UPDATE ON SWALLOWS NEST

Week two,there are four babies in the nest and they are growing at a tremendous rate,the parents must be worn out by the constant feeding.You can compare these pictures to the last ones I posted,after they had just hatched. These will enlarge if you click on them.

Who are you looking at.!!  This seems to be the youngest of the brood.

Hungry.

Now to feed the next one.

Don,t forget us.

This one is intent on trying to leave the nest too soon,I am sure we will find him on the ground one morning !!

999 FIRE CALL.

When the phone rings at 5 oclock in the morning,panic grips me.I know it is not going to be a social call and as I rush down stairs to answer the phone all kind of things going through my brain all based on disaster,sickness,accidents ,death etc.Anyway the call this morning was from one of my neighbours,on his way to work he saw a fire at the back of the moor on our boundary behind the lake.We have a lot of trees and scrub land there and he warned me that we were in danger.Dressed in my pyjamas and wellie boots and John in his we ran out to the lake to see the extent of the threat to the property,promptly ran back in to call the fire service !!

5AM

5.30

6AM

JOB DONE,HOME FOR TEA AND BREAKFAST.
............................................................................................................................................................
On a brighter note,our Eagle Owl rescue,now named Eddie,after the famous Eddie the Eagle ski jumper ( who could not fly ) is doing well.The enquires made by the wild life department and examination of the bird,showed that he had been in captivity in a small cage.He has no tail feathers and and can not fly,they think he was dumped.
He is now very alert and eating well,has a good home and John loves him.Trouble is even when he is fully fit he can not be released into the wild as he is not a native bird and will kill our native owls and birds.

He is used to being hand fed,this is a mouse as we have to feed him the things he would take in the wild.

This went down in one gulp. You can see quite clearly,the state of his feathers on his rear and lack of tail feathers,poor thing.

UPDATE ON THE SWALLOWS NEST

The swallows have just hatched and they are not pretty.!!!
Their skin is transparent,bulging eyes and a ball of fluffy hair on their heads.

 one.

 two

three,waiting to see if any more are in there.

The next photo is of an owl that my daughter has in her barn,we think it is injured but not seriously.
The mystery of this owl is ,where did it come from,as we think it is an eagle owl and they are not  known to inhabit Ireland.
The photo does not give you an idea of its true size,but take it from me, it is huge.!!

We are waiting for the wild life rep to come and check it over,then we can try to find out where it came from.

Camera mad.

Saturday I bought myself  a new camera.I went up to Cork with my son and daughter in law,to look round the camera shops to see what would suit me.David bought me my first camera,which I broke,then he loaned me a camera.This served me well to learn,but I recently sent some bird pictures to the Irish bird watch site and they published them.They have asked me to send more,but needed better quality shots .So I decided I was doing well enough to go more professional with my equipment.
I have purchased a Canon EOS 1000D,complete with additional zoom lens.I also got a SLIK 300 DX tripod.
My photography is now much improved,as the camera is so easy to use,not light with the big lens but the tripod is a boon.

MOORHEN ON THE LAKE

FLY CATCHER

CHAFFINCH
So watch this space and my photo blog for some much improved pics.

THE GARDEN IN SUMMER

After the long very cold winter,the garden is now a blaze of colour and is a credit to John,who keeps it so beautiful. The Rhododendron is in full bloom and dominates the garden and the hedge rows,as it grows wild here.The mountain is pink and purple with it as well,it draws the tourists here,to see the hundreds of acres of Rhododendron.

It is raining like mad today,that will make the weeds grow,still it will keep John occupied !!

 UP THE MOUNTAIN

AN OBSOLETE ADVERT

http://www.tourismresources.ie/cht/doddard.htm

 I found this link to the castle on the internet.We used this site when we were running the guest house,unfortunately we no longer do this and miss the guests very much.I had no idea the ad was still  up.
Any of you who come to Ireland on holiday are welcome to have a look round,though we can no longer
take guests,we can still spoil  you and make you welcome.

SPORTS DAY

Yesterday, Friday was a lovely day.The sun was out but there was cool breeze up here in the mountains,cool enough for me to wear a light jumper and jeans.In the afternoon I went off to my grandsons school for the annual sports day and prize giving.As usual it turned out to be a blistering hot day,I should have known better !! there was me in a jumper and everyone else in summer tops and shorts etc,I thought I was going to die from the heat.I could not take my jumper off because I had no top on under it,stupid or what !!
Anyway I had a lovely afternoon,I bought some plants that the pupils had grown to raise money,had strawberries and cream ,also  a roast hog salad put on for the parents and visitors,the best pork I have ever tasted.
Oliver won a shield for his cricket achievements ,at the prize giving and my son won the fathers race and got a box of chocolates that he gave to me,he knows my little weakness !!

The sack race

The wheelbarrow race

The fathers race,my son on the left in the navy T shirt.

No,he did not hit the other man over,even though it looks like it !! He went on to win the race,very funny watching grown men in a sack race !!

Oliver getting his cricket award.

I did take photos of the proper races but only captured the field,they ran too fast for me to get them in the frame.