Well. I don’t know where to start. There is a squirrel who is very keen on our bird feeders, and helps himself to as much as he can. However. There are also nesting magpies, who are very noisily protective of their young. Fair enough. I’ve seen them chase away a full grown cat, squawking like billy-o (the birds, not the cat), but yesterday things took a violent turn. They actually made contact with the squirrel (landed on his head!) while he was sitting in the tree contemplating how he was going to get into yet another new bird feeder (sold as squirrel-proof – bold, huh?!) so he ran down the tree and came and hid in the wisteria growing along our back wall.
That meant we had a jolly good view of his underside. He is actually a she, with young, I’d guess. Which would explain the persistence. She had a really good go at getting into the new bird-feeder, without success. We did consider putting out food for the squirrel, but decided she’d just eat that and then the bird food too.
The bird feeder actually does seem, so far, to be squirrel proof. She had a damn good go at it but failed.
I have another story about magpies. My daughter’s cat (JR) once managed to bring one in through their cat flap (how??), and it flapped around their bedroom, shitting the while, until her mother-in-law came to help. The bedroom actually needed redecorating! The magpie was unscathed, but very angry and vengeful. After that, the magpie and a magpie friend took it in turns to torment JR – they would sit on opposite ends of the shed roof, wait until JR ran towards one, then the other would creep up behind. And repeat, until the magpies were very close to JR and very noisy.
Meanwhile, here are more pictures of our garden. And a couple of herbs on our kitchen windowsill. The first one is basil, the second one is actually flat-leaf parsley, although I know it looks like coriander. The parsley will be planted outside shortly.








The decorating is coming along. Furniture in storage, decorating done, carpet chosen and awaiting fitting, then it’s curtains and re-upholstery. It’s going well, and in bite-size chunks, but still a bit much. We are at least able to sit in our lounge now, which we couldn’t for two evenings, so that’s an improvement. I’ll post before and after photos when it’s all done.
Normally with curtains I look for ready-made, and if I can’t find what I like, just buy the fabric and make them. But it’s too much now. So I’m working up to getting them made to measure. Mm.
This morning hubby and I went up to a National Trust property which is nearby. It has a moat! and the gardens are just delightful. Lots of big old trees. I love trees. All the lovely flowers, too. Why are my peonies not flowering like theirs? Huh?