Coal Tits for the first time

OOOOOHHHH today I had 2 Coal tits on my bird feeder, I was in the garden at the time without my camera :( At first I thought they were Great tits but noticed the real black markings on their head and the backs being more of a grey colour... It was only after searching on google images that i found out they were Coal tits, im thrilled! Just wish id of got a photo of them... hopefully they will be back when i can get my camera out.

We Had a snow flurry!

Well On Sunday 23rd November 2008 we had a snow flurry! I quickly filled all the bird feeders up.
It was a good job that I had cleared the garden up the day before, I also was going to clean out the middle pond but after scooping a few leaves out I found lots of baby newts amongst them so decided it was best to leave the pond as it was, just hope the baby newts survive I thought they hibernated amongst rocks and logs in the winter?
Also Today I saw a gull on my neibours roof, they dont usually settle near our gardens..have seen them flying over but never still.

Sparrow hawk Back!!

Look who is back!!... hope it doesnt bother my chickens !!

The weather this month has been lovely, think summer came a bit late! whats the betting it changes this week though as the kids are on school holiday for a week.

Also this week I have seen regular visits of the mistle thrush

The Chickens have sorted the pecking order out atlast!

Well the chickens have atlast sorted out the "pecking order" so to say, Millie is top dog then molly, then polly, then dolly, then holly, they seem to be able to roam around the garden now without the visous fighting!. Im still getting 2 eggs a day aswel, even though they are in moult (they are from Millie and Molly the Amber stars) I cant wait for the "Black Rocks" to lay but i suppose it will be spring before they do!
Elsewhere in the garden... I have seen the sparrow hawk back lovely to seee but im really worried about the little birds now :(
Autumn is realy here too as the trees are turning beautiful colours, also droping their leaves everywhere, which the chickens love when i brush them all up and put in to a pile, they then like to scrat through them scattering them about again!..lol

And another Chicken!!!

Well on the 12Th October I went to the "East of England Autumn show" and when I went to the chicken section, I mention to one of the owners that I was having trouble with the Amber lees not taking to the Black rocks and that "Dolly" the one who has a sore back and gets bullied severely was really depressed, guess what he said.... "Add another"!!! well i couldn't resist so ended up with another "Black rock" who we have called "Holly", so now we have Millie,Molly,polly,Dolly and Holly, the pecking order began again but 2 days later 4 of the hens were getting on great apart from "Dolly" the one with the sore back... she still spends most of the time in the pen on her own :( so im wondering if i should maybe send her back to where she came from :(
below are a couple of pictures.

2 more Hens

Well I couldnt resist... I got another 2 hens on Friday 3rd October 2008 , the are "BlackRocks", I brought them from a lady who owns a garden center called "Algrips", she only charged me £2 each for them. One though had got a sore back apparently from the cockeral they had, they do this I read, poor things! Trouble was when I put them will my other 2 hens Millie and Molly they just kept attacking them, Molly especially went for the one with the sore back, I know this is called the "Pecking Order" but its awful to watch and it must be soooo painful for the hen herself :( hopefully they will settle very soon!

Spiders webs are everywhere!

Well my garden seems to be full of spiders webs everywhere, not nice when you walk in to them though! the weather has been a bit nicer today so the chickens have been free ranging in the garden and seem to be loving it, not sure my grass is as happy though with them scratching it up :(

I have pickled some beetroot today from what i have grown up the allotment and have prepare what we call an allotment dinner, to see those pictures go to my allotent blog.. link on the right.

There doesnt seem to be many birds around today ive noticed, not sure why, the bird feeders are all full! also havent seen any baby frogs for a while so they are either hiding or hybinating

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