Six o’clock seagull

One of the disadvantages of living in a terrace house, especially one with no garden, is you don’t see much wildlife. Ok, that’s not strictly true. A few years ago on the way back from the pub we did rescue a hedgehog and a frog from becoming road kill, but that’s about it.

The only birds we get are pigeons, whose ancestors stayed instead of moving house with the guy who kept them, and seagulls.

A few weeks ago we were in the kitchen preparing dinner when I noticed out of the window a seagull sitting on the shed roof. It had a good peer through the window to see what we were doing then flew off.

The next day again whilst we were in the kitchen preparing dinner, Mr Seagull (we have no idea if it’s a male or female so we just called it a he) returned, had another good stare through the window then flew off.

Guess what happened the next day, and the one after that, and the one after that too.  For about two weeks the same thing happened and at the same time of day too.

Come six o’clock Mr Seagull would arrive, have a good look though the kitchen window, then 15 minutes later fly off.

As it was around nest making time we think he might have wanted to get away from Mrs Seagull as sometimes he would settle down for a quick nap before flying off.

Marie

Hide and seek

On Saturday night we had a little visitor to our yarden. The baby seagull from nest number one.

After having a good look around it tried to fly out of the yarden but couldn't. It was still at the stage where it needed a long runway to take off.

It was so pitiful watching it trying to fly but only ending up a couple of feet off the ground.

We knew we couldn't leave it in the yarden as Maxi and Ruby, Sandra our neighbours new cats, like to play in our yarden, and they are known of chasing birds.

John ran round to the back of the house and opened both garage doors then very slowly opened the yarden door to allow the seagull to escape.

The seagull was having none of it and hid behind the yarden door. I tried to entice it out by throwing it some biscuits but it wasn't interested. His mum mustn't have weaned him off regurgitated fish and onto seagulls staple diet of fish and chips, sandwiches and ice-cream.....

John tried to persuade it to move by gently shaking an old shaggy mop close to it but instead of moving forward, the seagull moved sideways and went though a tiny gap between the garage wall and the shed. Wonderful !!!!!

We could hear it moving behind the shed but as the shed was pushed right up against the party wall, there was no way we could get at it. Because Bruce the Christmas tree and Eric the Hosta were on the other side of the shed, and in huge tubs, there was no way they could be moved or for the seagull to get out that way. It would have to come out the way it came in.

As it was getting late we decided to leave it for the night as the poor thing had been stressed out enough. We closed the dinning room curtains so the light wouldn't frighten it and hoped the cats didn't come and visit their playground.....

John knew that I wouldn't settle until it was safely out so began to think of ways the shed could be moved. I was mightily relieved when I opened the dining room curtains yesterday morning to see the baby seagull sitting on the kitchen door step. There were several dirty footprint marks on the dining room window so it had tried again to fly away.

Once again John ran round to the back of house and after opening the garage and the yarden doors, moved his car to the front of the house

The baby seagull slowly walked through the yarden door then out into the back lane. Whilst John was closing the garage door he notice mum and dad seagull gathered around their chick and started squawking. No doubt it was getting a right telling off for being out all night.....

The baby seagull seems to have recovered from his little adventure and is still exploring the roof tops and back lane, but mum and dad are keeping a very watchful eye on him now.

Marie

Newsround

So what’s been happening these past few days in the BOGOF household.

I’m pleased, and relieved…, to say that the flies have gone from the kitchen.

Also gone are the seagulls who were nesting on one of the rooftops near where we live. They’ve left earlier than they have done in previous years. It’s probably down to there only being two chicks to feed instead of the usual three.

I’ve received my appointment to go for the MRI scan on my knee on 23rd July. It’s not at my usual hospital in Sunderland but one in South Tyneside. Thankfully John’s off work that day so he can come with me, and should the parking be as bad as it is in Sunderland, he can just drop me off, park up somewhere outside the hospital grounds then wait until I call him to pick me up.

I’m in the wars again. Somehow I managed to graze my left hip. It was a tiny graze, a couple of millimeters, if that. It’s not any more… Because of my knee I have to sleep on my left side with my knee raised, (it’s the only way I can get comfortable during the night) so consequently due to the pressure on my hip, the tiny graze has now developed into a large, painful and ugly pressure sore.
Just to make sure it was ok I saw the treatment room district nurse at my doctors surgery last Tuesday. She said it looked ok but wasn’t sure if it was infected. Normally she would have put some antiseptic cream on it, but as she works at a different surgery, didn’t have the authorisation to do so.
All she could do was put a dressing on it and told me to come back on Friday when a nurse who was employed by the surgery could put some cream on it. That’s a blog in itself, however all I’m going to say is typical NHS ! ! !
I went back on Friday and although it doesn’t look very pleasant, the nurse doesn’t think it’s infected. She’s given me some foam plasters to put on my hip to try and cushion it when I’m lying on it in bed. I’m back to see the nurse on Thursday.

I had a phone call from my mam on Sunday morning to say my dad’s sister has died. My mam and her became close following my dad’s illness. Aunt Bet was there when he died and helped my mam enormously through her grief. When my uncle died in October it hit my mam hard but I’m expecting it to be more so this time.
My mam rang this morning to say her funeral is 10am on Friday, and as they are Catholics it’s going to be the full requiem mass.

Marie

They're Back

Yes – it’s that time of year again. The Seagulls are back. Regular readers will know that we’ve had a family of seagulls nesting on a rooftop near us for the past four years.



This year there are only the two chicks instead of the three we had last year, but judging from their size, the food supply has not been reduced accordingly.

Goodness knows how big they will be when they leave the nest in August.

John

Flown the nest

The family of Seagulls which made their home on one of the chimney pots have gone to pastures new.

One of the young birds had already began flying around for a couple of day. It then decided that the nest was too small so took to living on the next chimney pot, with mum/dad keeping it company.

Look forward to seeing them back next year.

Marie

They're back

Yes, Mr and Mrs Seagull have decide to once again build a nest on the same chimney pot as last year.

Again like last year there’s three chicks. However they are a little camera shy at the moment so we haven’t been able to get a photograph of them. Once they have overcome their shyness we’ll put a picture on the blog of the new arrivals.

In other news, it’s only 10 weeks till we start ripping out the old kitchen and fitting the new one, 11 weeks should see the dishwasher installed (I can’t tell you how excited I am at that – yes I know I’m sad ! ! !), 12 weeks and two days till I hit the big 40 and 12 weeks and six days till the party.

Then once that’s out of the way there will only be 14 weeks and five days till Christmas…

Marie

And then there were none

An update on the three baby seagulls. On Sunday afternoon one of them took it’s maiden flight and investigated the back lane, under the watchful eye of mum and dad.

By Monday evening another one had found it’s wings so that just left mum and number three in the nest. We think dad must be in charge of teaching the other two to swim…

When I checked this morning it looked like mum and number three had finally joined the rest of the family for swimming lessons, as the nest was empty and there’s been no sign of life ever since.

Who needs Bill Oddie and Spring Watch ! ! !

Marie

Reporting in

I’m afraid there isn’t really that much to blog about but as they have been a little thin on the ground lately, I thought I better make the effort.

Took mam to look for some granite on Friday and as expected it was traumatic… She wants to go looking for some more on Wednesday, but I really don’t know if my nerves will stand anymore ! ! !

Hardly did a thing yesterday afternoon which made me feel slightly guilty as John was busy painting. Today though the tables have been turned as he spent a leisurely couple of hours watching the Grand Prix while I ironed.

The three baby seagulls are getting much bigger so it probably won’t be long before they take their maiden flight. Camera at the ready…

Marie

More Deadly ...

Now that the holiday season is almost upon us and our thoughts turn to sun, sand, sea and surf we at the Bogof Blog thought you ought to be made aware of a hidden danger lurking on those tropical beaches. No, it's not the scary shark fin cruising the ocean waves - it's the killer sandcastles.Yes, research in the New England Journal of Medicine found sandcastles are more deadly than sharks.

16 deaths in the US since 1990 were caused by sandcastles, according to Harvard Medical School's Bradley Maron. Compare that to the measly 12 fatalities from shark attacks. Jaws is looking pitifully like a soft-touch.The main hazard appears to be people lethally falling into holes they had dug - presumably for the moat - which means the sandcastles of America must be on a far more impressive scale than the ones seen on the beaches of Sunderland.

More can be found here : http://www.newscientist.com/blog/shortsharpscience/


And on the subject of the seaside, do you recall seeing all those television documentaries that tell you that seagulls nest in hollows and crags on cliff faces. Don’t believe a word of it. This is what you can see (with a big lens) from our bedroom window.




There are three little ones, but we rarely see them all together. And there’s always one parent hanging around to see off any intruders.

The proud parents …





On a more mundane note we've repainted the hall and stairs and everything seems much more stable, so we now await the arrival of the carpet fitters.

John