters pond at the weekend but missed! The teeny pond here is too small and the big ditch over the lane has dried up now.
DeleteHedgehogs can be quite noisy at night with their snuffling
Cute little hedgehog. I haven't seen ours for ages. He used to go for a little walk round all the gardens just after teatime.
ReplyDeleteOh your poor back. Take it easy....the painting will wait.
Amazing and wonderful news about the boys and their coach.
Hugs-x-
I think they are suffering in this dry weather, I've put out a water bowl
DeleteNot childish at all, I was determined to be No.400 and succeeded,yay,so that makes two of us, hehe!
ReplyDeleteMust be the year for hedgehogs, after years and years of never seeing one, one suddenly appeared recently. I've since found out that I'm sharing him/her with my neighbour, she feeds it with cat food so all I do is make sure there is accessible water and hoping it'll deal with all the lovely slugs that are sure to start noshing as soon as we get rain.
Oh Congratulations and thank you for being number 400, there are even more today!
DeleteI would be thrilled to see a hedgehog in my garden toox
ReplyDeleteArilx
Have to be looking out at just the right moment to spot them I guess
DeleteI was walking up across the garden the other night and heard a lot of rustling in a hedge and assumed it was one of my cats and started talking to it. A large hedgehog emerged, not a cat. I see lots of them here, my garden appears to be a hedgehog highway as they cross from the land either side, not stopping here. I sit and watch them through my French doors without meaning to, they are just there. I am one of the few people who doesn't really like hedgehogs, seeing them as rats with spines. However, I am happy to see them thriving in these parts. After I read your blog yesterday morning and you mentioned the Flypast I made a decision to go and see it. Packed a pork pie and a bottle of water and went and caught the next train to London. Thanks to your early morning blog. I wouldn't have gone otherwise!
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of service! You must be close to a railway station.
DeleteI'm still out of action with sore back, sitting with ice packs in the hope that will help
8 miles to nearest station. I didn't need to be in London until 12.30 so bags of time. I knew of a place in Bethnal Green to watch from.
DeleteIf it is a strained muscle it will just have to take its time. It will get better.
Seeing your hedgehog made me feel sad for my just left cottage where hedgehogs were a common sight. Two words of warning, you probably know anyway so forgive me! Hedgehogs out in the day are not a good sign, was in the evening? And your mini pond hopefully has a way out if a hedgehog falls in? We used to watch hedgehogs drinking in our pond and one year a hedgehog would have an evening kip in my greenhouse, covering himself/herself with a cloth that was on the floor. One morning I found it halfway down the path, having obviously got caught in its prickles when it woke up. I do so miss my wonderful wildlife garden!
ReplyDeleteLX
No it was daytime, it was picking up bits from under the bird feeders. The hard ground means a shortage of worms I reckon. I put some water out in a dish and cat food over night.
DeleteDo you think if you had a mini pond in your front sitting area you would get frogs.......or crabs and starfish!!
A seal at the very least! Or maybe a cormorant might call?
DeleteLX
I've invested in a hedgehog house, someone wittily said yesterday, "is it semi-detached" but no hedgehogs as yet, we are down to about 50% of them, and our local sanctuary has about a dozen orphaned hoglets, plus underweight adults.
ReplyDeleteHope your back gets better by the way, poor you.
That is sad news about all the hedgehogs at the sanctuary - is that because of the heat? I hope there are plenty of hiding places for the hedgehogs around here in the wild bits of the meadow
DeleteEmpathy with your back, Sue, as I suffer periodically too. Super news about the boys and their coach but also thinking about The Navy SEAL who gave his life in peacetime. Your garden is such a wonderful wildlife sanctuary-we have foxes, squirrels and sometimes a very noisy badger in our urban garden.
ReplyDeleteI've had back problems on and off for many years but I'm supposed to do exercises and hadn't done lately so I must start again.This is the worst it's been for ages
DeleteYes it was very sad about the man who lost his life, I should have mentioned that too
I am pleased to say that over the past few years I have " saved" 3 hedgehogs. 2 little ones that the dog found in the garden late in the year that were too small to survive a hard winter...they went to a local lady who looked after them and released them in spring. The other had been left in a shoebox outside our local vet's surgery on a Saturday morning. Vet not open til Monday. Luckily I am nosey, and saw a note sticking out of the letter box, and realised what was going on. Phoned the main surgery and took the hog over there!
ReplyDeleteWell done for the hedgehog rescuing they need all the help they can get
DeletePS Hope the back feels better soon.
ReplyDeleteA good blogger deserves lots of followers and yours is what I call a good blog. Not controversial or political just lovely and warm and honest.
ReplyDeleteReally envious of you having your own hedgehog, I have only seen one once in my life and it looked like a toy trundling along.
Take it easy and the back will be fine, I suspect you are still a bit tense and trying to keep busy, look after yourself.
Briony
x
Thank you for those kind words, I think I am trying too hard to keep busy
DeleteNot childish at all, seeing numbers rise is always fun ... well unless you're at a checkout 😉
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see a hedgehog, it's one thing I've not seen yet here in Wales. Is there a ramp out of your little pond for it to use in case it falls in, or is it really shallow?
I found a frog having a soak in the dogs outdoor water bowl the other day ... he looked like he was sat in a little hot tub ☺ I gave him a bowl of his own in the herb bath just in case the dogs get annoyed.
There is a bit of wood in the pond to make a ramp for the frogs, luckily the hedgehog seems to stay around the other side of the house. I saw him/her again yesterday.
DeleteThe Frog in the 'Hot Tub' sounds like the title of a book for children!
Sue - that back injury is par for the course. When we are bereaved we soldier on sure that that is what they would have wanted us to do. But we are tense inside. Both of my widowhoods resulted in something that pulled me down - once a back injury, once a really bad cold. The doctor said it usually happens, so relax and take it easy for a day or two. By golly, reading what you are doing every day I would say you have earned it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Pat. I think I did a bit too much swimming all at once on Monday and I've been forgetting the back exercises lately too
DeleteHope the pain eases up soon. Try not to think of things you want to get done (because it simply makes you more tense), but think of healing as your top priority. Then put all those other things on a mental to-do list for next week.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I've been resting yesterday and today but I'm not very good at it.Trying icepacks and hot water bottles alternately to see if that will help
DeleteOh I would like very much to see a hedgehog but alas in this part of Ontario we don't get - we do get groundhogs which can be just cute. Yes it is the best feel good story in the news in months that very successful cave rescue! We get the odd toad in the garden not frogs.
ReplyDeleteHedgehogs were more common in the garden years ago, now a rare sight.
DeleteWatching the rescue in Thailand really brings it home just how much can be achieved when humans, no matter what their race or religion, work together toward a shared goal.
ReplyDeleteIf only working together in politics and religion would happen - but very unlikely I think
DeleteThat story of the rescued soccer boys had the world watching and praying that all would work out well. What a wonderful collaboration of mankind to get this done.
ReplyDeleteI speak to all my backyard furry and feathered friends also. I am not too keen on the snakes, though.
I'm glad I'm not the only one having a chat with wildlife!
DeleteAnd no mention o England playing in semi finals of World Cup?
ReplyDeleteThat rescue was amazing.
I will watch the football but with a book to read as well!
DeleteHow lucky to have those wonderful wildlife visitors, no chance of a hedgehog here we are all fenced in, I nearly had a rescue one to come and live with us as there are a lot with legs missing etc and looking for a caring home, but I decided to have chickens instead.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of people making a special hole in the fence for hedgehogs to go in and out! But that would let the chickens out so probably not a good plan!
DeleteWe don't have hedgehogs here, but they are so cute. Are they destructive in the garden? Four hundred followers? I couldn't even imagine! That's wonderful! -Jenn
ReplyDeleteNo not destructive, they are garden good guys!
Delete405 and rising! Well done!
ReplyDeleteHave you got any arnica, or arnica gel? I sometimes find that it helps. I love your handsome frogs - we usually have some, and some toads, not seen a single one this year, unfortunately.
I think it's SO cool that you have wild hedgehogs there! A friend of mine had one once and I got to see it and touch it and it was so spiky! Frogs are a good thing, you must have a good habitat to attract so many of them. We have frogs here but rarely see them. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteHad a hedgehog in the garden about 6 weeks ago first time I had seen one for about 5 years, here's hoping they are making a comeback I have plenty slug to keep them well fed. How lovely to have frogs in your pond isn't nature magical.
ReplyDeleteI have come to say hello after you visited my blog earlier today. My goodness the wildlife are busy in your garden! How lovely to see a hedgehog. We see cry few.
ReplyDeleteSorry that should read very few!
DeleteI have only just begun reading through your posts. You are a very funny lady . I love your sense of family and community. Love the pictures of the garden and those lovely churches. Look after yourself, grief is different for all of us. My hubby and I lost our elderly parents and then more of their families over the last 18 months or so and I do understand the 'fog'.
ReplyDeleteWe were so excited last year when we realised that we had a hedgehog visiting our garden regularly but we haven't see it at all this year, possibly because our neighbours have blocked the gaps in the boundaries between the gardens. Boo, hiss! I am so pleased that all have been rescued from the Thai caves, I really didn't think they would get them all out. Amazing. x
ReplyDeleteLovely photo of the hedgehog...we have footprints but as yet no food has gone...we will keep putting a little out just in case...I hope the wet concrete didn't put it off ever visiting us again! Deep freeze spray...instant relief x
ReplyDelete