Welcome to everyday Lets Talk

Good to know you are a bit better WS and the Boddy's hasn't run out - otherwise Pete and I would be over those Welsh hills making a delivery

 

Lai

Much appreciated Lai. I had another problem, I was advised to elevate my leg to help reduce the inflammation, we have a recliner which I used, I normaly sit straight backed and don't use it. Because of the position I ended up pulling the sciatic nerve in my other leg which was badly damaged years ago, so ended up limping on both legs to make matters worse it was a 4 day working weekend, I know I only work 3 days a week, but I haven't had a day off sick in 7 Yrs, and didn't want to break my record. But both legs started to get better on Sunday afternoon, and I am now much better, and can walk ok. Hope you all had a great Easter, and lots of chocolate

WS

 WS that is not good.  Ouch and what a pain in more ways than one!   Let's hope you are better today and enjoying some

Sorry I am mostly AWOL just now, my mum is going into hospital on Monday for her hip replacement and we are busy sorting things out for her, we're also busy with badgers and holding a public meeting in 3 weeks about the potential cull in Cheshire and so time is short

Easter - mmmmmmmm too much choccie - I don't do moderation and felt quite  after so much

Take care of yourself WS, and everyone else I hope you are all fine and enjoying the spring like weather.

The birds are all busy nesting and our pond is full of ducks fighting - especially the Mandarin ducks! The Heron is already in and waiting

Lai

No worries about being AWOL Lai your Mum, and the Badgers come first every time. I hope your Mums Op goes OK, and she will soon recover. Our Ducks number has now gone down from 13 to 6 after 7 were taken to a farm with a lake as 13 was far to many for our little pond to support, but we have a feeling there may be more to come, as there is still a male amonst them, and there has been mating going on. We've had quite a nice few days of sunshine. Hope you've all had the same

WS

Good morning everyone

Thanks WS. The op went well on Monday but yesterday she was in a lot of pain and struggling with the physio and being up and about. She knows she has to do it but it's hard to make her! I am working half days only so I can sit and entertain her well we do the crossword and chat about this and that

Oh that's sad about your ducks - but fingers crossed for plenty of ducklings. We have plenty of mandarins ducks just now and also mallards, it's chaos on the pond and they are eating me out of house and home again - also the pheasants are busy mating so it's all go. For the first time ever we saw a pair of buzzards mating which was amazing and so we can look forward to baby buzzards as well.

Yes the badgers are keeping us busy - so must fly now, quick half day in the office and then off to the hospital.

Hope you are feeling better WS

Lai

Hopefully your Mum s starting to feel a bit easier now Lai, both Mrs White, and myself have worked with people who have had a hip Op, and we know it can be very painful to start with, please giver her our best wish's. Its been a cold wind blowing these last few days. a bit of a reality check after the days before that felt as though spring had arrived . Glad your pond is so busy, ours is not big enough to support anything more that out Ducks, but we do get the odd visit from Mallards which is nice

WS

Thanks WS I will indeed tomorrow as I've been there today to celebrate her birthday and chat with the nurses and physio. I think each day it will get a little less painful and the movement will help her digestion and appetite.

Mmmms the weather is odd, one minute torrential rain, hail and then sunshine!

Today we had 2 Canada geese on the pond - noisy and I would rather they left

Enjoy your evening everyone

Lai

Hopefully your Mums feeling a bit comfortable now, it does get easier after a little while. We have seen some more Ducks in a field close to us they look like Aylesburys, but its on a very bad bend so its not safe to pull, and get an ID on them. Fingers X your Canada Geese have left you in peace now

WS

Good afternoon everyone and WS especially as it is really you and I chatting to each other

My mum is getting better but very slowly and happily her appetite is coming back, I've just been to see her and the doctor is visiting this afternoon to review all her meds.  It will take time and I've had her walking just a bit with the crutches.  Off again later with her radio/cd player as the whole place is TV less due to the main aerial giving up on Sunday the residents were not impressed!

So today we had 2 Pink footed geese passing through and when they left the 2 Canada geese returned, I am now quite attached to them and they have given up honking when they see me  I try to get pictures of all the visitors and will post a few when time permits.

Looking forward to hearing if they are Aylesbury's WS - but don't stop on the bend

Lai

Sorry I have not been posting recently but have been rather busy.

Hope your mum gets better soon Lai. Not an easy operation to get better quickly from but I imagine you have to work through the pain barrier and force yourself to exercise so that you can retain the movement in the joint.

Spring does now appear to be happening and the sun is shining for a change although it was frosty again first thing this morning. The various inhabitants of the pond seem to have woken up with the mallards doing their usual mating rituals. I pity the poor females being chased everywhere!! The moorhens are also active having chased off the remaining youngsters from last years broods. The male swan has made a few appearances but only for a short time; he did however on one occasion bring a female with him but they did not stay long. I will have to see if anything transpires.

I have been busy organising a return trip to Kenya in June, staying at Offbeat's Camps in Meru and Mara North. I was pleasantly surprised when I applied for an evisa. The site has been updated since I last used it and although they say to allow a minimum of 2 working days for processing within 2 hours of me uploading the application etc. I received notification that the visa was ready for me to print off!! The Kenyan Government has definitely got its act together. The only downside was that the notification as usual ended up in my junk mail box but I expected that.

Enjoy the spring weather everyone while it lasts.

SM

No worries about posting SM. We've always said we all lead busy lives, and we don't fit our lives around the forum, we fit the forum round our lives, so no problem.
Great to hear your pond is starting to stir with spring life, and hopefully the Swans will nest there again, and the Mallards, and Moor Hens will have lots of young
Great you have arranged another trip to Kenya, and it was much easier this time. More pics, and videos and learning how the animals are going on

WS

Good afternoon everyone

 another safari to look forward to Safariman, Mara and Meru, that will be fabulous, and great that you found the visa system better, to be honest we did in February, it came through almost straight away!

Who'd be a female mallard just now?  It's awful watching them being chased by all the males and their necks look all pecked and painful - I am always telling the boys to behave!

The weather's great but cold, at least the sun makes you feel like spring is here.

My mum is getting there but we are getting the Dr out today to the care home to check her over as a precaution.  Her legs aren't brilliant and I persuaded her to walk to the dining room rather than using a wheelchair, if she doesn't move enough the swelling will never go down.

We had a really good meeting with Team Badger on Friday night  with 4 excellent speakers and about 150 people.

Catch up soon and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Lai

Good day
Brilliant sunshine here today, and yesterday, but today is a bit warmer. Although the whole Country is forecast to go cold again with Artic air this weekend .
Glad your Mums showing improvement Lai, and yes she does need to move to help reduce the swelling, good idea to make her walk, hopefully she will keep on getting better, and better.Do you still have the mating pair of Buzzards ?

WS

Good afternoon everyone

Sorry I've been seriously AWOL all week - a bit of a week with my mother and being in A&E on Monday with possible DVT. All okay now but being there from 11am until 5.45pm didn't help I'm taking her home tomorrow so I think that should help and I've also arranged some home care for a while just while she gets confident on her crutches and can move about properly.

It's raining here today sadly, after a really nice week but it's Sunday so to be expected

Yes we have our buzzards WS. In fact it's buzzard utopia here. We are really lucky with our raptors. One buzzard loves worming in the garden and you can watch him sucking them out of the ground The Sparrowhawk is still here and caught something pigeon like looking at the pile of feather and the kestrel is also here but the crows and jackdaws are giving the kestrels grief trying to steal their perch! It's a great time of year for everything and just sitting watch life in the garden is wonderful. What news on your pond WS? How are the ducks doing?

Apologies for being short, this week should get easier hopefully

Lai

As I've said before Lai no problem your priorities are with your Mum, and fitting work in. I hope she'll feel more comfortable at home, people usually are it it can help the recovery process, hopefully she'll soon start to feel better, but it does take time.
Great you have so many birds around, we are not seeing that many, and no indications of mating or nesting, plus our Swallows have not arrived yet this year. I think its still to cold here. The Ducks are fine thanks

WS

Your mum seems to be having a tough time Lai, hopefully as WS said she should feel better at home surrounded by her own things. I always feel that hospitals are not always the best environment for recovery as they are full of sick people!!

The weather here is still very cold with sleet and snow showers. Difficult to imagine that it is 1st. May at the weekend.

The moorhens are on the nest and busily incubating,I just hope the cold weather will not prove too bad for them. The swans appear for the odd couple of hours and then disappear again probably to the nearby river so I doubt if they will nest on the pond this year. The mallards are just being mallards so a brood might appear anytime or not at all!!



Moorhen on the nest



Swans on the pond


Although the weather has been pretty awful I think their must be plenty of food around for the birds as the feeders are not being decimated as quickly as usual.

Enjoy the rest of the week and the Bank Holiday.

SM

Thanks WS and Safariman, things not too good just now, although being at home is great for my mother, she's had the doctor out today and is now on anti biotics running a temperature and the district nurse has been out as she has bed sores from the nursing home!  All in all not too brilliant, but she did well at physio at the hospital and so it's one step forward and two back but hopefully with the medical care now being better things will improve.

So wildlife - yes we have it all, sadly our first ducklings are already down to 3 (I suspect the heron mostly) and we had a Goshawk visiting - beautiful and very exciting to see but it chased one of my hen pheasants but happily didn't get her as I am really attached to them all as I feed them twice a day.  The Mandarins are around but I don't know where the nest is, some tree nearby so we most likely won't see their young as they'll go straight to the river.  

I hope you all have a wonderful bank holiday weekend and the snow stays away, I couldn't believe it today, snow, hail and the sunshine - and it's almost May!

Catch up soon.

Lai

Sorry to hear about your Mums infection Lai, I hope that the antibiotics have done there jon, and that's really not good that your Mum got bed sores at the Nursing Home Hmmm. But on the bright side great that she's done her PhysioNo more exciting news on our wildlife although we have heard a woodpecker for the first time.
Hope you've all had a great weekend' its been the Llandudno Victorian weekend here so lots of visitors although the weather hasn't been brilliant

WS

Hello everyone - apologies Safariman I meant to say thanks for sharing your photos of the swans and moorhen on the nest, I hope they are all doing well.

I hope your weekend went well WS - isn't it typical that after the bank holiday weekend the weather is now beautiful?

All getting much better now for my mum so hoping to have a proper catch up with WAA soon

Lai

With the spell of warm weather the pond has at long last burst into life. The moorhens have hatched out their first brood of the season and 4 little chicks are now zooming around the pond. Also this morning I saw a mallard mum with her newly hatched brood of 10 tiny chicks. How long they will last is debatable as there are plenty of cats and magpies lurking around and the mallard mums are not generally very maternal The moorhens take their responsibility at lot more seriously and are very protective of their chicks.

Hopefully Lai the warmer weather will help[ your mum's recovery as everybody seems to feel better when the sun shines.

Enjoy your weekend and the warm weather while it lasts!!

SM

Good morning everyone. How lovely you have moorhen chicks and ducklings Safariman, I hope they stay safe. I didn't know that moorhens were good parents but thrilled to hear that.

Nature really is tough, we lost all our ducklings and the fox nearly got the Canada geese goslings (are they goslings?) yesterday. Pete had the dogs with him so the fox retreated! So far our hen pheasants don't have any young, if they did they have already lost them as they are all turning up for breakfast and a late afternoon snack As for the Mandarin ducks who knows what they are doing as we can't see which tree they are nesting in but they visit for food as well. I just love this time of year.

My mother is much better thanks, swollen legs and feet back to normal, scar healing well and physio at the hospital this morning. The only problem now is the bed sores the district nurse called yesterday and she reckons 4 weeks for them to heal not good news and they should never have happened in the first place.

It's much cooler today but still lovely oh and Springwatch is at the end of the month

Did anyone watch any of the David Attenborough programmes and the interview? He is just such an icon and my hero and I am loving the 4 programmes on his 'passions'

Have a good rest of the week.

Lai

ps Safariman - Pete and I have booked to go to India - you inspired me not until November 2017 but an epic wildlife tour of 11 days (and of course the Taj Mahal) I am already excited

Great to hear your Mum is much improved Lai, and no those bed sores shouldn't have happenened in the first place poor care practice. Getting jelous of the wildlife you two are seeing, still quiet round here although our WSwallows have now returned. Nature is tough Lai, so atleast I don't have that problem. Our Ducks are fine, and I finally ID'd the ones in the field down the road, but not sure what kind, yes Lai they are called goslings. Weathers been nice here to but a lot of cloud as well, and they say it will be turning colder by the end of the week,till the beginning of June Don't forget your Diana moment when you go to India Lai Watched DA's birthday programme brilliant, and theres a new series starting tomorrow BBC 1 9-00pm The Epic Journey all about the migration looks really good.

WS

Oh yes  WS  the David Attenborough programme was wonderful.  We've recorded the Epic journey for later but can't wait to see it.

Ha ha re the Taj Mahal pic - I've been before back in the late 90's so most likely did it then

I'm very  about your swallows WS - we don't get them and they are such wonderful birds to watch.  Hope you've got  today, we have a bit and lots of cloud but its much cooler.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Lai

Great to hear that you and Pete will be going to India Lai, even if you have to wait until Nov. next year although hopefully by then the scaffolding will have been removed from the Taj minarets!! Presumably you will be going to try and see tigers.

Life on the pond has become very frenetic over the last few days. Mrs Moorhen is now sitting on her second clutch of eggs while dad is busily feeding the first brood of 4 who are growing rapidly. The 10 mallard ducklings are now 8 and have been joined on the pond by a group of 5, now 4, and a further group of 3 although I am not sure how many of these are left as their are 2 little ducklings wandering around on their own with the female ignoring them. The adults are also squabbling over territory and from time to time will also try and drown any unfortunate duckling that gets in their way. One of the odd ducklings is very pale in colour almost yellow and looks really cute.



The weather although sunny has turned distinctly cold again so I think our brief spell of summer is over for the moment.

Hope your mum continues to improve Lai and that everyone has a great week.

SM

Been like winter here today cold wet, and windy  typically as soon as we got home the came out after 10 mins. your pond is really busy SM the moorhens are really producing a lot, and the Mallards always seem to suffer a lot, but that's life in the wild hopefully a few will survive to adult hood.
Hope your Mums continuing to get better Lai

WS