Watty's Awakening

Humdinger1

Happy pup is a glorious thing. Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx

v1ckyt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81859526#Comment_81859526

Delurking to ask should that be "Onwards and Pupwards?"

Slinks back into the world of lurkdom 😀

Humdinger1

Indeed it should @v1ckyt! Thank you for that love Humdinger xx

Watty1

"Onwards and pupwards" love it. Am feeling very sick this morning and feel I have a lot I can learn from WattyDog who is laying on the rugs barking rather than venturing out in the rain. He is not letting little things like ulcers and joint pains get him down.

Have appointment with mental health person on Monday so will discuss the nausea. It is now manageable but not nice - trying to ignore WattyDog style.

Watty1

In financial news, all reports are ready for planning application except the bat survey which is booked for 2nd May. The planning consultant has had a meeting with the former head of planning for the area and has a idea for writing the report on sewage himself so I am going to try that as it will save £5000.

The problem is Southern Water have no plans to build a new sewage works but the nitrates and phosphates being discharged are negatively impacting an SSRI locally. This is so serious it is meant to have blocked all new building - but - in reality all large firms are still getting permissions

Anyway, everything done now just need to wait for the bats to come out of hibernation so we can evidence none live in the barn I want to convert/rebuild.

Slinky

I love seeing bats (obviously hoping they aren't living in your barn). One of the first things we did when we moved to our house was make and install some bat boxes for the side of the house. Not sure that they've ever been occupied as of course you can't disturb them, and they move so fast it's hard to tell if they exit or enter the box. We had our garden surveyed by the local bat group, although the results are aggregated so we don't know what types fly around our patch.

We're hoping to get swifts nesting in our swift boxes this year. I know they spent some time in them last year as we saw them going in and out, but no evidence of actual nesting was seen. Hopefully they were juveniles who will take up residence this year. We've got an electrician lined up to come and put power in the loft so we can install cameras in the boxes before they arrive.

Watty1

I love seeing the bats too. I had a survey done when I first thought about applying but it is out of date and the types were all listed. The numbers were so much higher than I thought they would be (but none in actual residence then so hopefully none have moved in).

I keep telling myself it won't be long until the swallows return. Some usually nest in the stables, although one family built a very poor nest last year so it fell apart by the end of the summer and the young ended up just perched on the light with tatters of nest around them. I am thinking about buying a swallow nest to encourage them but maybe they would prefer to build their own?

The swallows are one of my joys, watching them dart around and then seeing the young make their first few trial flights in the stable (they nest in Charming Cob's - I think Most Handsome might be a challenge for them as he has an opinion about everything). I am eagerly awaiting their return and to just sit on the yard and watch them.

WelshmansDaughter

I did a bat walk a few years ago they gave us a device to detect the bats. It was amazing when you actually saw one

Slinky

I am somewhat concerned our cat has brought a live mouse in (again!). He's searching the lounge for something. He brought one in on Monday which I saw, but it disappeared somewhere in the dining room before I could catch it. He eventually brought it upstairs on Tuesday morning, and we found it was hiding in a vacuum cleaner hose pipe I'd left on the landing. Is now living its best life in the local park a few hundred meters away.

However, cat was searching in our bedroom this morning, on the landing and now in the lounge. Is he looking for Tuesday's mouse, or has he brought in and lost another one? He's missing a canine, so what he catches has slightly more chance of survival than if he had the full set!

greenbee

My mum has swallow nesting boxes, as it's often too dry for them to build a decent nest. They do bung a bit of home-made nest on the edge, but they seem to like them. We've had to put boards above them to make them less accessible to raptors. And she also leaves a dish of clay soil out that she keeps topped up with water in the summer (she doesn't have any clay in her garden, this has come from a neighbour).