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Monday 21 March 2016

Various things over the last few weeks and out with the MoHo again

I can't think of a better title because this post is a mix of things as I'm catching up. These first few photos are from back in February, however the Heartsease is still flowering and the Calendula look like they will survive now, which means there will be an early display of flowers.



I had a surprise visitor in the downstairs loo, also in February! I think it is the same moth as I found indoors around Nov time in 2014. It's a Golden Twinspot (Chrysodeixis chalcites) and it must have come in on my geraniums like the last time, maybe as larva. This year as the geraniums were still flowering I kept them downstairs for a few weeks before transferring upstairs to a cooler room. The poor geraniums are not really having a dormant period this year.



Whilst on the subject of insects, here's a really interesting little video showing a Potter Wasp building its nest - remember the pics I posted back in January of the pot shaped nest K had found on a chopping board in the barn? Thanks to Ragged Robin for sharing it with me via Twitter.




Credit: https://twitter.com/wildlifewatch



Above are some pics of my ducks zoomed in through the kitchen window. The top photo shows two Mallard drakes with Dirk for size comparison. We've had a number of Mallards visiting regularly, both male and female, and they seem to get on ok with Dirk and Rachel (bottom pic is my two). When they see us however, they fly off and it's amazing seeing how they do an almost vertical ascent to get up over the trees to get away. With much quacking, of course!

Below is my wiggly hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contorta'), which flowers long after the wild hazel. The wild ones flowered really early this year, but it seems like spring has slowed down a bit and now certain plants are flowering at a more normal time.


These are the flowers on the purple leaved Prunus that is so common everywhere. I have very few flowers on mine this year.


The weekend before last was motorhome testing out time before we go real camping! We wanted to get out and about whilst the weather was dry and sunny and check out the water tanks, taps, boiler, heating etc. It doesn't look obvious from this view why it isn't possible to get it in here, but the slope is too much and the overhang of the van beyond the back wheels would bash on the ground getting up this slope. That's beside the fact there's nowhere to turn it around once up the drive! But at least there is room to park it outside off the road temporarily.


Hallie happened to be below me, checking out the emerging cat mint no doubt!


That afternoon (Sunday before last) we went off to check out a couple of lakes, to test the central heating and to have tea and birthday cake, as it was K's birthday. He always jokes about me taking him to lakes hundreds of kms away on his birthday only to see just one Mallard (this did happen once!). This particular lake has a bird hide, but the only birds coming anywhere near us were a lone Coot and a Great Crested Grebe. Yes, as usual, the birds were over the other side of the lake..... But I could just about make out the Grebes doing their courtship dance, although I didn't realise there were Shovelers there until I saw my photos. And in one photo I'd also captured a distant male Common Merganser, which is interesting, as we haven't seen any of them since Lake Geneva days. Worth checking out this lake again - it's the Etang de Chatillon at Chatillon en Vendelais, between Fougeres and Vitre.


Cormorants on dead tree branches in the far distance.


Well I ended up taking photos of the hide as bird photos were fairly impossible!



Here's the church in the village. We also checked out another lake near Vitre but it was getting late and we were more interested in putting the kettle on and getting out of the wind, so we just enjoyed ourselves sitting in the warmth. Although the central heating didn't work. K kept trying but it would go whir..... phut. Back home he RTFM'd and bashed his head with a big 'duh'. He'd forgotten there was a button he needed to push back in after draining the boiler previously...... easy when you are used to it but there is so much to learn at the beginning!


Back to home and this last week I've been attacking some neglected shrub beds. I'm not very in the mood for this sort of thing but nothing got done last year, so anything is better than none. I asked K to dig out the now overgrown clumps of Montbretia/Crocosmia, which promptly broke a wooden shafted digging spade, they were so tough! Most of them will be taken to the tip, but I am replanting a few of the now divided clumps as I really like them; both leaf and flower are attractive. I just hadn't realised how much they could spread. I'm now removing corms from right in under shrubs, which is really annoying.

I'm also taking this opportunity to add lots of compost and leaf mould to the soil. Afterwards it looks so neat and tidy, so I'm putting wire cages around everything to try to protect from cats and chickens, who just love digging in nice patches of bare earth.
 

Over the last few months our tidying up has produced tons of woody matter that needs to be disposed of - after numerous visits to the tip, I had a brainwave! The veg patch is an open area with bare earth (i.e. not lawn) where we could have a bonfire. It's just a weedy mess this year but if I use this patch again in the future it will have a nice lot of potash already added. One hour of burning has rid us of about five trips to the tip!


I saw this Thrush out of the window - is it a Song Thrush? I find it hard to tell, because it kept stopping and standing very upright, which I know Mistle Thrushes do. Anyway I thought it fun that there was a Green Woodpecker there too. Photos not very clear in places due to double glazing.




And because it is spring now...


More MoHo photos to come from a day out by the sea, but bear with me as I've been feeling really low ever since our outings, so sorting through photos and putting a blog post together is taking me ages. I'd rather sit in front of the fire and play games on my new phone as I am completely unmotivated. :-(
 

22 comments:

  1. So sorry to hear you are feeling so down Mandy - really do hope you feel a lot happier as the weather warms up. You had such an awful year that you may feel low at times and it will take time for you to completely bounce back.

    You've put together a really lovely and interesting post. Thanks so much for the mention and I am so pleased you enjoyed the video :) I thought of you as soon as I spotted it :)

    I do love your twisty hazel - my friend has one in her garden and I would love one here. Love the mallard on the pond - we used to get them here years ago at this time of the year for a few weeks although our pond is much much smaller than yours! I used to worry so much that a cat would get them :(

    Love the Golden Twinspot moth - such beautiful colours and markings. I think your thrush is mistle - I think I can make out white outer tail feathers. Difficult to tell from a photo as I always rely on size and "jizz" of the bird.

    Do hope you feel better soon and look forward to more MoHo photos when you feel up to it.

    Take care, Caroline

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    1. Thanks Caroline - it's true what you say but it is SO frustrating! I suppose the fact that I find it frustrating is better than not caring at all! I'm either feeling all enthusiastic in my mind thinking of all that needs doing in the garden, then my body says no, or vice versa. I am glad I have the chickens though because no matter how I feel I still have to go out to clean them out every day and that means I get some fresh air.

      Enough about that - re. the thrush, I will check my other photos for the markings. It would be easier if I could see both Thrushes together some time so I could see the difference in size etc! I always assume the ones I hear are Song Thrushes - must have a listen to the songs of both.

      I'm still enjoying that wasp video so thanks again for thinking of me! xx

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  2. The moth is gorgeous, the video is amazing and your photos are excellent, as always! Spring has been incredibly early here too. Some things blooming more than two months early. Haven't had any rain since January and none in sight so I've been doing a lot of hand watering and getting my drip irrigation system ready to turn on. Thankfully, we had all that great rain in fall/winter and with a fairly cool spring, the ground has held on to it so shrubs and trees are looking good.

    Always enjoy reading your posts, Mandy. Looking forward to reading more adventure stories! Re the on-board heat... ours was so noisy, we ended up buying a small electric space heater which works incredibly well! When we don't have electricity to plug into, then we resort to the on-board Heat.

    Thank you for taking the time to share with us :-)

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    1. Thank you Marianne, I always appreciate and enjoy your comments! I'm grateful for not having to water plants just yet, although the pots of bulbs are looking a bit dry here as it hasn't rained for about, oh, what, a whole 10 days? Haha :-)

      The heating worked well though I didn't hear it as it was turned off by the time I got on board, then there was so much sun we didn't need supplementary heating after that! The big windscreen and skylights will make it too hot in summer so you can't have it both ways, but at least they have screens so hope that helps! :-)

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  3. I love that wasp video, I've watched it four times now, so fascinating.
    The woodpecker is a magnificent site too, we hear them in Devon but haven't managed to spot one yet.
    Sorry you are feeling low, hopefully warmer weather and getting out and about in the MoHo will help.
    Are you still planning a UK trip in May?

    Philippa xx

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    1. I keep watching it too, Philippa! It's fascinating. We see woodies a lot here but it's mostly the Great Spotted ones as they love the peanut feeder. Yes definitely visiting but I STILL haven't looked at dates and the BF website timetable - I'm hopeless. I have to arrange housesitters too. Apparently we are going to the Devon County Show :-) I've always wanted to go to one of the English agricultural fairs as they look like so much fun on telly. Still planning on visiting you, and I will email you when we decide exact dates, but it will be the latter half of May, approx!
      Thanks my dear xx

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    2. We are planning on going to the Devon County Show too, we are about a 35 minute drive from there. The only snag with that plan is that the show is 19th to 21st May and Lauren is due to give birth ( c section) on the 17th so we might be a bit tied
      up! We'll see. xx

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    3. Oh you guys have become quite the country dwellers now! I've just looked at the BF timetable so we might leave either Fri 13 (eeks) or Mon 16, but if we come later then we'd be travelling back at the beginning of English half term. Might have to avoid that! I haven't looked at prices yet but they are usually cheaper during the week. So we might be able to meet up before Lauren has her baby, even if you don't get to the show.

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    4. OK. we'll see how it all works out.
      You could always come over via Roscoff to Plymouth of course and stay a night en route to Somerset. WE are 40 mins from Plymouth ferryport and 35 minutes from Exeter which is in the direction you would be going. Just a thought?

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    5. I'll look into that Philippa but it all depends on ferry times really because of the long drive there - don't want to have to spend a night in a hotel. I will email you about it as it's easier!

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  4. Golden Twinspot is wonderfully exotic and I'm jealous of the woodpecker as we don't get any Green ones visiting us. I'm hoping my humungous lens will do the trick with the watery birds but haven't been out anywhere watery to try it out.

    I think the cold is demotivating, unless you can find the energy to do physical stuff. Roll on the sunshine, warmth and camera walks. :)

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    1. Hi Nick - it would be interesting to see what a big proper lens does over the same distance as big zoom bridge cameras! Probably a lot better otherwise how do these bird photographers get such great shots? I've never been anywhere where the interesting water birds have been up close (OK, closer, but not really close. Well OK, apart from odd birds here and there. But you know what I mean!)

      I feel like I've plenty of enthusiasm and motivation for bird (and other) outings, it's the at home jobs, both in and out, that are leaving me feeling blah at the very thought. Normally one doesn't enjoy chores, but one still does them. If it wasn't for K I'd be living in a pigsty. Psychologically I put it down to the fact I've basically spent 18 months stuck at home and now just want to get out of here! xx

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  5. It's ok for you. They wont let us burn anything at any time of the year.
    I'm not sure what they think might happen if I have a bonfire this time of year but rules are rules I guess :(

    Tell Keith to fit airbags to the rear suspension and then you could back the wheeled house up the drive. Point out that slamming the suspension down onto the ground while cruising is good for the mpg AND all the bigger kids will think it is very rad.

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    1. I do wonder what is the difference between burning wood indoors, and doing same outside? :-) I can understand banning the burning of plastic etc, as that really stinks. And what about the farmers burning tyres all over the place? Do they get told off for flouting bonfire regs? Hmmmm!

      I have looked at that link you sent me and understand about the air suspension thing - wondering why I've never seen this mentioned on any of the motorhome forums or groups I've been reading? :-/ Interesting. xx

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  6. Not quite sure how I managed to post the same thing 4 times? :/

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    1. You are very enthusiastic, most people just post twice. ;-)

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  7. Another excellent post, Mandy! Like those before me, I love the twin spot moth and the green woodpecker. You are way more energetic than I would have expected but you have always been such a go-getter so I should not be surprised. :)
    I feel for Keith about the heating not working until he RTFMed. I usually leave that to a last resort too! You are clearly going to have lots of fun in the MoHo and I look forward to reading about them in the future.
    Keep up the great work, Mandy! :)

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    1. Thanks so much for looking in Kim and commenting. Don't get the impression that I am very active, showing the few things I've been doing over the weeks on my blog is not representative of me half the time! Yesterday I missed an entire lovely sunny day because I was too low and tired to even go outside. :-( However the MoHo perks me up because we are getting away from the house and garden and seeing interesting things. :-) xx

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  8. Replies
    1. Brilliant, thank you for that, Roy! I stared at pics of both but could not decide. :-)

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  9. I do love your ducks Mandy, I've always wanted ducks. How lovely to have a resident woodpecker, great photo too, despite the double glazing. ;-)
    Hope you feel better soon.
    Have a lovely Easter.xx

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    1. Thanks Deb - I wish these ducks were a bit more pet like but they are almost wild now, although they can't fly away as they are heavy breeds. Still it is nice to see them swimming about on the lake. A lake without some ducks is a sad lake!! :-)

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