Friday 8 April 2016

This and that.

The farmer must be getting better - he actually joked with me just now as he passed by the computer on his way downstairs after his shower.   I had just put my blog up and he looked at the header.   I asked him where the church was (we were married in it twenty three years ago this August) and he said it was somehow familiar and he was sure he had been there (he went to Sunday School there until he was about fourteen) but he just couldn't think where it was!
Of course he admitted the truth after a minute, but at least he was not in the state he has been in for the past fortnight -so he is well on the mend.

Now to what I was really going to say today.   The birds are well and truly beginning to nest around here now.   I think there must be a blackbird nesting every twenty or thirty yards along the hedges in our fields as the hedges are full of them.   The front garden, which still has not had its winter dead foliage removed, is full of blackbirds gathering nesting material (and is as good a reason as any for leaving the foliage on until clearing it one day around now when the weather urges you to get out into the garden).   There are two pairs of yellowhammers who almost live under our bird table pecking up anything which the tits drop (for every seed they eat they seem to drop around fifty on the floor).   The farmer has seen them in the hedge so I am sure they will nest here as they always do.   The clematis which climbs through the tree peony in the front garden and makes a pretty good thicket is always nest to a few birds - often hedge sparrows and there are certainly birds flitting in and out.   The nest boxes all seem to be occupied.   Whether Mrs Pheasant has decided on the front garden as her possible nest site I don't know, but I do know that when we clear the rubbish we must go carefully so that if she has we can make sure we leave her adequate cover.

Next  - and final - topic for today.   Last Sunday evening about ten of us went round to a friend's house for supper - she is a wonderful cook and the spread she laid on was magnificent.   One thing she made was a marvellous salmon mousse which, as she said, makes a small tin of salmon go an awful long way.   If anyone would like the recipe I will ask her if she minds me passing it on - she obviously got it from a recipe book originally but has adapted it so much to her own needs I am sure it wouldn't be breaking any copyright.

14 comments:

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

Next door's cat patrols my mum's garden constantly looking for birds, she's very naughty and if you catch her and tell her off, she decides to act all cute by asking for her belly to be stroked. She destroyed two nests last year. I love cats, wish neighbours would bell her.

Gwil W said...

I heard of a woman who made a tin of sardines go a long way . . .

She didn't open it

;)

Wilma said...

Would love that recipe if she will share.

Terry and Linda said...

I'm so glad your farmer is improving!!

Linda

Dawn said...

Funny man that farmer :-)

Sheila said...

I was thinking about your Mrs Pheasant just today, wondering if she had set up her
nest in the flower bed yet. We have a good variety wintering with us and eating
constantly. The biggest hit are the suet seed blocks. Have a pair of yellow headed
woodpecker which love those. The wren house goes out tomorrow. What a constant
source of entertainment they all are.











Chris said...

I second Wilma. Please persuade your friend to part with the recipe!

Joanne Noragon said...

I do believe the farmer is on the mend.

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

Just read all your posts back to mid March. Wonderful reading for me. I am so happy your Farmer is well and truly feeling better. I am a bird watcher too and it is interesting to me to hear of the birds that are different from ours here in Canada. Take care now.

Cro Magnon said...

I make my Salmon Mousse (very rarely) from Smoked Salmon, a 'tinned' recipe would be interesting.

Doc said...

I would love the recipe as I was paid in fresh salmon for pruning an apple tree for neighbor

Derek Faulkner said...

Down here in Kent a lot of birds still seem slow to get started on nesting, especially the ground nesting types such as Lapwings and Redshanks. If only we could get some consistent warm and sunny day days rather than alternating them with wet and cold ones, such as this morning. The grass is also very slow to begin re-growing and the grazier is struggling to get ant substantial number of cows and calves out from the stockyards.
How do suppers such as last Sunday fit in with your need to lose more weight, or is everything eaten in small amounts.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Yes Derek - small amounts is the answer - plus little or no carbs - and definitely no cake or biscuits. I feel much better for losing what I have lost already - so shall keep going for a while, Hope I don't put it all back on on our forthcoming cruise.

Gwil's comment is funny!

Not sure how the recipe woul work with fresh salmon - will ask her.

Our ground-nesting birds have not started yet - but they are always later than this. The curlew are already paired up though and back in the fields with their haunting cries, which I love.

Heather said...

It is a lovely time of year with all the birds busy and singing as they go about their business. We have several frequently used nest boxes and various shrubs which seem to be meeting places for small birds all talking at the same time. No yellow hammers this way, sadly. I think we are a bit too suburban for them.
Glad the farmer is still making good progress.
The salmon mousse sounds very good. I would like to try it.