Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

Sad news re Mr Blackbird I went looking for him in the garden yesterday and found a few black feathers underneath the hydrangea. I think he's been taken by the sparrowhawk or a cat He wasn't in a good way and I knew he wouldn't survive forever, but I still feel quite sad about it

I used the Merlin app yesterday as I could hear twitterings in one of the nearby crab apple trees - it was long-tailed tits, my 'bird of the day' apparently. Funny that twopenny and Less had them too.

It feels chilly this morning (I was up early again) and I think rain is forecast today after the lovely day yesterday. I'm going to have to make a decision on getting new storage heaters (the old ones conked out months ago when we had a prolonged power cut) or looking again at ASHP...

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all, on Back to the Future Day  

Boooo to missing blackie pp, do you think nature has taken it's course? :'(  Maybe Mrs will find another Mr and all will be right again :fingerscrossed: Is your flower not a primrose? I've a few and they're waking up now, all leaves and diddy half-hearted flowers but they're a joy to see again  

Ah so the tiny cheerios are galls, thanks Farway That mug is brilliant! I think sculptors are a special breed too, well all the creatives tbh because I'm not one. Have you seen those folks that carve tree trunk chunks with a chainsaw There'll no doubt be hours and hours of it on ootoob.

I'm with you on finding a lot of things galling Dusty. Interesting etymology of the word there... so apple is from gallas? That's another one for the Pointless Doubles List, like Alpine Mountains and Sahara desert. You have some cracking walks down there, no wonder you're always out in it  

I've just D'Duck'd the Pieta and it's deffo going on my list, ta 2p I need to stop learning about interesting stuff cos my list is getting very dear. Did I tell yous about the woman I got talking to when we were at the Bowes Museum watching the Silver Swan? She was contradicting the museum fellah while he was saying about it being the last surviving automaton of that era. IIRR her father-in-law (or summat) was the curator/worked in a Russian museum (Hermitage..? Grrr stoopid brain) and they have one. It's the same thing entirely except for it's a peacock and it's gold. We should go see it, and the Pieta, and the Silver Swan. Will somebody give us a shout when they win the Rottery cos we need a big bunch of money thankyouplease

Ahh gb, is that the death knell for your apple tree then? Can Honeyfungus be killed off and not harm the tree? Even if the fruit weren't worth the eating, it'd be a shame to lose the structure if it could be saved..?

Dead Man's Fingers, very apt Less  I’m still loving the Merlin app (thank you again, lurker) cos it picks up and differentiates between all kinds of wee birds that I’d miss otherwise. I’ve Long Tailed tits here but my sparrows have all gone They’ve been replaced with Greenfinches and Goldfinches (both unseen by me) so that’s a fair swop I spose. 

OT filthy damp and dark and mild out there, again. It’s to lift today, they say, with sunny spells coming later, possibly. Currently 10’c and a high of 14’ to come, perhaps. The temps are dropping off sharpish in a couple of days though, which is odd when the winds are from the south or sw. We’ll see. 

YoungBlueEyes

I only came back to say "are you still out there wort" and saw your post pp. I'm sorry to read that

twopenny

We had a sunny spell yesterday.
Just the one.

Dustyevsky

Looks like a day of sunshine and showers ahead, but with around 90% chance of rain in the morning hours, that doesn't leave a lot of sunshine!  No matter, we have to go shopping, and pick up an item bought on the Bay, so those things will eat into the daylight hours....what's left of them!

I can't comment on heating systems now, pp, having made our decisions on those well over 10 years ago now. I know storage heaters have improved, and so have ASHP systems, but it's probably the construction of your house that will be the deciding factor. 15 years ago, the talk here was all about wood pellet stoves, and oil was supposedly on its last legs. I'm so glad we didn't go down that route!   At least you have the wood burner option, so if the lights go out, that really will make a difference. 

I often find small piles of feathers, but more often than not they belong to pigeons. Hardly surprising when the ones here are so chubby they struggle to take-off! I don't mind them, as they do a good job, together with the sparrows, cleaning-up under the bird feeders. 

Speaking of apples Bluey, I found a 'Siamese' one yesterday. It's from a tree like GB's, with indifferent fruit, but in this case, I know why. It was me who bought the so-called 'crab-apple,' which was obviously just grown from a pip. I paid £2, thinking it would be OK to give the chickens some shade. Even they avoid the fruit! 

I'm shocked by all you folk who drink your tea from stone or earthenware mugs.  Don't you know it tastes much better from bone china?   

I've not seen any sign of blight in the polytunnel here, Less. Lots of whitefly and sooty mould, of course, but the toms usually stagger-on well into November. Here they are: (picture taken yesterday)

And then there are the self-sown plants, hiding at the other end, and just coming into production!  The cucumbers are long-gone, though. The ladder was for removing the net they climbed-up.

wort

I got got back Sat evening YBE.  Lovely holiday, museums and mooches. Managed to get a wash load done Sunday morning and part dried before the rain started at lunch time. Dehumidifier dried it off. Back to the grind Monday 😔 and so far today grey and rainy .
It’s taken a while to get through your posts, you lot have been chatty whilst I’ve been gone. 

Pp glad you enjoyed your hols, tbh I’ve yet to hear of anyone seeing the auroras whilst on hol looking for them. You have had such wonderful ones you might be disappointed. Though the fjords are breathtaking no wonder all the plants head off there. 😂

Some great photos, I really can’t compete. Dusty I loved the wooded tunnel that looked like a shed from outside, and wished I could come on the walks you go on. I can’t believe summer is over and I’ve barely done any walks. It doesn’t help that my walking friend has a child off school in the hols and she’s of the age that doesn’t enjoy a walk. 

Farway

The rain has stopped at last, welcome as it was, I think we've had enough to get on with now.

Sun is creeping out now

Shame about the apple tree GB, should you wish to clean it up you can use a soap-based outdoor cleaner, Armillotox.

Be careful, though, because it can kill Honey Fungus as well 

https://johnholidaysgarden.weebly.com/armillatox.html

I spotted it can also kill Vine Weevils, maybe I'll try it next time I'm cleaning the front steps and try not to splash any in the pots

Tree trunk carving YBE, yep, seen some. There's one near me, and some at Wisley. I posted a Wisley one here a year or so back

Nice show of Tagetes there Dusty, and toms, whitefly or not.

wort said:

Some great photos, I really can’t compete. Dusty I loved the wooded tunnel that looked like a shed from outside, and wished I could come on the walks you go on. I can’t believe summer is over and I’ve barely done any walks. It doesn’t help that my walking friend has a child off school in the hols and she’s of the age that doesn’t enjoy a walk. 

drag them along, it's character building   

We used to drag ours along and once they realised it was inevitable & would not kill them they quite enjoyed it, caterpillars, flowers, maybe a cafe if passing one

Both of them still walk, and dragged their kids along as well

No gardening today, too wet now. 

Can anyone put a name to this? 

One of the Antirrhinum type, came in a packet of mixed Fairy Annuals I bunged in

-taff

Haven#t done a lot due to being in Wales at the weekend helping to empty yet more linens from various cupboards in my sisters house [was my parents] and thanks to incessant rain..where were you, rain,  two months ago anyway? 

Shame about your blackie pp..your aurora pics almost make me want to not bother going to see them in person! 

Like your Farway kit Farway, I'm surprised there isn't a packet of erigeron in there...sorry! Is that a pork pie? If it is, it's definitely going on my list of things I must take with me to the allotment with my flask for an obviously more productive day! 

Dusty, did the fungi get identified? Good news about your girl hog being taken on...and tea does taste better in china but only if you can find a mug big enough for a proper amount, not a piddly little bit in a cup...If the little doughnuts are galls, what are the star shaped ones I see on bay trees? 

ybe, love you noticed the weeds in the grass That sculpture is very cool. Sometimes I think we lost quite a bit in the classical art sense when modern art poked it's head up, but I suppose it's all change etc, as long as you don't use the plus ca change motto, because generally it might stay the same, but not really...funny that Cissie has discovered strictly, my sister and cousin used ot watch it and I'd get about a hundred messages every weekend in the group chat about turing out toes or bad hip swaying or something...I could definitely find room for a golden automaton, I love those things in general..

Love those little things on the oak leaves Less..

Is it fungi o' clock now? Because there are some growing in my grass too, which I've never seen before....Is The Last of Us coming true? 

greenbee, your tree has a ruffle skirt on  

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Can anyone put a name to this? 

One of the Antirrhinum type, came in a packet of mixed Fairy Annuals I bunged in

Nemesia? Possibly an unadulterated species, rather than the multicoloured fancies in the GCs.

-taff said:

Dusty, did the fungi get identified? before...

Yeah, but no, but.....err.. I've forgotten what it was!    There's a big fungi website and I went through it. Not conclusive, mind, especially when you forget!   

wort said:

 Dusty I loved the wooded tunnel that looked like a shed from outside, and wished I could come on the walks you go on. I can’t believe summer is over and I’ve barely done any walks. It doesn’t help that my walking friend has a child off school in the hols and she’s of the age that doesn’t enjoy a walk. 

I agree with Farway. The kid will thank you later.  Our DD2 wouldn't walk as a toddler, unless forced, so we made a point of forgetting the pushchair. By the time she was a teen, she was walking across the city to school and back, (about 6.5 miles a day) pocketing the bus fare!    Now she works for you-know-who, and can't wait to get back, to run between floors and lose that baby bump! 

There's also the mental health aspect of walking. My friend and I value that, plus, at our age, not using the physical abilities we have left, will most likely mean losing them.

twopenny

That's a pretty little plant Farway. And useful if it's blooming now.

Bluey does cissie ever use iPlayer? She would have the winter sorted going through the number of series.

Poppy could you run radiators off the log burner? It used to be done, not great but better than what you have maybe.

Nothing much to say today. Another wet, grey day, chucking it down occasionally so no gardening. Sheesh I could do with some. The novelty of doing jobs I'd put off is wearing thin now.