Diving into that book again for another blog post about a garden visitor.
Here's the illustration by Artist and Printmaker Carry Ackroyd from my book 'A Sparrow's Life's as Sweet as Ours'
The page opposite the picture tells me..........
Nest boxes, so popular with blue tits, were a C19 German introduction taken over by the British. Our related obsession to feed songbirds dates from the cruel winter of 1890/91, when British newspapers urged readers to save the starving avian population. The UK spends £200 million per annum on bird food, more than the rest of Europe put together. Of this, the Blue Tit, most numerous of the titmice tribe at 3 million, is the prime beneficiary.
And here are my photos of Blue Tits in the garden.
Day 8 and the Value Range Experiment main meal looked rather messy and definitely not for the food connoisseur!. It was one small onion, part can of corned beef, more of the tinned potatoes and the final tomatoes from the can started the other day. The first three fried to make a tasty hash. Everything apart from my own onion were from the Value Supermarket Ranges costing pence.
As it was the day we had snow and really cold winds it felt like what's often called comfort food.
Rest of corned beef used in sandwiches for several days.
Anyone watch the last ever Endeavor on Sunday night - very clever I thought. I read all the Morse books as they appeared back in the day and we watched the many series, wondering about re-reading the books - although I've got plenty of books to read for the first time, so maybe not.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I watched the last Endeavour with baited breath, poor Fred. The last shot was just wonderful, I was waiting for the jag to turn red! Brilliant writing and will be greatly missed. Hope they show last 3 episodes again, I don’t have catch up facility but would love to repeat. Sarah Browne.
ReplyDeleteHope you get to watch again - sure to pop up somewhere again
DeleteYour dinner looks absolutely delicious. I love corned beef hash! xx
ReplyDeleteIt's not part of my usual eating but it was tasty
DeleteI thought the final Endeavour was excellent. So many little nods to other tropes from the series(eg the unfinished crossword) and yes, the two cars passing on the road to Blenheim was brilliant. Very glad that Thursday's departure was as it was (no spoiler here) I think Colin Dexter would have been very happy with it.
ReplyDeleteI still think it's a pity he put that bit in his will about NO More Morse. No chance of a new version for 70 years!
DeleteI like all the titmice, such busy little birds.
ReplyDeleteThey are in the garden everyday and love the feeders
DeleteI can't remember the last time I cooked a corned beef hash. It used to be one of our staples.
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning Endeavour. I shall try to find it on iplayer.
The final 3 there will ever be of Endeavor - sad really
DeleteYes, it was brilliant. We used to watch ‘Morse’ in the 1980s on a Wednesday night with supper on our laps in my husband’s flat in Blackheath - rushing around with trays during the ad breaks. I didn’t have a TV until 1990 so watching ‘Morse’ on a large colour TV was a highlight of my week. Husband went ‘up’ to Oxford from Chichester High in 1972 and it is a city I know well from our children studying and now working there. It is a city designed for cyclists nowadays so the jaguar would be completely out of place. That reminds me of the evening we watched an episode of Endeavour being filmed in one of the narrow side streets. Between each take the car had to be painstakingly and with difficulty driven back to the starting point! The least pretty dishes are always the most delicious, you should have seen my quinoa and beetroot salad yesterday. Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteI've never been to Oxford, we always avoided cities when on holiday - too busy after our quiet country smallholding
DeleteI watched a lot of Morse in it's day but have never got into Endeaver. I have also never seen a Bluetit before, thanks for the picture, they are lovely
ReplyDeleteThey are tiny little birds and always around somewhere
DeleteSue, thank you for being a daily blessing 😊 always love to read you’re blog posts. Will be making some of the Hash this week.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your lovely comment, I'll keep writing while people keep reading!
DeleteCornbeef hash - lovely! Also nice with beetroot in it, which I think is then called red flannel hash? And just had a childhood flashback, begging mum to let me open the cornbeef tin with the little key 😆
ReplyDeleteCorned beef tins are quite lethal - but still have that key
DeleteWe also enjoyed the programme that was on later with interviews with the cast of all the Morse, Lewis and Endeavour series. Who knew that Sean Evans is from Liverpool? The programme was on at 10.20 on Sunday evening but we recorded it and watched yesterday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI saw that programme mentioned - will look it up on ITVX
DeleteLike Jenny P I can't seem t get into Endeavour - at times with the sixties vibe it felt a bit like Heartbeat to me but I think I should give it another go as I do love Morse!
ReplyDeleteAs always, the bird illustrations are lovely
Alison in Wales x
I was dubious about Endeavor to start with but have enjoyed them all over the last few years
DeleteI have never seen Endeavor, even though I used to love Morse. I think it would be a bit late to start watching them now. I'm currently re-watching Luther, although not just before I go to bed, some of them are very gory!!
ReplyDeleteAll the Endeavor series are on ITVX I think. Hope the new Luther film gets available free somewhere sometime
DeleteWe have onnly seen the first season of Endevour so there will be more to look forwrad to. Love the bird photos and I was so obsessed with the book Posh Toast you mentioned the other day that I bought it. Coming in the mail for me soon.
ReplyDeleteYou have several seasons to watch and catch up on. The final 3 were series 9
DeleteYour bird feeders are attracting some lovely birds. Saving of the Blue Tits in England is an interesting story and although I knew my British relatives enjoy feeding the birds, I had no idea that most Brits do as well. Corned Beef is tasty. Corned Beef and Cabbage boil is popular for St. Patrick's day. I've made this before and love how the corned beef flavors all the vegetables included in the boil. It is snowing here. It rained heavily all night and then at 9 AM everything went to heavy snow. It does not look like March!
ReplyDeleteI don't see as many birds here as we did at the smallholding, but there we were in open country, here there are houses probably feeding birds all around
Deletewe just don't have as many birds this year not sure why. But these are very pretty
ReplyDeleteCathy
Lots of Blue tits around here - always on the feeders - sweet little things
DeleteWe are finally seeing some birds here. Juncoes haven't left yet, but robins are starting to arrive. It's been very quiet since climate change storms might have changed the migration patterns.
ReplyDeleteI shall have to look up Juncoes!
DeleteHaven’t caught up with the new series of Endeavour yet but will.
ReplyDeleteWas up in your neck of the woods today, church crawling. Have you been to Gipping church? Not far from you and is quite special. Only trouble was getting home, had difficulty getting out of Stowmarket due to closed roads. We hit three diversions, then it started snowing, the the lower tyre pressure warning came on! But it was worth it.
Gipping was one I visited just before Colin died so would have been early 2018.
DeleteHave to go to Stow myself this week - hope I can find a way there! road closures are a pain, I'm always glad I know my way round so many little back roads
This time the small backroads seem to be closed as well. On the upside we went past “you know nothing Jon Snow’s” house and saw it was being rethatched. We were rethatched a couple of years ago and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone!
DeleteGame of thrones reference if you haven’t seen Sue
We haven't gotten the new series here yet, but now I can hardly wait to see it.
ReplyDeleteVery well done with the experiment so far.
God bless.
Your photos are gorgeous. I ended up buying that book after seeing it on your blog. It has the most fantastic photos in it and was well worth the cost!
ReplyDeleteI also like all the snippets of information that you wouldn't find in normal bird books
DeleteWe have enjoyed all the series of Endeavor and the final 3 episodes were very satisfying. Now I wouldn't mind watching a repeat of every Morse episode ever made. Some progs (like Midsomer Murders) are fine to be watched on endless repeat!
ReplyDelete