Big Garden Birdwatch

This weekend is the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, when we are asked to spend an hour watching and counting the different birds in our garden. We officially counted them last year (entering the results onto the RSPB website) and previous to that we had done an informal count. What annoys me, and this is the reason we haven't entered our results in previous years, is that the birds seem to disappear at this time!! We had three blackcaps in the garden earlier this week, but today we saw one! Sometimes we have as many as six great tits, but today we had a paltry two! It's frustrating to say the least.

On Wednesday, we went to Barnsley to see DM. The original intention was to have a leisurely day, have a run out to Darfield to see the area that she is moving to, etc. However, our friends in Leeds, hearing that we were coming as far as Barnsley, invited us to bring DM up to them, so that we could perhaps see the bullfinch that has been visiting their garden, and maybe the red kite which has been flying over their property, being hassled by gulls. As luck would have it, we saw both!! And of course, our chatting inevitably overspilled our 'timetable' so it was dusk as we left Leeds, leaving no time to go over to Darfield, so that pleasure awaits us.

A good thing which came out of this visit is that we have the promise of a motorised scooter/chair for DM when she moves home and has somewhere to store it. We had been offered this vehicle when our friend's father had died, but the problem was the storage. Now we look forward to the independence this will give to DM.

When we went to Barnsley, we took with us a selection of small items from the Baby Cake Boutique, on a sale or return basis. At the last minute we added a larger bouquet to the items to take; this was sold to our friends in Leeds, and they have requested a second one so both daughter-in-laws have one!

So a good day was had by all, and a profitable one was had by Baby Cake Boutique!