Chucky's Nature Notes

Well mummy woke me up in the sleeptime hours two nights ago! I am only justhaving a chance to tell you about it now as she was using her laptop all evening yesterday, but I get a go now. Everything was normal - I went to bed at about 9pm as usual in Summer and went almost straight to sleep (I may have shouted at them a little bit that I wasn't sleepy, but I didn't scream for very long). Then they both went upstairs to wind down before going to sleep themselves. Then at whatever time it was (after midnight that's for sure), after lots of lights flashing outside the window, I hear footsteps on the stairs. Of course I now need to make a racket so that they know I am awake. Mummy told me she was looking at hedgehogs - there were apparently TWO in the garden! Now mummy does get over-excited about these things - most normal humans would have been excited but just looked out of the bedroom window, but no mummy needed to go and have a close look. Maybe if they kept me uncovered at ...

Well yet another busy weekend - it is just too difficult to stay indoors when the weather is nice like this. There is lots to do out in the garden and lots of critters to see. Firstly we have the blue tits still coming to the feeder - and then we have the crow family which have started trying to dig up the grass tray where mummy is trying to grow cat grass for the rabbit and guinea pigs! They are soooo funny to watch, but I don't think mummy is too impressed hehe. In this photo mummy didn't have to zoom in at all - she actually was that close! They are so used to her that they don't mind (although if she stands up they do fly away, unlike the wagtails that just used to shout at her). The crows however fly away as soon as they see either mummy or GavGav looking at them. There is a little cafe nearby, down by the sea wall, and they feed the sparrows on the table. My keepers love to go there in the hot weather, and then pop up to the sea wall where they can see plenty of...

Wow it was a lovely weekend and very busy too! Mummy came home early on Friday so that she could do some work in the garden (she didn't get much done mind you - I watched her sitting reading on her Kobo and getting distracted by the Blue Tits). I told mummy about Doris's new friend, and so she went to have a look. The hutch has some panelling on the top to increase insulation (so a couple of layers of wood rather than just one, and they overlap with the seams to prevent the wind just howling through). Into the gap in the middle of the front a little bee kept going in and out. When mummy had a closer look, she noticed it was a leaf cutter bee! We didn't manage to get a photo of the bee, but I found one on google: from here . This one looks to be less tawny than the one that has built a nest in the plant pot on the balcony, but we didn't get a good look at the other one, as mummy nearly drowned it and had to frantically release it from the pot! We do have a photo of th...

Guess what!!! It rained today! Jut after mummy left for work it actually rained, and I certainly enjoyed it. It makes a lovely noise on the paving outside and lightens the air a little bit (or maybe just stops the sun shining in my room so much to make the air heavy). However mummy has still had to open the patio door for some fresh air this evening. So we have some hedging bushes of some sort (not entirely sure what they actually are) up by the little duck lake and if you look closely you can see lots of little black and orange lumps on the leaves. Some are more orange than others and some appear to be a little crusty: Yup that last one is even standing on end. So what are they I hear you asking. Well does it help if I tell you that they are a well known animal that many people love to see? Don't they look strange and quite intimidating actually with their spikey bodies. However the bodies are actually really soft, and they would much prefer to eat a whole host of ...

Well, my mummy went for a walk with GavGav to see the swans at the top lake yesterday after putting me to bed (I cannot go up there with them as the Geese might have some diseases that they can spread to me!). There are two families of geese, with babies, and apparently mummy says there is now a mummy duck with 5 very small ducklings too. The geese are ever so friendly - they will barge into your hands to get to the food, climb over your legs, and sometimes even into your lap. I do not know if I should be jealous of mummy letting them climb all over her??? They did get some photos to show me: haha - mummy's hair is going all sorts of weird colours! I have been at home with GavGav today. He is not working until later in the week. This has been really great for me as it means the patio door can be opened at times to let a bit of a breeze into the room, as it is ever so hot! It gets really stuffy without the breeze, and especially with the dust I produce. No matter how mu...

I am currently sitting in the kitchen with mummy! I don't often get to spend time alone with her - the little birds are usually around, and I only really come upstairs with GavGav, so I am having quite a fun time. I have been very naughty and had some macaroni cheese for my tea, but it is comfort food as GavGav is visiting his family in Norfolk. Oooh he found some old pictures of me the other day:  oooh I went to the beach and there was a big white birdie that hissed at me lol. OK you guessed it - this is not actually me! See the eyes? This is a female cockatoo, and she lives at Tropical Birdland in Leicester. She is very pretty, and will go to almost anyone - you just can't get her to leave you again lol. Males like me have dark brown, almost black, irises. It is only the girls that are red (coz they are evil, me thinks). Anyway, firstly I need to tell you that my friend the crow (you remember me mentioning him yes?) has been bringing his family to the garden. Him...

Mummy was out all day on Friday! She stayed at work for a murder mystery evening. But I will let her off as she spent a lot of the time yesterday and today playing with me. She went for a walk along the canal by work and was very excited about the fact that she saw a few different butterfly species, at last (they do seem to be a bit sparse this year), including a Comma that nearly landed on her nose. She also saw a Dragonfly. She gets very excited when these are on the wing. Apparently she couldn't identify it as it flew away out over the canal as soon as she spotted it. She also saw a Dragonfly yesterday when out by the seawall down at Goldcliffe. It was lovely out there as there was a bit of a breeze - but mummy got a little burnt on her chest :D. There were some large noisy white birds out on the mud flats that Gav Gav said could rival me for noise. I am not sure that they could. There were black headed gulls, lesser black backed gulls and another medium sized gull that mummy ...