Nature, red in breast, tooth and claw

While lily beetles have been indulging in orgies in my front garden, the back garden has been host to a series of domestic dramas ...

Spring sprang into action with a pair of blue tits visiting my nest box. They were carrying estate agents' details, were measuring up for curtains and all that sort of thing. They were serious. However, several days passed and I saw no blue tit activity other than acrobatics on the seed feeders. Several more days passed, and the only person I noticed going into the nest box was a bumble bee. I didn't investigate the gender of the latter, but for the purposes of this discussion let's call it 'he'. He seemed to be a very frequent visitor and, indeed, still is. I felt that a bumblebee and blue tits in one confined space was not good news, though the fact that the bumblebee was still alive meant that he hadn't stung anyone.

The blue tits seemed to have deserted the nest.

However, it soon became apparent that the real cause of the exodus was probably not the bumblebee, but a pair of these (red breasts) who had taken up residence:



These charming birds are so aggressive you would not believe it! There were only transient visitors to the back garden from then on. Any brave bird who dared venture into the back garden was treated to a torrent of personal abuse which questioned their heritage, parentage and the size of their *******, prior to a thorough going over with robins' poo.

No wonder things became very quiet.

And then I became aware of these little warriors creating quite a lot of noise ... a predator which even they could not repel had entered the garden ...



Whoops, sorry, wrong pic. We all know that Falafel's far too short sighted to do any harm to birds, but look who'd really arrived:



Oh OK then, it was only a domestic moggie that lives next door, but this demanded instant action. I put a new battery into my cat repeller:




So far, it seems to have worked.

Fornicating Couples in MY GARDEN

I've been out in the garden today - yep, there were several hours of uninterrupted sunshine. Well, cloudy grey bits with no rain anyway. And then it rained.

But I digress.

I have several pots full of lovely lilies. A few days ago I noticed three fornicating pairs of lily beetles ON MY LILIES.

And this is what your lilies will look like when they've finished:



So it was obvious that coitus interruptus was called for, without their knowledge or consent (though it did occur to me that this might have been the 'first time' for all of them, and that they'd think that this always happened). Then followed the tedious task of seeking out their disgusting larvae (the little grubs cover themselves with their own excrement to protect them from marauding birds. Not surprisingly, it works well). And their eggs, which being bright orange stand out quite well against the green foliage. They're nothing like as large as hens' eggs, though, so you have to look quite hard. As somebody who enjoys an occasional bit of 'seek and destroy' as an afternoon's entertainment, I did find it quite therapeutic.

In the meantime, interesting developments have been afoot in the back garden - but I'll leave those for another day ...

From racing around in cars ...

...well, dunno so much about the racing. More like proceeding at a tentative pace whilst trying to locate reverse gear. But not normally the latter when I'm travelling along 'A' Roads.

However, I'm joining in the Race for Life on June 18th, all in aid of Cancer Research. As some of you will be aware, I've had experience of some of the nasty things they do to you whilst establishing whether or not you've got cancer. Whilst these did not rank high in the list of 'Unpleasant Things Which They Do To You In Hospitals', my repeated visits did concentrate the mind wonderfully.

If anyone out there would like to sponsor me, there's a special widget so you can do so online ... on the right hand side of this blog!

Many thanks should any of you feel so moved ...

What is this life, if full of cars ...

I've had a hire car, from a hire car company, all this week (courtesy of the other party's insurance). It's a Chevrolet Lacetti, and I don't like it very much. It seems to be stuck on a really naff radio station, and it's very cold when the weather's cold, and stiflingly hot if it isn't. I can't be arsed to find out what to do about these things as no sooner will have mastered them than it will be time to return it.

It was even worse when I got it from the hire car place; I've driven a Peugeot diesel for yars and yars and thought I'd try driving the Lacetti round the site before hitting the Redditch Ring Road, or, come to that, anything on it. I then found I couldn't get reverse gear (you have to say magic incantations in a weird accent, oh yes, and squeeze some bits together and waggle it. And reverse is in the wrong place.) I then discovered I couldn't get the key out of the ignition, and had to get one of the blokes who works there to show me how. I could just tell what he was thinking. It was not complimentary to female drivers.

Anyway, it was parked outside my house next to the pyracantha hedge. (I might also add that blackbirds are nesting in the hedge, and they keep c*****ng on the car. It's a black one, unlike my Peugeot 206 which is silver and therefore won't show the dirt so much). It was in exactly the same spot as my new 206 had been when it was struck amidships ... then ... I noticed that the evil car wot had dun the damage in the first place was parked just opposite.

NOW I know the meaning of paranoia. From first-hand experience.

I couldn't rest. I paced backwards and forwards. I thought about complicated insurance claims. In the end, I nipped to the house over the road and had an apparently pleasant chat with the perpetrator. I didn't quite say 'Look - that's a hire car, and please don't reverse into it', but nearly.

However, the nightmare should soon be over. The company which has been papering over the dents in my car left a message today to say that my motor's ready. So I hope to reclaim it tomorrow! Yippee!!!

Motor Skills

I bought a new car today. Well, new to me anyway. I'd had the previous one for nine years and was very sorry to let it go, but it had got to the stage where the annual garage bills were more than the motor itself was worth.

So I got a new one. I went to pick it up on Tuesday. It wasn't ready. I went back to pick it up today. Purchase went through on my card OK - halleluia! - and I drove it back. Very trepidatiously, on account of the clutch and brake behaving differently to the old one, and got home with only slightly frayed nerves.

I'd been at home for about 10 minutes when there was a knock at the door, and someone who was visiting a neighbour owned up to just having hit MY NEW CAR!!!
AND I'D HAD IT FOR LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR!!! She said she didn't know how it had happened, and I was very good and didn't tell her, and after frothing at the mouth and rolling my eyes in a maniacal fashion I did thank her for owning up ... but .. fffruuuuuegh ...

This is too much excitement for one day, and I think I'll go to sleep soon ...

The Mysterious Mystery of the Missing Plumes ... Explained!!!!

Many thanks to Jennie from the Planet Jen blog for the following pics - which show clearly that Falafel's missing plumes ARE NOW GROWING ON HER HAMSTER!!!





The super little chap in the pics is called Bodkin, and he is clearly quite a youngster. I guess that no sooner will he be used to having plumes than he will be obliged to hand them on to someone else - but we'll see.

Illustration Friday - Garden

This painting is based on the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, West Midlands, UK (not that the scene looks anything like Birmingham, Alabama). This fantabulous place actually does have peacocks wandering loose around it. Noisy gits they are, too!