Category: wildlife

garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife

Summer holiday kit (teenager style)

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)25 Comments

 

Well, I’m now the mum of a school leaver! Amy had her last A level exam yesterday and has officially left school.

When she was younger I used to love putting together a little summer holiday kit which I’d give to her when she got home on the last day of school term (here’s some from earlier years: 2011, 2010, 2009). They were full of treats and fun things for the summer ahead and included a little collection of vouchers for activities that she could cash in with me. I’ve not done one for the most of the years that she’s been at senior school as I felt that she thought it too babyish, but as this is the last summer before she goes off to uni I thought I’d re-instate the tradition, but with a teenage twist.

I’m using the same ‘vouchers’ that I made when she was 9 and am updating them with more suitable activities :

Pub lunch; Pimms picnic; walk in the woods followed by lunch at a local hand-made burger place; shopping trip… and it wouldn’t be summer without strawberry picking, so there will definitely be a voucher for that too.

If you want to make some vouchers for your own children (no matter what their ages) there’s a downloadable print-out that I made here: Download vouchers

It does feel odd to think that she’ll not be living here from September. I’m not yet sure how I feel about that – it’s an unfamiliar mix of excitement for her, mingled with concern, worry and hope. Like I say, an odd mix of feelings that I’ve not felt before. I’m certain that it’s right for her to be going off to Uni and where she’s going is the perfect Uni for her – it has such a friendly atmosphere and is not too big but it’s got a vibrant student life and is only just outside London so she has many options for her free time. Anyway, life is speeding ahead so it will be here in an eye blink.

My other little family is doing well. The second nest-ful of robin chicks has fledged, though not as successfully this time. Two didn’t make it, one dying during fledging probably due to an awkward landing and one was left dead in the nest. Of the three that have fledged two are still living in the garage and show no sign of wanting to leave, even though they fledged from the nest over a week ago. Meanwhile Mrs Robin has built a third nest – this time between two cans of paint on a shelf and Mr Robin is doing a good job of keeping his new offspring well fed, with a little help from me. I am so enjoying being a part of their little family and still find it a great privilege to be so trusted.

In knitting news I am still working on a new pattern, but progress is slow. I’ll keep you posted here when it’s ready and I also have a big batch of spring summer animals here that need my attention too – I’m not doing very well with time management at the moment and I think that I’ve had a harder time with Amy’s a levels than she has! Hopefully I’ll be feeling a little less anxious and a little more focused now they’re all done.

crafts & knitting · garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife

Late May

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

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