My February

Following on from my January post, I thought I would continue the monthly update theme as a new series for 2021. February can sometimes be the coldest and darkest of months. This year’s February began cold and frosty with frigid days and bone chilling nights but the month ended with mild winds and the scent of spring on the air. 🙂

David had a well earned few days off work in February. Whilst still in lock-down we stayed local and took a walk to Liverpool’s Sefton Park with an excitable Riley. David managed to feed a few squirrels and crows with the monkey nuts we had brought with us, while I had a captive audience of geese, coots and gulls enjoying the bird seed I offered them. I love feeding the birds on the lake, it makes me feel such a child again!

In January’s post I commented that I had seen the first, brief visit from the chiffchaff. Well he/she visited again, enjoying the insects on the laurel bush! David didn’t grab his camera quite quick enough, so I had to make do with a grainy photo I managed to get off my phone. Isn’t he so cute? The harbinger of spring?

Even though the mornings and evenings are getting lighter, these February nights seem cold and dark for some reason. This month I’ve been snuggling up in bed most nights and have managed to rekindle my reading. I’ve just finished Cilka’s Journey (a semi-fictional account of a survivor of Auschwitz who was imprisoned in a Russian gulag) and have begun The Glass House a mystery by Eve Chase.

I’m still only working one day a week, so using my free time to watch some series I’ve not seen before. I know I am very late to the party but I’ve been enjoying watching the 90’s American sitcom Friends. I’ve also caught up with the second series of The Bay and the Netflix sensation, Bridgerton.

I know Valentine’s Day is very commercial but I still like to celebrate it none the less. When I was single I would buy myself something nice as an act of self love, and now I’m in a long standing relationship, I celebrate the day by ordering a nice curry so we can both enjoy it. As a little token I bought David this cute little bumblebee (or did I buy her for myself?) She’s so sweet! 🙂

I got my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine the end of February and I had a few side effects, like shaking and sweating and aches and pains. Thankfully these were short lived and I’m feeling much better now.

To end the month, we got a new patient, Elliott a feral pigeon, who we spotted sitting in someone’s front yard while on a walk with Riley. On our way back from the park, the pigeon was still vulnerable so David caught him and brought him home with us. He’s being treated for canker and coccidiosis, let’s hope he gets better soon!

How have you spent February? Do you like the long, dark nights or looking forward to spring?

Take care,

Christine x

Oh no!!

Today, with only working four hours I was home relatively early in the afternoon. The bird feeders again were full of the usual suspects, Goldfinches, House Sparrows, Starlings and Pigeons. However on closer inspection of the feeding station I noticed a little parcel on one of the mesh feeders. Wondering what it was I took a closer look and was horrified at what I saw!!

A Magpie must have been raiding a nest nearby and the package must have been dropped in my yard! (I can’t think of how else it could have got there!) What I saw was a cracked egg! I first thought that it must have been laid by a visiting Pigeon but on closer inspection, inside the shell was the ready formed body of a bird. My stomach lurched! I have never witnessed anything like this at the bird feeders!

Then later, I got nostalgic and started rooting amongst the videos on my Sony pocket camera. I came across a video I took when the Lindt Big Egg Hunt was in Liverpool. The egg was designed by artist Mikey Georgeson and I share the video with you. I particularly liked the small poem painted on it.

My gift to you then is an egg,
Not mine to give nor yourself to beg
If you want it then it’s yours
Hold it gently till it soars.

The Dark Side…

In the last couple of days I had attempted to move my blog from WordPress to Google Blogger http://tojocl.blogspot.co.uk/ However I did not think much of the platform, so I will continue with WordPress until I run out of space for pictures.

Friday was my day off work and at the sunflower feeders there were many Goldfinch charms visiting and bringing their babies along. I also saw a baby Blue Tit and its rather dishevelled parent but I couldn’t get good enough footage of the new guy! I did manage to get some footage of ‘Jack’ Sparrow, he looks great! I’ve attached the video I made of the birds today. Hope you like?

In the post on Friday my new exercise bike was delivered along with my prize from Arriva, who all week on Facebook had been holding a competition for a free weekly bus ticket. I was Wednesday’s winner and I am ‘made up’ as I don’t have to pay for a ticket this week!! 

I also made my Strawberry Mousse Cake with Morello Cherry Drizzle on my day off. It had three different types of cream in it!! Very fattening! However the result was less than satisfactory. It was in reality an utter disaster! David, mum and myself all had a portion. The cream mousse didn’t seem to have set very much and didn’t taste of anything really and then when putting the cake back into the fridge. It slipped off the plate and I tried to catch it with my hand. 

Sunday was my nephew Nathan’s 4th birthday, (where have all the years gone?) My brother Stephen had ordered a bouncy castle for the garden party and we all had fun bouncing on it!