After a bit of the alternative Xmas, one not to be repeated, I hope, The Hideout has been a welcome refuge while trying to get back on my feet again.
The Hideout, just a random name I gave it, is my man cave, an integral brick built extension to the garage, which became a convenient dumping ground when we moved in 23 years ago, now nicely converted to a man cave.
A short 4 minute guided tour, no waffle, of The Hideout, which can be viewed HERE.
In my previous The Hideout thread, I did confess to honourably borrowing an annual based theme, so here it starts, and a link to the shorter 2023 thread, "Some from The Hideout 2023";
https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/285975/some-from-the-hideout-2023
Not many photos to start with, I didn't fancy lugging the camera and dropping it, but The Hideout has been a comfort, heating on, gentle music in the background and urban nature (if such a term exists, well it does now), going about its business, and particularly nest building.
A pair of magpies seemed to be nest building atop our cherry tree, twigs etc being taken in, then the next day, the twigs seemed to be transported out, and to another tree, most likely a lot higher, further away. it may have been the cherry tree provided a central storage place, or not.....
The Hideout is definitely fulfilling its intended role.
Less of the waffle, and more photos.....
What better than an early sign of spring, daffodil shoots, that started showing very early December, which they always do here.
Mr BB looking for more suet pellets to be thrown from The Hideout, onto the grass....
Yesterday, 13th Jan,
Blue skies
and a magpie enjoying a bathe...
These first few images were taken through a dirty kitchen window, I know, should be clean, but I had been a guest of our fabulous NHS over Xmas/NY
Though blurred and out of focus, I hadn't anticipated the magpie taking flight,
These last few were taken from The Hideout
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
I agree Mike
The welcome home scene, the house sparrows were happy to see us back home...
It looks like we may have a leucistic house sparrow. We initially thought it was white down on the forehead, but as we can clearly see, it's definitely white plumage....
One of our juvenile robins, has been watching the house sparrows and mastered getting inside the feeder
The constant cheer, an autumn flowering plant, looking goo.
And a new resident, the ferrule cat that owns us; "Tinkerbell", so named because there is a working bell on the collar, insists both Mrs PR and myself feed it, if not, then it climbs on to the wheelie bin lids and glares into the the kitchen window until fed.
Tinkebell maintains a safe escape distance, and loves to try and catch the small birds, as you'd expect. We have no idea who's cat it is, there's no reported missing cats and no one seems to know if or where Tinkerbelle actually lives.... Because Tinkerbell maintains a safe distance, we're unable to see if there is any address on the name tag.
Clever Robin mastering the feeder. Oh, tinkerbell is giving you the evil eye, feed me!! Hopefully you may get close enough some day to read his tag?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I like Tinkerbell's hiding place. You might just catch it right to read the name tag with your new lens on ... .
Lovely set of photos Mike and interesting to see that rogue white plumage on the sparrows head. Tinkerbell is one clever puddy-tat trying the cute lQQk hoping the "please feed me look" pays off LOL.
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Regards, Hazel
Lovely photos Mike once again
Catlady said:Clever Robin mastering the feeder. Oh, tinkerbell is giving you the evil eye, feed me!! Hopefully you may get close enough some day to read his tag?
The robin, and we now know there are two, having seen two fly in from opposite directions, and probably this years young, have both mastered getting in the feeder, to a degree. When they puff their plumage out as insulation, it hampers the access, something they haven't quite grasped yet.
Nature is fascinating to watch.
As for Tinkerbell, I jokingly say, we're ruled by a feral cat (those who know domestic cats will be aware they're generally independent and will chose you), rather than the other way round.....
I very much doubt we'll manage to see the tag clearly, Tinkerbell is very cautious of humans and cameras, particularly trailcams, not even the big lens manages to focus on the tag....
Thank you ILR
Billysdad said:like Tinkerbell's hiding place. You might just catch it right to read the name tag with your new lens on ... .
We do too, it's the wet weather shelter, so it can glare at us and make the message quite clear, where's my food....
I very much doubt we'll manage to see the tag clearly, Tinkerbell is very cautious of humans and cameras, particularly trailcams. But I'm working on it, more out of curiosity.
Thank you Hazel.
The sparrow's forehead I initially thoughts was down feathering from a nest or wood pigeon, but as the photo shows, it's definitely rogue plumage.
Yes, Tinkerbell has that l k at poor me...