New Beginnings

Hello again folks,   we finally completed on our house sale at 11.09am today and handed over the keys to The Laurels, said goodbye (tear) to "our" faithful garden birds and as a farewell parting gift chucked out a whole bag of final mealworm treats for them and chunk of cheese for Earl the Crow  !!    Seemed strange after 9 years there but looking forward to more free time, less garden/housework and more wildlife adventures.     At our temporary rental place we are just 3 miles down the country lanes and its really peaceful; a few doors up from where I grew up  :)         we are on part of a large country estate which is beautifully maintained and so far we've seen a Common Buzzard, Hares, Pied Wagtails, Swallows, House Martins which are nesting above our door !  along with tons of Gatekeeper ?  butterflies and no doubt lots of other insects if I wasn't so tired at the moment to wildlife watch !      Here's an example of what we saw yesterday on our first recce outside the front door …………..

Think these are Gatekeepers as we also saw Meadow Browns

was frustrating as 99% of the time they had their wings closed and I couldn't get decent shots

Skipper   (many thanks to Hazel for ID) 

this next may be Meadow Brown ?

and even a quick glance at a Small Tortoiseshell 

The House Martins and Swallows I put on a thread the other day but here's a Pied Waggie outside the property

  

and yes, I saw the Polo Ponies too    lol

poor horses were flagging under the heat and the flies …………...

and almost from our front door we can see a very famous Cheshire landmark !      Jodrell Bank radio telescope 

We need a few days to recover from the handover and process but hope to be back shortly with photos of one of the wild hares and anything else that cares to pop its head out !!   Only problem is that somebody (not mentioning names here ! ) left a crate in one of the rooms that got packed by accident -   it had my two BR camera straps in (thankfully not the cameras or lenses) and also the little Celestron spotting scope which we won't see again for the next 8 months   !!     I'll have to go shopping at Wex now the bank funds have just been transferred :)    !!!!    

First it will be feet up on the sofa and chill out (if that's possible in this heatwave) and recover.         

  • It must have been quite a wrench to say goodbye to your old house and garden which you've expended so much love and care upon. Let's hope the new owners will look after the birds and wildlife that you have.
    Although it may be only a temporary home for the next 9 months or so it's good to be in a country location where you are surrounded by wildlife.
    Enjoy chilling out for a few days.
  • Sounds as if you're home 'n dry for more wonderful wildlife treats aitch, take care & have a bit of a rest before you go gadding around the countryside!
  • Thanks Hazel. Certainly must have been hard having to move on today from your lovely house and garden, not being able to see all your birds and beasties again. Hopefully they will be well looked after. Enjoy your rest, if you can in this heat and we will see all your new friends when you are out and about again.
  • Well done on the move Hazy, there are always things that go in the wrong place, but as you say, could have been worse. Your new temporary home sounds great, with all the wildlife around. I'm sure you'll soon have the local Robin eating out of your hand. Have a few days off for R&R & give us an update.
    PS. I think your second butterfly photo is a Skipper.
  • That’s the big step out of the way, Hazel. You’ll be back into a routine before you know it. If you haven’t packed the balaclavas away you could always nip out under the cover of darkness and run an extra cable in from the big dish. You’d get every TV channel in the world…and beyond.!! :-)

    Unknown said:
    First it will be feet up on the sofa and chill out (if that's possible in this heatwave) and recover.

    24°C up here today. Doesn’t sound much, I know, but to a Scotsman that’s like pitching a deckchair on the surface of the Sun.!!

    Roll on the winter.!!   OK, maybe not, but a good bit of wind and rain wouldn’t go wrong…....would it?   :-)

  • Good to hear things went reasonably ok Hazel a greeting fly past by Buzzards must be a good sign maybe the equivalent of royalty getting a Red Arrows fly past down the Mall
  • Thanks for all your warm, kind, witty and comical comments folks, just what we needed as we start our new beginnings and unwind amongst all the new wildlife here; there's no garden at the rental but a lovely private courtyard and just beyond the gate we are already surrounded by fields and bridleways :) with pied waggies, swallows and house martins all around our residence. We were going to head off to the coast today as its going to be another roaster of a day but haven't made our mind up yet ……. it's been day to day chores since our trip to LM last month so decisions.... decisions lol what it is to be a free agent.
    @ Paul A ……… I guess we could link up that cable and get extraterrestrial TV …… they may be showing an old episode of Mork and Mindy, Lost in Space or the Green Goddess lol btw, do they sell deck chairs in Scotland ? and yes, the balaclavas, scarves and winter gloves also got packed so we'll get them back next summer lol
    @ Pete...…. the birds here just seem to know (to coin another forumates words !) that her Ladyship has arrived on base with his Lordship in tow lol
  • Unknown said:
    btw, do they sell deck chairs in Scotland ?

    I remember when we were bairns my Grandpa told us that he’d seen one when he was a wee boy. We didn’t believe him though, we think he was just trying to scare us into behaving ourselves.!! :-)

  • Hope then local tourist traffic doesn't get to high now you'r living at A World Heritage Site! Lovely countryside though.
  • You will soon buck up aitch, plenty of meals out will do the trick ... who wants to cook this weather (says me who's making toad in the hole in 33° temp!!!) Madness