Hello and first of all sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I have been very busy with one thing or another..I bet you are wondering what on earth the blog’s title is about!
Summer has FINALLY arrived and is on my dinner plate.. All from my plot.
The weather in the UK has warmed up considerably these last few weeks, which means everything is growing like mad here in the permaculture veg gardens (yes including weeds) and I am busy harvesting, cooking and preserving my produce on a daily basis, as well as spending far more time watering crops, shifting and watering compost heaps and of course watering the greenhouse. The resident livestock are enjoying the warm, dry weather but again I am spending more time topping up water buckets and administering fly repellents etc.
Enjoying some sunshine!
As the breeding season gets into full swing here in the UK, a few wildlife ‘rescues’ have come our way. My daughter and I have been busy feeding a range of birds that have come to Riverside via one person or another. Here are a few photos and a video of what we have been up to. This event has instigated a new home education project about British Corvids.
An injured crow has come to live with us
We spent 4 days feeding two of these little guys (Swallows) .They were fed every hour on the hour, with a mix of waxworms, mealworms and wild caught mosquitoes /flies/bugs. Sadly they didn’t make it, despite our very best efforts :( They came to us from a local farm, where they had fallen from the eaves of a tall barn and were being stalked by the farm cats and dogs. They seem to gain strength, were feeding well but at 4 am one morning I found one dead and the other passed in the evening of the same day . Very sad.
Two rather cute fluffy pigeon squabs were far easier to keep alive and are now feeding independently and have almost lost the last of the downy feathers on their necks. They are practising flying and have become rather tame and are happy to sit on our shoulders or on my head.
We have named them Ping and Pong :-)
…and finally on Friday we took delivery of a rather special if somewhat scruffy and sad-looking injured crow. A lovely lady had found him close to death with appalling injuries to his eye and head and had nursed him back to health, albeit still a bit scabby and bald. However she was unable to keep him longterm despite wanting to, so he made his way to us via the lady’s two wonderfully kind children, who endured a 400 mile round trip in stifling hot weather to get him to me. He is proving to be quite a character and although he is blind in one eye ( it appears to be missing or hidden under some granulated hard scar tissue ) and he has also been scalped by whatever cause his injuries, he is still surprisingly trusting and gentle to handle.
Arguine -Corona or Riverside
What a special bird! He will live out his days here at Riverside. He is far too tame to be released and his ability to fly is affected by his lack of vision, so he has a permanent home here with us and all our other animals.
The dogs have met him briefly and seem totally uninterested in our new resident. I have yet to introduce the cats to him. I am waiting for him to get more confident/strong before letting them meet one another. The cats have met our resident imprinted duck and we often have occasionally weak or poorly poultry in the cottage, so I expect they will take it in their stride. 
Re: Bees.I have had my bait hive set up in two different areas of the garden but been unsuccessful in attracting a colony this year..so it looks as though I shall have to be patient or save up and buy a colony. I am seeing plenty of bee activity..both honeybees and native species which is great news for the garden !
Re: The Horny goat…..No we are not talking about breeding haha!…. but rather less exciting we are talking horns and unfortunately one rather pointy horn made sudden contact with one of my eyes this week and I am sporting a rather fetching purple bruise and split in the socket just above my eyeball.
I am thankful that it wasn’t a cm or so lower as it would have made contact with my eyeball or even worse with my daughter’s face if she had been close by.
This is just one of the reasons why resident dairy goats here are disbudded under general anaesthetic before they are a week old :-)
Here is Nemmie aka Anemone..our latest addition.. minus her horns. Growing fast!
..and despite all the bird care and other time-consuming stuff, I have tried hard to make more time to drive the ponies whilst the weather is good. Had a lovely trot around the village the other day and they are now both settled back in their other paddock enjoying the sunshine and have FINALLY shed the very last their winter coats!
Take care and thank you for dropping by xx
Filed under: Backyard Farming, beekeeping, bees, Goats, Permaculture, Uncategorized, wildlife Tagged: birds, corvids, corvus, Crow, hand rearing, pigeon squabs, rescue, swallows, tame crow, wildlife
