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Thanks to Vera and Maryanna for kind words. Hubby is still working hard to get well.

Sorry Vera, that you are not good yourself, hope that the antibiotics will help so you can enjoy your the rest of your holiday.

Maryanna, at least your holiday was good. You have done amazingly well to get your family back into the 1400s..... well done you! Don't have time lately for the general chat, but I do add to another thread and thankfully there is never any nastiness there.

Lucky you Ann, a further week of sunshine...... enjoy it all.

Jane we still have no other birds around so I am guessing that they are all at your place. Even the hedgehog has disappeared!

Oh Vera, I do hope you both soon feel better and are able to enjoy the rest of your Holiday.There is nothing worse than being ill when you are away from home.Then with all the trouble of getting from Istanbul to your next destination.
I hate to see lots of roaming dogs and cats when I am abroad as I always worry about them.But unfortunately it is the norm in some countries.

Maryanna,I'm glad you had a great time in Spain .I bet you feel like you have been home for ages now.
Fancy tracing ancestors all that way back to the 1400's !!!!!!! Brilliant :-D
I too like Ann must have missed any sniping going on on the boards.Not like me to miss something lol but then I don't add to anything if trouble is going on.I just sit back and watch :-D
Still busy here on the bird front .I woke up really early this morning and had a peep out the bedroom window .Through the fog I could spot about 6 Blackbirds on the lawn busy pulling up worms :-D

Thanks Ann, feeling just a little better. Think OH and I have had different things. He was ill in Istanbul, I've been ill in Kalkan. Other hotel guests are fine.

I've been looking up about Turkey's dogs and cats. Apparently to own a pet you have to have training in its needs and care and get a certificate. It is illegal to sell a pet to someone who has not got a certificate. Weak or ownerless animals cannot be put down except in certain circumstances so the population lives with, and looks after, its strays. I have noticed lots of shops have big bowls of water outside.

I can think of a few British pet owners who could do with a bit of training :-D

Poor Vera, sorry to hear that you have both been poorly. Did others in the hotel have it? Assuming you caught what your oh had. Hope you are feeling better now. Temp here is 30 today and not much sun, humidity 74%

Maryanna, I must have missed the sniping on chat, not seen anything bad lately. Hope you had a good holiday, where in Spain were you?

Hello everyone, I am here, I just haven't had anything to report since we came back from our lovely Spanish holiday.

The Magpies and Jackdaws seem to have grown up enough to leave Mum and Dad so it is a bit more peaceful round here these days.The Wood Pigeon is in residence in the apple tree at present having taken over from the silly Doves.

I actually saw a Robin a couple of days ago but there even seem to be far fewer Sparrows than a few weeks back.

It all seems very quiet without the Swifts screaming overhead.

I have been working on my Family tree a bit on and off, found a new branch on my Dad's side which went way back to the 1400s, but it seems whenever I look in on the chat boards we are back to the usual snipping and sniping and I can't be bothered with it all.

Nice to see you back kandj.

M. :-)

I'm in Turkey at moment. Temperature about 33. A bit hotter than I like. It's turning out to be the holiday from hell!

I was Ill before coming and only got the go ahead from doctor 2hours before leaving. Flew to Istanbul, had a couple of good days and then OH went down with "Delhi belly". Then our pick up to take us to Istanbul airport for a flight to Dalaman failed to show. After telephone calls and a lot of stress the hotel organised us a taxi which they paid. By the time we arrived check in was closed. But staff were great, reopened systems and just got us on plane as it was ready for take off.

Had a good day here yesterday, then I became ill this morning, doc has been and I'm back on antibiotics and other jollop. Bang goes the moonlight cruise and dinner that we had booked.

As for the wildlife....plenty of Mosquitos! Birds, we have only seen pigeons, sparrows and hooded crow. But I am fascinated by the dogs... There are lots around. They don't seem to belong to anyone yet don't seem to be scruffy strays. They look reasonably well fed and groomed. Most have no identification although we have seen a few with collars and a couple with ear tags

Hope Ann is having a better trip than us and hope Kandj's OH will continue to improve

Vera

Yes so far three weeks never lower than 23 degrees up to 10.30 at night. Rain supposed to be on the way for wednesday. We go home 22nd. :-D

A change in the temperature here in Yorkshire today and it's been raining for most of the day too, so not nice at all really. Is Ann still enjoying the sunshine? Lucky girl.

I gave Robin a map Kandj :-D and said Gloria wants you ,but have a funny feeling it just flew as far as the window feeder !!!
OH and I were sitting outside just now and heard a funny tapping noise very close by.He asked if it could it be a Woodpecker.I thought not .But then an adult Woodpecker flew right across our patio.I wondered then if it might have been a young 'pecker' we could hear,just trying things out lol
Magpies here seem to be very active and NOISY early in the mornings ,but then they suddenly disappear and we never hear or see them for the rest of the day .(very strange)

Jane, maybe that Robin has lost it's way? Ours has disappeared! Could you point it in the direction of Yorkshire please.......... so glad that it did eventually take flight though.

Kandj,I'm not keen on the Starlings either and am thankful they are one bird that don't tend to visit us :-D.I was just watching a big flock of them in the horses field across the road again.As long as they stay there I'm happy :-D
We had a little Robin in the Summerhouse yesterday.Poor thing was bashing itself off all the windows trying to find a way out.So I opened up both of the doors and left it.After a while I had a look and thought it had gone but then my OH spotted it just standing on the floor beside the settee.I went right up to it and it didn't move.it was just like a stone statue and didn't even blink .It was just as though it was frozen,but when I flapped a tea towel near it ,it flew straight out :-D So I was very relieved it hadn't injured itself.

Hello Shaun, nice to see you popping in again.

Jane..... NO... I won't be feeding the hedgehog because I don't want to leave food around and encourage the mice! I did look a site though and put a shallow dish of water out. My neighbour said there are 4 or 5 hedgehogs in our street gardens and they are being fed by two neighbours, so I won't be leaving food for them here.

We had loads of starlings all fighting to get on the window feeder this afternoon. There were so many that they actually dislodged the feeder...... we could see what was happening and I told hubby that the feeder would end up on the floor. I have no idea where all the starlings came from and they are not our favourite bird but perhaps others will follow these tomorrow.

Kandj are going to be feeding your Hedgehog? I know a few people who have little Hedgehog Houses and feed them .One person had visiting cats who gobbled up all the food though :-S :-S

Shaun you are lucky to have so many Long TTs .I don't know where all ours went.
Today there have been scores and scores of Swallows flying on and off our roof.They seem to pick at the tiles so there must be lots of insects up there. :-D

Hello Everyone.

Not been here for ages.

Made a load of my pudding mix this morning.
The long Tailed tits are here in abundance a lovely sight.

Hope you are all managing OK.

Stay safe and well

Shaun

All our birds must be at your feeder Jane, could you send a few back to us please?

We had a HUGE daddylong legs spider run across our lounge floor last night! No idea where that came from or where it is now but don't get freaked out by spiders so I can live with this.

I agree cockroaches are horrible Lesley, but still don't get palpitations like I do even thinking about having a mouse around! Glad your grey mouse got caught Ann, but any sign of the black one again? I only ever saw black or white mice as pets.

I went to close the drive gates around 10pm last night and spotted a movement in the dark on the ground feeder. I FROZE and thought it was a RAT!!! but then saw it was a hedgehog. This has left its poo on the patio at the back of the bungalow and I hoped it wasnt a rat but recognized this as from a hedgehog. SOOOO relieved to be proven right. I am ok with this visitor, but it must have moved quickly because when I came back down the drive it had disappeared. It looked a big one.

Blue sky with white fluffy clouds here in Yorkshire today. A real tonic.... loving it.

I have just filled up the window feeder again.I did it this morning.But they are making a right mess by flinging out all the bits they don't want to eat :-S.I think they need to be taught some table manners lol

Ooh yes Jane I really, really hate cockroaches :-(

I think i would prefer Mice to Cockroaches :-D
We have had Swallows on the aerial today.Some looked quite small and seemed to be fed by larger ones that flew back and forth :-D
The Owls during the night are very vocal .They sound very close to the house.Not hooting but screeching :-S

No cockroaches here in the 8 years we have been coming to the north but have previously seen many in the south. Much more rural where we are Lesley. El Durazno above Puerta de la Cruz, near the botanic gardens.

Adeje is much more built up than it used to be.

Ann my niece and her family have just come back from Adeje, how that has changed in the last 20 years.

All the time we were in Tenerife I never saw a mouse, we saw plenty of cockroaches though :-D

Lesley x