Further Adventures in Sourdough

One month on, and our sourdough experiments continue - still haven't made an entirely successful loaf, but the crumpets (made with discard) came out pretty well.

And the pitta breads really are something of a success story . . .

Water Works

The latest garden 'civil engineering' project involved getting a water supply to the bottom section of the garden by the fruit cage.

Martin dug out a channel from the tap at the back of the garage and laid some barrier pipe, with further protection from various bits of scrap metal piping / trunking we had lying about the place.  

All of which led down the garden, through the hedge, and to a new standpoint and tap by the fruit cage.

So we now have a ready water supply when needed without dragging a hose all round the garden.  

Although - of course - the weather has now changed, and it's been raining a fair bit so we haven't really had to use it yet!

 

Flown the Pot

Well, as of today our little one has apparently departed for the big wide world outside the safety of the chimney pot.




And cheeping has been heard down the bottom of the garden, so it looks like we got him or her safely to the fledging stage  . . .



We did get a few videos inside the pot - so for your viewing pleasure . . .

Feeding Time

Getting Moving!

And one final pic from the day before departure . . .

Robin Rescue

Leaving the house for our daily walk today and we noticed this little one, cheeping away on the path outside the french doors - it's far too baby to be out of the nest, although the parent birds were at least still feeding it:

It obviously wasn't going to survive outside on the path overnight, so we had to come up with some kind of safe haven for it, without jeopardising the parental bond . . .


Time to make use of the chimney pots we use as plant holders from time to time - a handful of straw and a few twigs, and we hopefully have a somewhere secure for it to grow up a bit.


And yes, the parent birds are still visiting to feed:

Gull with a Bone

One of the upsides of lockdown for many people has been the fact that wildlife has been a lot more evident in our towns and cities.

In comparison we aren't exactly lacking in wildlife, but with less people around the local gull population has had to up its scavenging activities - not sure where this one got the bone from!

And of course there's still plenty to see in our garden:

From the mice we are feeding . . .











. . . to the squirrel we are really trying not to!