Our Green Designs
Wild Creatures
Birds and Squirrels
Outside the window of the caravan, we have a mutitude of bird feeders. They didn't all appear at once, I hadn't planned on feeding the birds at all. It started when I was staying in the little silver caravan. I saw a mouse bumbling along its tiny mouse run and decided to put out some leftovers to see if it would eat them—which it did. Soon after, the birds started to get an interested.
We set up an upturned dustbin with a piece of wood on it outside the window to put the kitchen scraps on. Watching the birds became a lovely pastime, and we were excited when some very striking ones arrived. I brought my bird identification book from home and we searched for these unusual visitors. They turned out to be chaffinches, which, according to the book, are one of the most common birds in England…it showed us how little we knew about birds. We did also attract a jay, which I think looks quite exotic, my book said they are a pest!
When we moved into the big caravan, there was a nice space outside the 'sitting room' window perfect for a bird table. It was surrounded on three sides by young trees and brambles, making it a sheltered spot with lots of places to perch. My growing interest and joy in feeding and watching the birds has surprised me to the point of being absolutely delighted by Robert's last birthday gift to me; a 25kg bag of bird nuts, a 25kg bag of bird seed and one hundred fat balls.
I must admit that one result of feeding the birds is that we do have a bit of a squirrel issue. These clever little creatures are very good at climbing onto the bird table and eating most of the food before the birds get a chance. I do love watching them but we had to figure out a way to stop them eating everything. They were getting bolder and fatter, sometimes we would put out the food and watch as seven squirrels gradually appeared. They took turns to climb up onto the bird table and would sit eating until the next one climbed up and took its place...until there was nothing left. They would rip down any fat balls, (seeds mixed with fat hung up in a plastic net) and gnaw through the bottom of plastic nut feeders.
So..the first line of defence was to attach a thin wire between two tree branches and hang the bird feeders from it. As far as I was concerned that would stop the squirrels as they wouldn't be able to walk the tightrope. Then, just in case they could, we hung the feeders on fine string and tied them to the wire. I also made a rudimentary feeder using two pieces of wood. I hung them up with string and hooked them over the wire with the other bird feeders. I was very pleased with the new feeding setup, it would mean the birds would get all the food! I went inside to sit by the window to see what would happen next and got distracted by making some food.. By the time I looked out of the window again there was a squirrel on each of the levels of my fancy new homemade small mammal-proof bird feeder. How did they do that? It was like a magic trick 'now you see them, now you don't' but in reverse. I opened the door and they scattered but it wasn't long before they were back again and I saw how they got there. They did manage to use the wire as a tightrope and some even jumped up from the ground!!
I often see lots of birds buzzing about. The RSPB (royal society for the protection of birds) every year ask anyone with a garden to spend an hour recording all the different species of bird and their numbers. I joined in and did the survey as I was interested for myself as well. (I later found out that the survey had been running since 1979 for children and since 2001 for adults as well)
My results were: 12 bluetits, 4 robins, 1 pheasant, 1 song thrush, 3 blackbirds, 4 chaffinches, 2 nuthatches, 4 great tits, 2 dunnocks, 2 coal tits and 2 marsh tits (and 2 squirrels) It is surpringly difficult to count the birds when they're all flying around from feeder to feeder. I'm certain there were more than 12 bluetits but I don't know how many for sure. Other birds have visited the feeders or to the area around the caravan: a spotted wood pecker, bullfinches, goldfinches and sometimes jays and magpies (especially when I put out a big pile of nuts), it tends to be the smaller birds that visit most often.
There is one mystery bird here which we have heard while walking in the field, it sounds like a telephone ringing and we were convinced it was. We discovered that crows can mimic sounds and that is more than likely what it was. We still refer to it as the telephone bird.
Nuthatch
Robins
Squirrel and Jay
Mice
I have had a couple of unusual meetings with mice here. I don't imagine it was the same mouse both times but I suppose it's possible. One day, I was emptying our kitchen compost bucket into the compost heap when I noticed something move beside it, it was a mouse. I stayed still so I wouldn't scare it. Surprisingly it didn't move so I crouched down to get closer and the mouse walked slowly towards me before stopping. I put my hand out really slowly and to my amazement, it allowed me to stroke it. After a few seconds it wandered off, completely unbothered,.
A few days later I was watching the birds through the window when I caught sight of another (or perhaps the same) mouse walking up the path. It went into the covered porch, wandered around a bit, then went back outside. This time I quickly reached for my camera and followed it. I managed to get really close again. I noticed it had blood on its ear so it must have been in the wars, I couldn't resist giving it a little stroke before taking a photo.
Robert wasn't too pleased about having mice around, I wasn't quite sure why until one got into our cellar. We had been quite sure that nothing could get in there and we assumed the scratching noises we had been hearing were from something trying to eat through the insulation on the bottom of the caravan. When we lifted the lid of the cellar, sure enough there were lots of tiny mouse poos scattered everywhere.
We couldn't see the mouse and Robert suggested putting a mousetrap in there to deal with the problem. I wasn't keen on the idea of killing the mouse, it wasn't its fault there was a way into the cellar, which was full of very interesting food. Instead I tried rigging up a trap using a box covered with a thin sheet of paper baited with a small piece of cheese. The next time I checked the cheese had gone and the paper had fallen into the box, there were even more tiny poos, but no mouse. I tried a few different ideas, all of which failed. Robert reminded me that if I couldn’t catch it, he would resort to the mousetrap (though that might have been tricky for him since I’d hidden it).
Late into the next night I could hear the mouse scratching about.. Determined, I got up, pulled everything out of the cellar (and there was a lot in there), and eventually spotted the little intruder. I put a plastic bucket with a hinged lid into the cellar, propped it open, and carefully shooed the mouse inside before snapping the lid shut.
I took the mouse out of the caravan but didn't want to release it too close to the caravan as it might just come straight back in. It was getting light so I decided to carry it down to the stream and let it go on the other side. There it was free to start a new life away from us. I walked down the hill to the stream, crossed over and let the mouse out. I put the lid back on the bucket and started walking back. What I didn't realise was that the beautiful longhorn cattle staying on our land at the time had been trained to associate the sound of a plastic bucket being banged with feeding time.. As I walked out from behind a tree I was greeted by a frightening sight: a large cow and an even larger bull, complete with very long, sharp looking horns charging towards me at full belt, (a tonne and a half of spiky boney creatures!) Without stopping to think, I turned and ran. I hadn’t run in ages, but adrenaline kicked in, and I moved faster than I thought possible. Later, when I told Robert what had happened, he thought it was hilarious . It turned out he knew about the bucket situation and had, unfortunately, forgotten to let me know about it. Anyway, back to the cellar. Before long, the scratching returned, and we discovered there was another mouse, or perhaps the same one. After catching and releasing a few more mice, (thankfully without any more bovine drama), Rob found two holes in the cellar wall. One he filled them in the cellar was at last mouse proof.
Domestic Creatures
The Longhorns on loan. They come to stay in the late summer to help keep the grass down to encourage more wildflowers to grow.
Our lovely Daisy Dog arrived shortly after we did, the pup of a friend's dog. She has the run of the place, though we’ve had to put up a few fences and gates to stop her from trying to round up passersby!
Our neighbours' ponies, Misty and Mouse, also help keep the grass down for us. I had once mentioned that I’d like to have zebras in the field, and when Misty needed a coat to keep the flies away, this is what appeared in the field!
Before and after: On the left, our rescue hens looking pretty worse for wear. On the right, the rescues are looking much better, alongside three fancy fowls that were hatched from eggs and given to us by Rob’s dad. We keep them in their run in the mornings to prevent them from laying eggs all over the place.
One of my favourite things to do is collect the eggs. This was from a day in summer where every hen laid an egg, later in the year they lay a lot less, particularly the fancy hens.
And then the goats arrived...
One evening in the autumn of 2020 Daisy rounded up some stray goats and brought them into the field. The first we knew of them was a thundering sound coming towards us, and then their little stripy faces appeared out of the dark. We had been talking about maybe getting a goat or two in the future to have our own goat milk, but with so much going on already building the house that we had planned to wait until it was finished. When seven goats arrived at once it seemed like fate might have other ideas. We found out that a local farmer had bought them at an auction and they had escaped. We offered to keep them for a while so they could graze the field (and I could hang out with them). They stayed for a few months, and when they went home two of them stayed and became ours.
Daisy watching over the goats, ponies and another neighbour's cows.
Coco
The goats have become quite tame and love a bit of attention. Lulu became know as the 'Miracle Goat' when she started giving milk. Miracle because she had been nowhere near a billy which is the usual requirement. After a slow start she gradually gave more and more until she was giving a pint and a half a day. From her milk I have made yoghurt, kefir and cheeses. Thanks Lulu! Coco has now had a visit from a billy (December 2021) so next year we hope to have some kids.
Lulu
....and then there were 5
Swallow babies born in the corridor behind the house, the parents come back every year and often have two broods
A new addition to the menagerie is Catkin. He arrived in 2023 having been found with his litter mates on a doorstep nearby. Now the mice really have to watch out!
Rob made two Warre hives a couple of years ago, and our friend Tony kindly gave us a swarm from his hive. Unfortunately the bees weren't happy and flew away. This year (2024), a swarm arrived of its own accord which was very exciting! Hopefully, come spring, we will be able to take out a little honey to sample.