Me and my son went for a short ride today, after heavy rain this morning it brightened up after lunch so we decided to get out an go feed the ducks at a local pond.
My son was made up to find a female mallard with her brood wandering around the pond when we got there. The pond is a man made one in a local business park. There is always ducks, geese an swans here and also koi and goldfish that catch any food that escape the birds.
Not far from the park a group of travellers are camped up and have there horses tethered on the grass verges so we rode up and my son fed them apples and carrots, the travellers have been in the area for the last 2 months and keep being moved from there camps. They have caused no problems but they do leave the camps an extreme mess when they move, rumour has it that they are trying to stay till the Appleby Horse Fair, then they will move on, one thing is for sure, they aren't very happy with our hospitality in Warrington.
When we got home the weather was lovely and Rowan was straight in the garden checking on his tadpoles.
I found this small moulded pond dumped last year and took it home, after checking if it was water tight (which it was) we came up with a plan where to put it in the garden. I had always wanted a wildlife pond, as there has always been frogs in the garden but now they have somewhere to spawn. We built the raised area out of old sleepers that I got of a friend who found them buried in his garden when he moved into a new house. It has attracted an abundance of wildlife, in its first year we have seen Damselfly's mating and laying eggs and birds drinking from the water. Dipping we have found smooth newts, great pond snails, water boatmen, Waterlouse, and many other tiny creatures. I even got the video below of a male common frog calling to a female.
Rowan then helped me clean out the chickens house and give them fresh straw.
We have 2 chickens a Light Sussex and a Warren, we had a Rhode island red cockerel but had to get rid of him as the council were on our back because of his crowing, he now resides on a local fishery and have 50 acres to strut his stuff. The 2 hens give us a dozen eggs a week and cost very little to feed, there straw and droppings makes great compost for the garden, they eat lots of scraps and most of the weeds from the garden and do a great job at clearing beds for me.
The hen house was bought second hand from someone in the area who got rid of there hens because they didn't have time to care for them, I cleaned it then painted it red an white trying to go for a american barn look! The run was made mostly from wood found in skips and from demolition sites, the roof came from a carport that had been taken down in the local area. The only parts that where bought where the sheet of wood for the back and the wire mesh.
Not far from the park a group of travellers are camped up and have there horses tethered on the grass verges so we rode up and my son fed them apples and carrots, the travellers have been in the area for the last 2 months and keep being moved from there camps. They have caused no problems but they do leave the camps an extreme mess when they move, rumour has it that they are trying to stay till the Appleby Horse Fair, then they will move on, one thing is for sure, they aren't very happy with our hospitality in Warrington.
When we got home the weather was lovely and Rowan was straight in the garden checking on his tadpoles.
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| Climbing hydrangea, apple with wild strawberry's an forget-me-nots at its base planted behind pond. |
I found this small moulded pond dumped last year and took it home, after checking if it was water tight (which it was) we came up with a plan where to put it in the garden. I had always wanted a wildlife pond, as there has always been frogs in the garden but now they have somewhere to spawn. We built the raised area out of old sleepers that I got of a friend who found them buried in his garden when he moved into a new house. It has attracted an abundance of wildlife, in its first year we have seen Damselfly's mating and laying eggs and birds drinking from the water. Dipping we have found smooth newts, great pond snails, water boatmen, Waterlouse, and many other tiny creatures. I even got the video below of a male common frog calling to a female.
Rowan then helped me clean out the chickens house and give them fresh straw.
We have 2 chickens a Light Sussex and a Warren, we had a Rhode island red cockerel but had to get rid of him as the council were on our back because of his crowing, he now resides on a local fishery and have 50 acres to strut his stuff. The 2 hens give us a dozen eggs a week and cost very little to feed, there straw and droppings makes great compost for the garden, they eat lots of scraps and most of the weeds from the garden and do a great job at clearing beds for me.
The hen house was bought second hand from someone in the area who got rid of there hens because they didn't have time to care for them, I cleaned it then painted it red an white trying to go for a american barn look! The run was made mostly from wood found in skips and from demolition sites, the roof came from a carport that had been taken down in the local area. The only parts that where bought where the sheet of wood for the back and the wire mesh.
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| Fresh eggs daily mmmh |
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