Late May

May 28, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)18 Comments

The days seem to be whizzing by at the moment and all of our schedules are up in the air here. Toby had his annual school play last week, which always throws our comfortable routines out of whack as he’s off timetable and his school is open in the evening rather than the daytime for a couple of days. And this week is school half term break, so our days are continuing to have a slightly chaotic feel. Amy is deep in revision for her A levels and is on study leave. In 3 weeks time she’ll have sat all of her exams and then she’s done with her school years – it’s almost incomprehensible how quickly those 14 years have passed, I still clearly remember her first day of school and it’s got me feeling more nostalgic than usual.

Time has passed quickly for our robin family too. The chicks spent 3 weeks hanging around in our garden being fed mostly by their dad and now they’ve flown on and their mum is sitting on a new clutch of eggs in her nest in our garage. I did get a couple of pictures of them flitting about before they departed, they seem so unprepared for the world and I really hope that they do well and survive long enough to have chicks of their own.

As always, knitting is my constant and I’ve cast on too many new projects – most of them in blues. Do you find yourself drawn to certain colours at different times? It’s definitely blue that is most appealing to me at the moment. These socks are coming along nicely and I’m hoping to keep my focus long enough to finish the pair and avoid the temptation to start something else new. The yarn is Eden cottage Hayton in ‘Tarn’ and Madeline Tosh twist light in ‘paper’ and the pattern is a free one – Fair Isle Flower sock by Candice DeWitt.

And I’m working these beautiful gradient mini skeins of Julie Asselin’s Leizu 4ply into a shawl that reminds me of breaking waves, going as they do from deep sea blue to a foamy sea-spray light grey. This colourway set is called ‘Oresund’ and the shawl pattern is Pebble Beach by Helen Stewart.

There’s also another blue yarned project that I’m working on at the moment but that needs some concentration, so I’ve had to put it on the back burner until after half term break when I’m able to call my time my own again. I look forward to showing you then 🙂

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Lastly, I’m sure you’ve been bombarded with emails about the new GDPR regulations brought into force by the EU on May 25th and so are aware that these govern how your information may be used and stored by others. In line with that I have written some new privacy policies that detail what information I collect, how I use it and what rights you have regarding that. I have not sent out an email to my mailing list as everyone on there is only there because they have requested to be and all of the emails that I do send (all 3 or 4 of them a year) have an easy way for you to manage your preferences and unsubscribe.

Any questions please get in touch.

garden stuff · wildlife

Fledglings

May 8, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)21 Comments

The robin chicks fledged the nest in our garage on Sunday morning. It’s all happened so fast – just around a month from the eggs being laid to the chicks flying and I’m so pleased I managed to get one grainy photo of the five of them before they departed. I also made a video of the adults taking wax worms to and from the nest last Saturday.

When I opened the garage back door to get the chicken food early on Sunday there was a tiny fluffball perched on the floor just inside. And when I looked in the nest there were still two chicks there but the other three had made the big jump, so I came straight back inside and made a ‘No Entry’ sign for the door. The door was kept shut as it was important that the chicks made their own way out once their wings were strong enough for them to fly through the open windows. Human access to the garage was strictly on an ‘essentials only’ basis, so did not include getting ice-creams from the freezer – I was not popular as it was so hot here! I checked this morning and it looks like they’ve all made it out, so for now we have our garage back, although Mrs Robin has been sighted carrying in new beak-fulls of moss so is obviously getting ready for a second brood – apparently they can have up to 4 broods in a year if the conditions are right.

I’m struggling to find the words to convey just how incredible and special the experience has been. Nest building, egg laying, chicks hatching and flying the nest to disappear out into the undergrowth of the big wide world – it has been a true privilege to watch it all happen and to be so trusted by the adult birds. The best moment for me was early on Sunday morning when the male flew down and perched on my big toe as I was sitting on the deck having coffee – quite an awesome moment.

Now I’m on magpie alert, we have a lot around here and their favourite food is small bird fledglings, chicks and eggs. I’ve got to know the alarm whistle that the adult robins make when there is a threat nearby and then go out to wave my arms around and be a human scarecrow – probably amusing any neighbours watching!

Thanks so much for your kind comments on my previous post – I am in the process of replying to them all and they’ve helped enormously – I am feeling a lot more upbeat. Hope you’re having a good week where you are, see you again soon x

countryside · garden stuff · in the woods · wildlife

Properly Spring

May 3, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)52 Comments

Well, it’s been a long time coming but Spring has arrived at last. Although the weather has still seemed a little undecided at times, the countryside around us here has been pressing ahead with new growth and everything is now transformed from dull, twiggy brown to bright acid green. I headed out to the orchard at Tewin earlier this week and there found beauty in many forms; blushed pink pear and apple blossoms; drifts of forget-me-knots shimmering in the breeze and ramsons (wild garlic) pungently carpeting the woodland all around the badger sett. Some of the ancient apple trees are covered in lichens and moss and look almost fossilised, creating an amazing contrast between the boughs and the delicate newly emerging leaves. The whole orchard was alive with birds and bees, everything busy with various stages of raising their next generation and it was the perfect tonic for the positivity problems I seem to have been struggling with lately.

It seems that many of us are feeling a little anxious and stressed so I know I’m not alone – the times we are living in seem to be full of peril, duplicity and deceit. For my own part I’m steering clear of the news for a while – and instead knitting, listening to music and reading more and just trying to appreciate some of the small and simple things. Recently the biggest mood improver for me has been a pair of robins choosing to nest in our garage. The nest has been built on top of some bottles of car wash and oil and we watched it grow, expertly crafted by the female alone while her mate provided her with food to keep up her strength. That was around a month ago and since then 5 or 6 eggs have been laid and at the beginning of last week they hatched. Because I’m a softy I ordered some live meal and wax worms and both the adults now fly down whenever I go out into the garden – they know that I have some tasty treats and it’s such an incredible privilege to be so close to them. Hopefully the chicks will fledge in around a week and will be safe in the garage for the few days before they find their wings so to speak – robin chicks usually leave the nest a few days before they learn to actually fly. I’ll let you know how they get on.

Sorry to be a bit down, I’ll try and be a bit more upbeat when I come back next time. I’ve had some gorgeous new yarn recently and have lots of knitting plans, so that will help!

Hope your days are happy this week x