How is everyone - all nature lovers?

[alfieblue]

Hi Ray, Lottie, Yogasun, Klieber, ruthann, madaboutscats, and everyone else - apologies - senior moment - but I know you are all out there.

How are you all doing?

Beaut day here in the south, (well on and off sunny and cloudy but no rain at the mo!) (although now it is getting a wee bit cloudy) robins still bomb diving pup cos they are still feeding their chicks!!!. Bless him - they head for his rear end - he scuttles in - but off out he goes - (short term memory!!!). Just like his mum!!!

Still got lots of visitors - greenfinches, tits, frogs etc etc. Yellow beak has not returned yet, but am keeping fingers crossed. Loads of blackbird chicks (fat little critters) in the garden. Pigeons are still crash landing into the bird bath Lol - regular filling required!!!

Dont know where my hoggies have gone but slugs are having a field day with the plants!! I now have stalks - and very attractive they are too!!!

Anyway - am going to take a sabatical for few weeks. Sadly have lost a friend to cancer this weekend - mid forties - he lost the battle. its too much to go into but there are kiddies etc so have got to focus on the family. He was their daddy. Life can be so harsh sometimes.

Going to take a few wee weeks off to focus on the family and get my head round it all and give all the support i can.

Hope you are all well - best wishes to you all. With love - alfieblue n my beloved pup and my big kids.

Pup smile: :o=) xxxxxxx

[bensmum]

Good afternoon alfie - sorry to hear your news, as you say life can be very harsh and seemingly very unfair at times.
I think you live in the same part of the country as me (near New Forest?) so yes it is a lovely day here. I still have all the regulars out in the garden. We have lots of dunnocks this year as well as sparrows and blackbirds. I have sited my bird feeders in a different place in the garden so they are not quite so visible from the house. I haven't noticed so many blue and great tits as a result but I can hear them. Also have lots of goldfinches which is always good to see. Nothing out of the ordinary - the crow family seems to have won the battle over the magpies and I see them in the garden a lot again now. Talking of pigeons crashing I had a racing pigeon crash into the gutter at the front of the house last weekend in those high winds. Sadly he didn't survive and neither did the guttering! I contacted his owner as he was in a race but it was such a shame - still he did have a decent burial in the garden.
Take care

[alfieblue]

Thank you bensmum for your kind message. So sorry to hear about the pigeon.

xxxxxxx

[alfieblue]

Have got to go now - love to you all.

pup smile :o=) xxx

Will be back in a wee while xxxxx

[lajohn]

hello alfieblue! all the best. xx

[tiggerblue10]

Sorry to hear about your friend Alfie x

Sadly I live in an area where all I ever see are pigeons, foxes and the odd occasional grey squirrel, blackbird and sparrow. There are plenty of slugs, snails, wormies (yuk), flies and bees. It would be nice to see other animals but I'd have to travel out of the sprawling metropolis to see them! Lol

[yogasun]

Hi alfie and all lovely people xx
Sorry to hear about your friend alfie, so young.

Mr yogasun and I have been rather sad as he was driving home from a small celebration on Mon. eve (he's teetotal by the way) and suddenly a female deer leapt out the hedge. He managed to avoid the deer but sadly hit a baby deer that was immediately following. It was so distressing as the deer was caught in the car grill. we were very upset but luckily the deer died almost on the spot and didn't suffer. As great wildlife lovers we were particularly shaken up. The car is in for repair but the sight of the poor deer has been with us - he just couldn't avoid it.
On a lighter note my son has seen lots of Little Owls in the area and the weather is lovely.

Have a nice week alfie and everyone xxx

[alfieblue]

Thank you every one. Just had cuddle with the mum and - well - the kids are stars - so young yet so mature for their age. They loved their dad and it will be a celebration of his life have really got to sign off now. Bit tearful. Wlll reply to your messages in a wee while. x

[Kleiber]

Hi, alfieblue - I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. Give my love to his family, won't you? My hubby was only 47 when he died from cancer, so I know what they're going through.
On a lighter note, my little kitten is settling in well, although she stays in her box most of the time. She gets into so much mischief, though - today she went behind the stove in the living room, under the dishwasher and into a tiny space behind/under the stereo. I've had to put her back in her cage just now, as I keep losing her.
The swallows are sitting on a second clutch of eggs and all the baby siskins are down on the niger seed feeder with their parents. Our young woodpecker is feeding himself on the peanuts and fat balls and out baby chicks are starting to feather up now as well.
You take care of yourself and your friends - hope to hear from you soon. Love, K xxx

[ruthann58]

hi alfieblue sorry to hear about your friend life is so hard at times isnt it.been a fairly nice day here with the odd shower we went to a local dog show this morning and my friend pesuaded me to enter cassie it was the first and last time we will be doing that cassie was not impressed at all ,we have got a young tame magpie that has been about for a couple of weeks he comes and begs for some food he doesnt have any idea about getting his own he just sits with his beak open waiting for some food to be dropped in the blackbirds are feeding their babys on the rasberrys what with them and cassie pinching the ones she can reach we will be lucky if we get any the wren has hatched her babys and they are out of the nest the house martins are still in the nest i can hear them when i am putting the washing out and their mum and dad are making a nice mess over the bathroom window still got green and chaff finches on the feeders and somtimes gold finches tits as well of course pidgeons and doves .give pup a cuddle form me love ruth and cassie

[Jules001]

Hi Alfieblue, so sorry to hear about your loss.

It has been a beautiful day here today too, not much happening in my garden, as I think the ginger cat may have been around again, I came home after a week away on Friday to find lots of feathers of the lawn. I have been around and topped up all the feeders and the sparrows are coming back and I did have a solitary greenfinch today, but other than that it has been very quiet.

Whilst away though I did have the pleasure of seeing two new birds that I had not seen before ( a nuthatch and a treecreeper) which was very exciting. I also had the pleasure of seeing more chaffinches at one time than I have ever seen before, plus we had several deer encounters (fortunately not like yours yogasun). I will have to learn how to post a picture on here as I took a photo of a bird that I can't identify and need some help with, I'm sure all you knowledgeable people on here will know what it is.
I was also befriended by a duck which sat at my feet for about an hour like a little dog, she seemed to be picked on by the other ducks and was always on her own, when I went to feed her, she almost took it out of my hand. The rabbits seemed to have an indentity crisis and came running when I threw seed down for the birds and sat in the undergrowth whilst I was eating my lunch, one particularly enjoyed the bits of apple I threw down for him.

[raysparx1]

Hi alfie and evrybody else, glad you posted alfie, I have been so lazy about posting. hope you are all well, I went for a walk along the riverbank and just sat and watched the world go by, a buzzard was circling above, squawking and fending off the crows, this seems to be a daily event now, then the most amazing thing happened it was so quiet, and I was watching a young chaffinch and whoosh a sparrow hawk swooped down and knocked it off of the branch, stunned the little bird was flapping about on the floor, the hawk then flew in again, but as he was about two feet from the bird two crows appeared from nowhere and attacked the hawk, he went and it was like watching the battle of britain as they flew around evading each other it was a fantastic sight, seemed to go on for ages but was probably over in about a minute or so, luckily the little chaffinch ahd now recovered and had gone, hopefully he got home, but got to admit it was so lovely to witness a sparrow hawk so closely. keep posting all, and enjoy the wonderful world we all are lucky enough to share with nature, take care all, Ray