Good-bye Smudge

Aggravating, demanding, ungrateful, imperious, soft, cuddly, affectionate, head-butting, mouse-watching, bird-ignoring, permanently-shedding, yoghurt-loving, carpet-destroying, crisp-munching, sun-adoring, desk-hogging, cardboard-clawing, fountain of pee. Good-bye my friend Smudge.

Autumn

Frosty mornings are back.

The sparrow and chaffinch kids have flown the nest. The adults disappeared during their moult too but are gradually reappearing.

Someone else is back. Can you see him?

He’s very busy stocking up on sunflower seeds for the winter.

Over and over again he jumps down onto the step,

gallops across to the rowan tree, too quick for the camera to catch.

He roots among the discarded sunflower husks under the feeders looking for seeds that have been tossed aside by my wastrel birds.

He stuffs his cheeks and heads back for his burrow.

He seems unaware that he is being closely monitored and not just by me. A well camouflaged Grande Dame hides in the grass above the step. She watches but she doesn’t pounce. Maybe October isn’t the mousing season,

or maybe two mice are too much for ole fatso to handle.

Mr and Mrs working together.

I have visions of them curled up together in January, sleeping on their mound of sunflower seeds, mouse treasure more valuable than a dragon’s hoard.

May to Midsummer

Her highness has been nagging. She feels she hasn’t had enough exposure in recent months. I point out that doing her ablutions in public gives her more than enough exposure,

but the steely eyed gaze continually boring into my back is unnerving.

So here it is, a catch up post. A month in a spring garden is a long, long time.

Went back to Arduaine with Mum and Dad on the May day bank holiday.

The blooms were superb but that post will now have to be postponed until the dark days of winter.

Midge farm has had its share of the gorgeous:

and the not so gorgeous. These keep appearing in my weed buckets but I believe they eat slugs so they are very welcome.

The mouse has been about but, now the undergrowth is so thick, the most I see is his long tail whipping into the wall.

I let the cuckoo flower grow at will and the May garden was full of orange tip butterflies.

A speckled wood male visited for the first time:

Blue Peter exploded into a froth of spotty, girly, lilac loveliness.

Baby birds have been everywhere. The spugs were the first to fledge. There have, I think, been three separate broods. There are so many now I can’t count them as they won’t stay still, over 25 at times. They’re eating me out of house and home but I’m happy to see them as they are suffering declines elsewhere.

The great tit has been the hardest worker. Six fledglings who followed him round for weeks.

And of course the starlings come swooping in bringing their noisy kids.

The dunnocks are around and much bolder than last year but I haven’t seen any fledglings.

A collared dove with partial albinism has been a regular visitor, always alone. The doves with regular plumage are rarely apart. The RSPB says birds with albinism may have difficulty finding a mate. I hope that isn’t the case for this one.

Smudge is bird watching too. She is scared of the hoodies but intrigued when they come to eat her left over dinner.

On the upper tier I have left the clover to romp away and it is covered with bumble bees every day.

This little lad is in the paddock behind Midge farm and often hangs over the fence on the upper tier snorting at Smudge.

Any idea what these are:

or this?

Luckily my veg containers have escaped their attentions. My first ever tatties! I hope the courgettes are meant to have yellow leaves, the fruits are a yellow, mildew resistant variety.

Had my first ever Midge farm, broad beans for dinner last night. The bees and I thank Dad for the plant.

May and June have been filled with long sunny days. Fingers crossed that it continues.

That brings us to Midsummer, and a beautiful sunset at 10:30 last night.

But the last word is always reserved for: