Swan update

Called by to see the swans this afternoon.  There appears to be three cygnets now and mum is still sitting there patiently waiting.  I would think the final two eggs will hatch sometime today. 

It's all happening by the lake

Walked down to the lake this afternoon to check on the nesting swans.   Was pleasantly surprised to see one of their eggs has hatched.  She must be feeling really hot sitting on the nest all this time especially now it has become warmer.  If you look closely you can see its little head behind the eggs. Still four more eggs waiting to hatch.  If you click on the photo you will be able to see it a bit larger.

There was also a family of coots swimming in the lake.  Parents with five young ones.  Not sure what their young are called and a search on google only came up with chicks.  Some silly answers like cooties and cuties were also there.  They are quite ugly looking chicks (ok I suppose some will think they are cute).  They were swimming towards me on the water and then one adult went off with two young and the other two followed the other adult.  This one was left behind and after a while it realised it had lost mum and dad and started calling them.  After a while one called back and off it went the direction of the call.

 Not sure if this is mum or dad, as far as I could see both adults look alike

 Each adult was feeding the two chicks they were with so obviously share the task of caring for their young. 

                    He has just heard mum or dad calling and off he goes.

I also saw two different damsel flies and think I have identified them correctly. 

The first one is a Demoiselle. There were two of them flying around and they have such beautiful bright blue/ green colouring. 

This one is a common blue damsel fly, dozens of these flying around in the sunshine today.

Say Hello

Introducing my new granddaughter Safeya born 30th April.

She looks very happy, I wonder what she is thinking about?

Easter egg hunt

Fun in the garden searching for Easter goodies.  First task was to make Easter bunny masks and baskets to collect their eggs in.

Then a run around the garden looking for clues.

Jakob couldn't wait to eat his first find.

Jasmine's basket is nearly full already.

Jakob is reading the next clue

Stuart got there first, must be somewhere behind this tree.

He found the next one too behind the bench.

A race across the lawn to find some more

and Jakob is still eating his. 

Last hiding place is up this way, who will get there first?

Back indoors to enjoy the feast.

Watched Stuart playing football today. Beautiful weather and his team won.

Here he is wearing his number 7 shirt, just like David Beckham!

Below are a selection of action shots of the game.  I think he enjoyed it.  We certainly did! 

Shame on me

I have not posted since July, I am really slipping.  I suppose not a lot of excitement going on around here so nothing to post.   Christmas came and went with all the kids and grand-kids around. Very hectic but so lovely to see them all, even if I was shattered by the time they all left. The place seems so quiet once they leave.

 In the autumn Stuart and I started to construct a wildlife stack in the garden.  This will, we hope, give shelter to any wildlife in the garden.  Maybe frogs, newts and toads will over-winter there as it is near to the pond.  More than likely be used more by insects and other creepy-crawlies and will be great if small rodents and maybe birds make it their home.  The picture above shows the first floor of our stack.

Below you can see we added a floor and put a nice waterproof cover on the keep the rain out.  It is nice and cosy inside with lots of dry leaves and twigs for the wildlife to hide in or even eat.   Who knows we might even get a hedgehog hibernating in there. 

 Saturday brought some snow, not too much but everything looked pretty and the pond was frozen.  Stuart tried to smash the ice but it was quite thick so very difficult. 

Wet weekend with the grandchildren.

Last weekend all my children and grandchildren visited. On Saturday we had planned to go to Barry Island but sadly it was a miserable wet weekend.  Never mind we decided to go to Techniquest instead and I think they all enjoyed it.

Jakob testing his strength pumping water.

Zachariah testing his strength in a battle with another youngster over whose turn it was. 

Stuart trying out ear extensions.

Jasmine lost her legs.

and then found she was one of triplets.  Caught myself in a self portrait here too. 

Cousins Stuart and Jasmine posing for the camera 

Sunday was also a wet day so we decided to stay home.  Only Jakob and Jasmine here now. Jasmine found the top off a box of tissues and made herself a mask.

Then auntie Sophie helped them both to make some cakes.  This is one thing I find they all enjoy doing.

Especially licking the bowl at the end

here is the finished product. The one with the pink J is Jasmines, of course!

After making the cakes we went into the garden to do some pond dipping.  We found some tadpoles and baby newts and also pond skaters. Jakob didn't like those as they looked too much like spiders so I put them back quickly.  We also spotted a frog who was out enjoying the rain.