Th calf is a little nervous and Mum reassures him as the dogs go by

One of the boggy places at Shatterford.
Some deer watch us in the woods

Shes leaving Home..........Bye Bye

This morning there was quite a commotion going on in the garden. When I went to investigate I found 3 little Great tits perched in the shrubs cheeping away and more cheeping from the nest box. The babies were finally leaving. They looked so small and they had chosen to rest only a few feet from the ground. The dogs had to stay in for a while as they could easily have been drawn by the cheeping and gone to investigate. It was a cold damp drizzly morning, and they must have had a shock after the warmth of the nest box.

At the Great Tit House again

Great Tit (Parus major)It is one of our commonest garden birds. Like most tits it nests in a hole in a tree and readily takes to nesting boxes. it is 14 cm in size and loves to feed on peanuts at garden feeders.

Back at the Great tit House.

Hello Big wide World out there!

Feed me Now!


A few more shots of the tits...... we are seeing more of the babies now and the parents are sitting outside singing to them. it won't be long before they have gone.

Mogshade Hill

Affectionate ponies

Raffles plays in Highland Water


We took the dogs for a walk from the Canadian Cross this morning, we saw plenty of foals on our journey, they are all over the forest now and we saw over 20 different ones as we drove through the forest. The car park was quite busy , but we only saw a couple of people in the distance on our walk. When we got to the pond, there were only ponies about so we were able to let Missy off the lead for a short swim.

Feeding the Family

A few shots of the Great tits in the nesting box. I could (did) spend ages this morning trying to capture them .You can see the babies now as the parents fly up to feed them. it must be getting crowded in the box and I think soon they will be gone.its certainly very noisy! the box is just above our patio window and even with the door shut you can here them cheeping.

The babies are nearly ready to fly!

I have been watching theGreat tits again. (Well its more exciting than the Football) The adults no longer go into the box to feed them , they just perch on the outside and occasionally we can see a little head peeking out.

Cup Final Saturday

John is looking forward to watching the Cup Final this afternoon. Finally after 7 years the new Wembley Stadium is being officially opened before the game starts. We took the dogs to Cadman's pond late this morning and had a long walk, starting and ending at the pond. There are so many little foals in the Forest now and we passed several, sleeping, grazing and frolicking by Dockens Water. Recent rain has set the stream flowing again and the grass on the banks is green and lush looking.Even the dogs enjoy eating it.
At the pond we saw several groups of ducklings, but they are growing fast and beginning to look like little adults. We couldn't see any sign of goslings yet , but the geese were honking noisily. We will keep checking and hopefully we will see them soon.

Some Ducks down near Dockens Water.
A cute little foal

Ponies grazing on the lush green grass along the banks of Dockens water
Greater Stitchwort

The little ducklings are growing fast and are begining to look more like adult ducks.

Lots of cows were at the pond today, having a drink and admiring themselves in the reflections. As yet there are no signs of goslings.......I hope there will be some this year!

Happy Birthday Karen

Happy Birthday to Karen at Wild about Art

karen is celebrating her Birthday today with Chocolate cake, I wonder if she is sharing it! Lets all visit her blog and see.

Drizzly Morning at Pigbush

After the sunshine of yesterday evening it was disappointing to walk in drizzle this morning and as soon as we got home the sun came out! On our walk we saw a herd of deer in the distance and we also had several glimpses of a heron flying! Down by the little stream we met a group of inquisitive calves , one even gave Missy a Kiss, she was very quiet and was as interested in them as they were in her.

A Large Herd of Fallow Deer

This afternoon , the sun came out and by early evening it was very warm and sunny. When John came home from work , we took the dogs for a walk at Ocknell. We hadn't been walking for very long , when we came across this large group of fallow deer , grazing in the sunshine. Ususally we see much smaller groups. This group stayed where they were and I was able to get quite close before they started moving away, but when I retreated they returned again and we saw them on our way home an hour later, still enjoying the evening sunshine

Thinking of Holidays on a Cold Wet Miserable day

We went for an early walk in the Forest today, but just after we started walking , the rain came and so I was unable to take any pictures.
I have just been reading Ocean and Forest Walks blog, and I was reminded of our visit to Vancouver Island in 2003, so I thought I would post some pictures and surprise Ocean when she next visits here.
We are hoping to go back to Canada later this year and although I do not know if we will get a chance to visit Vancouver Island again, I know we will vist Vancouver and the Rockies!

Market Place Victoria
Malahat Drive

Cowichan

Victoria Harbour

Buchart gardens
Chemainus
Little Niagra Goldstream park

One of the Exhibits in the BC Museum

Government House Victoria

A Little rain and the Forest is Green Again!

We had a very wet morning and then heavy showers early afternoon. Just before 5pm the sun came out and we took the dogs to Cadman's Pond. We managed to have a nice walk in the sun before the rain returned. Dockens Water had filled up and was bubbling along. Everything looked fresh and green again!

A Splash of Colour

Lots of showers and a cold wind blowing today. Here is a splash of colour. These Rhododendrons were growing outside a cottage in the forest. The purple Rhododendrons use to grow all over the forest , having escaped from gardens, but in recent years the Forestry Commission have been trying to remove them as they are a non native species. They seem to grow well in the forest and despite their efforts they seem to be creeping back.