Back on the baby blanket

after many interruptions and days when only one square got done. Sewing some granny squares together tonight. I am in two minds about whether to take it away on holiday with us. It is only a week and there is lots to see and do. I may sneak some squares into my suitcase though, just in case! Lots of sewing in ends still to do.

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This is where we took the bird tonight. A fantastic drive through evening summer sun and an amazing haven for all sorts of animals. Our bird was given the number 1839 and it will be grouped with about four other pigeons of similar age and eventually released into the wild. We can call them in a few weeks to get an update! The owner said that it was very lucky that the wound had not become infected, but they would put the baby on a course of antibiotics, just in case. He showed us some of the other babies, thrushes, finches, swallows and pigeons of all sizes. It was a great place.
We left a donation, in this age of austerity, it has to be hard to run a sanctuary like that.

The girls are on the green now, playing with friends. So English, and so good to see. Not enough kids 'play' outside.

Sunrise

Up with the dawn to ponder. Worry, more like it. It is horrible when things are not blissful on the domestic front. Today we part with the bird and that will be sad. Sadder still is that being a teen is such a rotten period of life, when you are actually a teen! (If the truth be told, it is hard for the parents too sometimes....).

If only I could take all ours through the bumpy bits that hurt and anger and cause angst, but unless they do it themselves, they will not grow.
The sun is shining at least, so time to have a potter around the garden with Bosley (who will be delighted to see the back of this bird).

This photo is from Animal Planet, just love it.

Animal rescue

We have found someone to take the pigeon and it will be hard to let go. Em does the most amazing job with it and it does seem happy. Still, it is wild and will need to return to the wild, so tomorrow night we are taking it to Crowborough where it will be well looked after.

Wales, Wiltshire, Glouscetershire and home

We abandoned our brood this weekend to travel to Wales for a 50th birthday party. En route we stopped in Gloustershire to have lunch with friends from Hong Kong. We then drove on B roads to Wales to the Glenmorgan area. It was beautiful country and it was exciting to be seeing some of Wales, other than Angelsey where we caught the ferry to Ireland last year. We stayed in a hotel/golf club and the party was at the local rugby club. Have to admit, I do love to go away with Big J. So nice to dress up and drink champagne and just hang out together.

Today we have coffee with the birthday boy and his family before heading back. We dropped in to Wootton Bassett, a pretty little town known all too well as the place where the bodies of young men and women who die in battle are repatriated.

Home after that, with the British Open Golf Championship on the radio. Big J was there on Friday, lucky for him. The weather for the rest of the competition has been horrendous.

Home to the girls and the boy and the bird, who has learned to feed thanks to Em. She is using an icing syringe and so far so good. It peeps and cries when it sees fingers and is really quite sweet. A neighbour recently lost her budgie, so we are now using its cage. Not ideal, but given that Bosley is very keen to investigate the new creature further, probably a good idea.

Pigeon update

The baby pigeon survived the night and this morning Em and I fed it after trawling through various pigeon rescue websites. It had peas and some shredded wheat! We fed it tiny bit by tiny bit and it did not reject the food. It also had a dribble of water and then it walked a few very wobbly paces around the table. The wound has dried up a lot, but is very deep and I think has gone through to organ level. All we can do it keep it quiet, clean and fed and the rest is not in our hands. This is what it looked like at breakfast.

I nipped home late morning and Adam and I fed it again, this time corn kernels. Again it ate, but it is hard to judge how much is good. It has a balloon like crop in the front of its neck which fills as it feeds. Gently feeling this to see how 'full' it is supposed to be the indication.
Tonight, the girls and some of their friends came to watch and help with feeding. Big J and I are away this weekend and they need to know how to do it. They did brilliantly. Here is proof!

We also now have phone numbers for a couple of animal rescue centres so we can maybe get help, and/or hand it over to their care when we go away next week.

REALLY keeping my fingers crossed that it survives now. Names are being bandied about!

Messing with nature

On the drive home tonight I saw a magpie pecking repeatedly at a live baby wood pigeon. It was on the other side of the road on which I was travelling and I could not stop. I must admit, my heart was low thinking about it, defenceless, but I accept that even a magpie must eat. However, this time it was too much to bear and I raced (witin the speed limit) around the one way system in town again to see if it was still alive. It was and I picked it up as carefully as I could and put it in the car. It has severe wounds in its back and what looks like a crack on its beak. I suspect it will not last the night, but it is in a basket, lined with paper and covered over. Em researched what to do and the suggestion was a dark quiet place. It is the best we can do, and better our conservatory than a bloody death on the side of the road.
I feel worried about it and part of me thinks that interfering with nature does not always help. But here it stays until it dies or recovers and we can let it go. The local vet will not help, they do not want pigeons brought in....

Photo courtesy of the BBC

It really is not the prettiest of birds and ours is less so with its wounds.