bird box

Close-up of the seed stitches on the 4-band sampler of the previous post. I'm working on the tweed heart piece. It may take some time, as I work out what words to use, and where to place them.
Meantime I look out the window, at the birdbox, and hope the blue tits that are inspecting it, will take up residence. A friend told me a wonderful story that wrens had used one of their nest boxes to sleep in at night, and she'd seen them all emerging from it one morning; a seemingly endless stream of wrens flying out of it! What a sight that must have been. I've often wondered why birds don't roost in nestboxes overnight in the winter. It must surely be safer, and the combined body-heat would help them survive the cold?

A close inspection of this photo, will show the blue tit checking out the property! It's in the middle of the photo.

hives & homes

Hives in the darkening dusk.

Out with Pauline, I visited her friend who keeps bees. His garden is a large rambling Victorian one, with lots of overgrown corners...trees, and bushes. Perfect bee country. Though currently they're (sensibly!) tucked up in their hives, overwintering. Pauline has invited me over when the bees are out and about, making honey, living their bee lives. She has a bee-suit (!) she says she'll lend me. I am fascinated by bees. Like many other creatures they are increasingly under threat. I've never come near hives. The bees I've met have all been those in my garden, or the gardens of other people.

A single hive; a single birdbox.

Homes for our fellow creatures with whom we share the planet. I've got 2 birdboxes up here at home; one outside my living-room window (better than the telly!) and one I've moved from beside the compost bins (too accessible for the cats!) to hang outside the studio. This third one, fell out of the tree last year. It needs fixing onto the tree more securely; so my job is to put it up again, out of cat-range, and with no worry about it falling off.  

With this!

My new drill! I've drilled some holes in the back of the birdbox, so I can slip some wire/rubber ties through, then attach it to the tree.

I came to the conclusion that being without a drill was a poor imitation of an artist! I've borrowed power tools before, seen them used, and used them, but never had my own.

I want to complete a piece, 'WoodBook', I've had hanging around for ages now, but I need a drill for that. About time I had my own, at my age. So; I'm acquiring technology.

Beware middle aged women with power tools!



A little Birdhouse In Your Soul

This is one of the bird boxes that Jon and I made a couple of years ago. One is hanging outside the living room window, and can be seen from the sofa in the sitting room, and was inhabited this spring; another is attached to a tree in the front garden; and this one has yet to find a home!
Now that autumn's here, and the leaves are falling, I'm hoping to find the perfect spot for it. Somewhere I can observe it, in case it becomes a home for new bird families. Being able to watch the birds fly to and fro this spring, as they fed their chicks, was wonderful. And all from the comfort of my sofa!
I didn't paint up to the entrance hole of the box, as birds sometimes peck to enlarge it, and make it more comfortable for themselves. Depending on the paint used (I used acrylics) this can poison the birds. So I decided to play it safe, and leave a gap.
The birds need all the help we can give them.
I've just heard on the news this week about thousands and thousands of birds drowning in the North Sea. Land birds such as robin and thrushes, somehow lost their bearings, and ended up out at sea, and were found drowned by sailors. Boats out to sea, found themselves used as perches by birds, who were exhausted, and needed to rest, before flying off again, desperate to find land.
See this for photos.

Birdbox & Nesting

The birdbox that Jon put up outside the window, is now home to some blue-tits.

I can see the parent birds flitting back and forth (and boy, do they!) taking food to the nestlings, as I sit in the living room, on the sofa. Yesterday I went out and took the photos above, and the blue tits hardly broke their stride! I didn't disturb them at all. They just kept on, feeding those nestlings! The cat was pretty interested though, so I might have to keep an eye on that, when the baby birds begin to fledge. 

Birdbox/Sculpture 1

A shadowy photo of the not-quite-completed birdbox I recently made. It is now finished, and I put it out in Westgate Chapel, for the ArtyVan event a couple of weekends ago.

In the last couple of days, a blackbird family (who didn't use any of the 3 birdboxes we've got up in our garden; and didn't nest in this one, either!) who'd built their nest in the hedge made up of clematis and honeysuckle (do birds have a sense of smell?) finally left the nest, and as of today, have left our garden.
It's been a bit hectic, as we have 2 cats, so we've been keeping them in, and keeping an eye on the fledgeling.
Yesterday morning at 4am, we were both to be found peering out of the upstairs window, watching it as it perched on the trellis, waiting to be fed by ma and pa blackbird. Its high-pitched, one-note 'peeeep' was the only noise we've heard from it; obviously telling ma and pa it wanted feeding, but otherwise keeping quiet to avoid the attention of predators. Mr and Mrs B. were hopping about, with beaks full of grubs, trying to get the fledgeling to fly to them.

By Friday afternoon, it was perched in the ash tree; Mr.B popped a red berry into it whilst I was watching at a safe distance. In the evening, it was to be found in the vine; I got to within 2 foot of it. It remained very still, and Pa blackbird was hovering close by, keeping an eye on me.
This morning, there was no sign of any of them; I'm feeling a great sense of totally undeserved pride, in the successful rearing of a blackbird chick! Obviously nothing to do with me; but it felt good to think they'd chosen our garden to nest in.
The garden seems very quiet now, without them. The blue-tits are coming back to feed. I think Mr and Mrs Blackbird scared off most birds form our garden whilst they were bringing up their fledgeling.