Box Hill Village Fair 2009

As the weather has turned more manageable again, I decided to drag the family to the nearby Box Hill Village Fair. This annual event featured some interesting activities, including Birds of Prey Demonstration and the always-anticipated Dog Show.

I suppose there were about 50 vendors of all varieties at the fair, too. It all made for an enjoyable day out as a family, and we all were a little bit sunburned when we came home.


We got there just in time to see a demonstration of the birds of prey, featuring Honey, a European Eagle Owl, which some say is the largest of all the owls. Even though it looks huge next to the other birds of prey, this particular owl, Honey, weighs between 3 and 5 pounds only! Goes to show you how powerful and strong, yet light, bird bones are.


I thought you would enjoy some photos of Honey and her handler. Yes, one of the photos shows Honey with a chick hanging from her mouth. This is the real world after all!

Not a bird of prey, but I had to attach a photo of the ever-growing Branduff, who reluctantly allowed me to take this photo. You can tell how enthused he is by his warm smile. LOL! Teens will be teens.


This weekend, we also managed to catch another elusive bird in our camera lens, although this one is much more placid! The Ringed-Neck Parakeet is such a beautiful green parrot with a lovely elegant tail.

I've learned to recognize the call as they fly overhead; we have at least five living in our neighborhood. However, they rarely come into to feed on our feeding station. Amazingly, we had two of them come to munch and investigate in our back garden on Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately, the starlings are so annoying that they wouldn't give the poor parrots any peace, and they flew off after 10 minutes or so. During that time, I was able to snap some photos at a distance; hence, the graininess of the image. Still well worth the effort!

Still Hot!

We've been experiencing a heat wave in SE England . . . they are expecting scorching weather until Friday, when we *might* have some rain.

Everyone associates England with rain, but we've only had one shower a week ago, and little else in-between. Ninety-plus temps in my garden wouldn't be so bad if we had air conditioning in the house.

Yesterday morning, I was thrilled to be shopping at my grocery store, Waitrose, because they have wonderful air conditioning.

I was feeling quite spent and dehydrated by the afternoon, and I couldn't wait to jump in my car -- with air conditioning! -- to pick up my son from school. I even thought about spending the afternoon driving around, just so I could stay cool. :-o

The NHS has advised us not to drink alcohol or TEA! What, no tea??? Impossible.
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Summerhealth/Pages/Heatwaveredalert.aspx

I still drink hot tea in the summer, because I like it :-) and since hot drinks are supposed to have 'cooling' affects according to ancient Chinese traditions. However, I have also been making some decaf iced tea. The owners of this house are an international pair, and my large American-style side-by-side fridge-freezer has an automatic ice dispenser! This is almost unheard of in a UK kitchen. We also have a wine fridge -- how cool is that? I just wish I could crawl into it right now and cool off.

I added a twist to my iced tea yesterday . . . I filled my tall glass with ice and tea two-thirds of the way up, and then I topped it off with diet ginger ale. This isn't just any ginger ale . . . it's a Tesco's variety and it's called American-style ginger ale! The thing is, it's strongly peppery and gingery, unlike anything I've had in the States. The slight bubbles and the ginger background were wonderful in the iced tea and fantastic cooling agents in this heat.

Strawberries, Sunshine, Surrey

We are now into summer here in SE England, but it honestly has felt like summer for weeks! It's been incredibly dry and warm as spring goes here. I've been out with the garden hose twice a day trying to keep my parched flowers and strawberries from wilting on the vine! The grass in many areas is no longer green; it's brown and dry, and reminiscent of the grass that they grow in Abu Dhabi! What is going on?

We've been finding it too hot to use the oven in the kitchen, so we've often been cooking on the grill outside. I even made a round of fajitas, which went over extremely well with fresh salsa.

As you know, most homes do not have or need air conditioning. Instead, you throw up the windows wide on the warmer days. Without screens on windows, we have to chase the occasional wasp or fly around the house with our special battery-operated fly zapper swatter, which Branduff and Niall think is a bit of fun!

Wimbledon tennis has begun up the road from here, and they are also having sunshine and strawberries. If you're looking for those moody, gray Wimbledon days, you won't have them this week. Bring the SPF50 if you're planning on being out for any time!

Back on the homefront, and we've been able to purchase really scrumptious strawberries from the stores for the last month. English strawberries are among the sweetest in the world, and I will sorely miss them when they are no longer in season.


I decided to plant up a few of them in containers at the house. They have been very healthy and happy, after I water them twice a day :-o. I have one type that grows miniature wild strawberries, which never seem to grow bigger than a 5-pence piece! I also have traditional size strawberry plants, which have given me, in total, about a carton full of fruit. I don't have anywhere to plant the strawberries in the ground, so I'm having to make do with the pots.


Pulling a ripe strawberry from one's own vine is such a treat! It is amazing how sweet they can be eaten right off the plant. We haven't had any problems with birds pinching the fruit, as they have quite a lot of seed in their feeders. However, there have been a few ants nibbling at some of the succulent berries.

Today I had strawberries and cream for lunch. I used a combination of thick Jersey cream and Rhodda's clotted cream to envelope my strawberries, which this time, came from Tesco's.


Here are a collection of photos from our garden.

We have a tree that is in full white bloom; anyone know what type of tree this is?


There's also a tall dahlia, which is a silky chocolate color with a hint of a chocolate scent.


I also have some hot pink petunias that are happily growing from pots on our patio.

Bird Feeder Update

While we have been inundated over the last month with starlings and their fledglings, we also are fortunate to still have an array of Tits coming to the feeder. They particularly like to come in the lull between the starlings, who have a tendency to monopolize the feeders.

We've had a cute family of Blue Tits, with the parent teaching the three offspring to eat on the suet-filled coconut shells. Here is a photo of a Blue Tit taken today.


The coconut shells have been a real hit with all the birds. It's all they seem to want to eat these days! But their preferences change with the seasons, just as the types of birds that we have at our feeder.

Spring Photos of Branduff

Branduff officially is taller than me, Mom. Once upon a time, I was five-foot-seven and a bit . . . I've shrunk to slightly below 5'7" while Branduff is about an inch taller than me! How soon it all happens!

When we were on holidays in the Lyme Bay area of England, I took these photos of Branduff in the lovely gardens of Forde Abbey.

Video of Robin Feeding

Here is a little video of the robin feeding the fledglings.



It wasn't until Sunday that we notice the little heads bobbing up and down. The father and mother have been incredibly busy feeding their offspring, and it's nice to see three healthy little birdies chirping for food.

In the video below, you can see the heads of the little robins bobbing up and down!

Nesting Robins & A Thank You!

I want to say a very big 'thank you' to both Dave and Catherine, who volunteered to come to our home during the Easter week to feed our wild birds while we were on our holidays in Dorset.

Before we left on our week-long trip, the birds seemed to be frantically feeding; apparently many were nesting and sitting on their eggs or feeding their fledglings. We worried about leaving the birds without food in the feeding station for a whole week.

Thankfully, my long-time friend Catherine was able to pop over while we were gone, and I was lucky to meet Dave through the Wildlife Aid Forum. Dave volunteers through the week at Wildlife Aid, and he lives not too far from our home. He also has a bird feeding station at his home and enjoys watching all the different varieties of birds that congregate.

This is why their contribution was so important. Check out these hungry robins who are living in a nesting box under the eaves of our Wendy house in the back garden.


I hung this nesting box in the autumn, and I had no idea if we'd have any customers. However, with the protection of the eaves of the little house and the food just a hop away, this is equivalent to a four-star hotel in the bird world!


Let me take a moment to plug Wildlife Aid, which is located in Leatherhead, Surrey, and is a wildlife rescue group made famous by the documentary program Wildlife SOS, which is shown on Animal Planet. Wildlife Aid can always use donations to help fund their very important causes and efforts. If you've been interested in seeing the premises, they will hold their annual Open Day on Sunday, 21 June. You can read more information on their site: http://www.wildlifeaid.org.uk/index.php

Again, thanks to Dave and Catherine for taking care of our birds while we were away!