Dissecting Owl Pellets...Yuch!!!

Now here is something seriously disgusting to do over the summer! The dissection of compacted owl vomit is sure to lure any child away from their Nintendo DS (or in The Big Girl's case, an addiction to repeated episodes of 'Friends'). It really is an activity which will fasinate anybody from toddlers to Great Grannies and can be performed inside or out.

It's a regular activity in our house and so popular that The Big Boy has requested an Owl Pellet Party for his birthday! We are lucky to have an owl box in an ancient oak tree a few fields away so that we can collect a ready supply whenever we want, however, they are easier to find in the summer months. Anyone who lives rurally, after a bit of investigation, will be able to find a source...woodland, farm buildings and barns are prime locations but if you can't find or live in more of a built up area then you can buy them for about 30p from the Barn Owl Trust or from Amazon (is there anything you CAN'T buy on Amazon?).

Owl pellets are basically the undigested parts of animals which the bird has consumed (fur and bones) so by dissecting them you can get a good idea of the diet of your local owl. This mainly consists of mouse, vole and shrew bones but, if you're lucky, you may find the bones of birds, rats or frogs. The pellets are dry and look a bit like sausages and can be easily stored if you find a ready supply (in your freezer..in bags..if you can face it!)

Apart from the pellet, you will also need the following:

A pair of old tweezers (cheap ones from Wilko are good)
A few cocktail/lolly sticks (for poking)
A piece of A4 (to put the bones on)
Newspaper (for covering your table)
A shallow tray with some water in (chinese takeway trays are good or an old ice cream tub)

It's also really interesting to print out a bone chart. There is an excellent info sheet and bone chart on the RSPB website here

1. It's simple. Fill the tray with about 2-3cm of water and put the pellet in it.

2. It will rapidly absorb the water and start to dispurse...a bit of poking from a small child is always helpful to aid dispursion!

3. Tweezer out some of the fur then get your child to pull out the bones and identify on the bone chart.
This will keep your child amused for a good hour and because of the gross factor is a useful activity to keep under your belt if you have a particularly protective parent coming round...the kids will love it!

4. After dissection make sure everyone washes their hands.

Our Garden in June

 

 

 

 

I 've taken mases of pictures of our garden... because its so wild and wonderful. There are areas of planting and areas overgrown with weeds and brambles and I love it because of this. The children are equally drawn to the raspberries as they are to the neglected patches which is interestng because as adults we would tend to overlook the wild places. The Big Boy's fasination with these wild places is, I think, because he feels he owns them more so than the tended areas. He has full rein on the creatures which he discovers there. They hold promise as potential BMX ramp building areas or perhaps and area where a den/swing/gun/fort/hide could be constructed.

I take lots of pictures of our garden in June and July because I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be at this time of year. I have little time to potter but when I do I brim with complete happiness. When I sit on the bench at the front of our house my back is warmed by the sun's heat which has been absorbed by the house walls and my nose is bombarded by the fennel and lavender surrounding me. It's bliss...just what I need after a busy day.. perfect after Big Girl's leavers' assembly which was emotional and I can't believe she is off to Big School. However the summer holds lots of promise.

We plan to:

Master the art of cake decoration
Build an insect hotel
Have a photo taken in a photo booth
Create some first prize canival costumes
Celebrate multiple birthdays!
Catch more than 160 crabs in one crabbing session
Light loads of outside fires
Go on loads of bike rides
Learn how to take lavender cuttings
Learn how to play Canasta

Watch this space for July garden picture update.

Pond Dipping

 

 

 

One of the Big Boy's favourite things to do is fishing for Bullheads and Crayfish in any stretch of stream or babbling brook. Much of our summer is spent in a river and we never fail to find something interest. Sometimes we see things and we don't know what they are and the children love looking it up in our identification book.

Some fishing expeditions are spent in the pouring rain with few catches and a pot noodle, however this weekend was a wonderful assault to the senses. Our back were warmed by the July sunshine, our feet cooled (frozen) by the stream and our noses bombarded by the sent of the limes along the wall.

The Big Boy had his friend, Alf, with him. They lit fires, cooked pancakes, set fire to things and had a thoroughly lovely time.

Frilly Pink Knickers

 

 

 

 

I heard two pieces of sad news today. Firstly, I found out that a couple we know well are separating and then the window cleaner told me his partner (who's only 36) has got a really aggressive form of breast cancer.
Such sudden and shocking bad news makes me thankful for small pleasures like this bunch of beautiful peonies which came from the garden my friend Alex looks after. I can't stop looking at them and The Little Girl can't stop touching them..perhaps because, like Alan Titchmarsh says, they look like a drawer full of pink frilly knickers! She suggested I put some Lady's Mantle with them and the billowing acid green really does look stunning against the barbie pink blooms.
The other pictures are of The Big Boy's radishes which we harvested today. We've never grown them before and they were ridiculously easy. We sliced them with one of Alex's cucumbers and some snippings of The Big Boy's Wild Rocket but I was the only one who ate it as it packed quite a punch! Incidentally if you are thinking of growing rocket make sure that it's 'wild' as other varieties tend to bolt instantly. You can keep cutting wild rocket and it will grow well all summer and for £1.50 for a pack it's great value. Other small pleasures today include picking raspberries and strawberries, watching the Little Girl and her friend play beautifully without shouting at each other, watching Springwatch with the Big Girl, smelling the Big Girl's special homemade rose petal perfume (an annual event), feeding another Blackbird family, making flapjacks with the Little Girl... and then being able to sit and relax.

 

This is one of a few examples of cut lettering which live in my garden.

Unlike the other pieces, which are drawn and cut by hand, this one was drawn by hand but machine cut. It is one of the pieces which I will be selling on notonthehighstreet.com...eventually!

I've had quite a few pieces in my garden over the winter and they seem to have made the baron winter garden even more so...in a captivating sort of way. As things have starting sprouting, and now fully in bloom, the pieces have added a different dynamic to the flower beds which gives me so much pleasure. My life is so busy at the moment that there is little time just to 'be' but when I do I like to sit on the bench next to this piece and watch the sun go down.

In and Out of the Dusty Bluebells

 

We love going to the Arboretum in Westonbirt. We especially love going with Alex who knows what everything is and is also mildly obsessed with lichen...which I think is fantastic!
She also does silly things with plants which the two little ones thought was great. We made little mouse ears with Magnolia petals and bound the childrens legs with Sticky Jack, we found flowers which looked like fairy cups and probably reseeded all the dandelions for next year. The Little Ones made houses under dripping Hollies and 'hid' behind sticks, delighting in our complete inablity to find them!!

It was quiet and sunny and so beautiful. Under the trees were carpets of bluebells and billowing cow parsley. We saw little blue butterflies and were deafened by birdsong.

My friend Sarah joined us, feeling a bit harrassed, and left us feeling full of the joys of spring. What a lovely day!

A Beautiful Birthday

The Big girl has had a fantastic birthday and I can't tell you how glad I am. Last year she had a tummy bug on her birthday and spent the whole of christmas in bed with suspected swine flu. It was a bit touch and go yesterday when she came home from school with a head ache...was it going to develop into anything? Could it be the curse of red letter days that had blighted her two most favourite occasions? After a glass of water and a packet of calpol she was feeling much better. She woke up early this morning with a spring in her step, delighted in her pressies, big (a bike), and small (some 'moshi monster' stickers) and skipped off to school in a birthday bubble of happiness!

The Little Girl and I made this cake for her which contains a rather delish filling: 25g icing sugar, sieved, mixed with a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 250g mascapone, 250g squashed raspberries..yum! We made a topping with icing sugar, orange juice and pink colouring and scattered with raspberries and daisy wafers. Big Girl was delighted! We sat in the garden with best friend Rose, Granny and Grampy and scofted a big slice each.

On another note, the abundance of wildlife in our garden has been both a source of delight and horror over that last few weeks. Today a kestral flew into our chicken run and got stuck so flapped around for about an hour. Despite the bird's obvious distress, is was amazing to see it up close and personal like that. Grampy managed to shoo it out and it went on it's way only slightly ruffled.

We've also taken great pleasure in the nesting blackbirds in the trees around our house. They have been teaching their fledglings the ways of the world this week and have been using our garden as their playground. They've become so tame that one even landed on the Big Girl's leg! We also have barn owls, hedgehogs, masses of goldfinches, long tailed tits, swifts and swallows, tree creapers, mining bees, lesser spotted woodpeckers, bumble bees, butterflies and buzzards...to mention a few.

The 'horror' part occured yesterday with an unwelcome visitor. I went to open the chicken run and found our bantams dead...along with our big orpington cockeral. This time not a fox but a suspected mink or stoat attack. It was really quite horrible and so sad. The worst thing is that I would love to get some more hens (ex battery hens preferabley) but I cannot take then on with the risk of subjecting them to even more trama. I would want their time with us to be full of the happiness they deserve but how on earth can I stop a mink? They can squeeze through tiny little holes... can any thing be 'mink proofed'? I think I will have to consult my oracle and fellow Girl Guide Leader, Ann, who knows all about stuff like this. Maybe we could trap the stoat/mink and release somewhere else? I'll keep you posted...