Travels with my camera

Well as anticipated, poor little Max was put to sleep this morning. His little leg was even bigger today, and he hadn't eaten anything. I got him out of his box this morning, and he was very shaky and couldn't walk hardly at all. He was obviously in a lot of pain. I was half hoping that Lowry would say try another anti-inflamatory, but I was only kidding myself I suppose. The leg was knackered, he was knackered. He had lost about half of his bodyweight in the week I had him here, and he would never had survived the anaesthetic, and he would never have been able to be released back into the wild, so it was for the best in the end I suppose. Poor little man had to suffer for a whole week for nothing though.
Also, my poor old hen went the same way. I broke my heart deciding on this one, but she was obviously in bother, kept pecking at her rear end, and had made herself sore. She hadn't eaten anything for a couple of days, yesterday she didn't even want the tinned sweetcorn which she normally loves, or chopped grapes. When we got her out of the box, she had loads of feather lice on her, which always happens when a bird is on it's way out. I wonder where they are though when the bird is healthy? Where do they all appear from?

Absurd though it was, I filled up with tears when she took little Max away in his box, but I was fine about the chicken. How bizarre is that, something I'd had for a week, as opposed to something I'd had for over three years? Lowry kept Max, I brought the hen home and buried her down near all my other graves. I have a section at the bottom of the back garden where all my hens are buried. Poor little Diddy has now outlived 7 of his ladies. Down there are Bobble and Nellie who have lilac bushes on top of their graves, Sparky who has a Budlea, and Light who has Bamboo, now Dark has my miniature Rhodedendrom on her, I moved it out of the border as it was being swamped by other plants.

I think I was worrying more about Diddy being alone than necessary. To be honest, he didn't seem that bothered, I tried to spend a bit more time and make more fuss of him this afternoon than normal. He hasn't exactly been that close to her for a while, he is old and couldnt keep up with a full-sized hen anyway, and I think he was always a bit frightened of her, although of course he did like the company. He has gone into his house tonight okay anyway, and of course the last three nights he's been up on the perch on his own as she was sleeping in a nest box. I am going to organise my back inside porch, where Snuffles and Ryan have lived, and set up a perch and little area for him in there for when the cold weather comes. It will be warmer for him than up the top of the garden on his own, and on bad days, he can actually stay in there, or come into the kitchen if he wants, he is a clean little man, his little poos are no worse than having a parrot indoors to be honest. Also it means that he will have a safe area where I can leave him if I wanted to go away, he would have like a 3' x 10' run, which is all some birds have for their entire lives, I could leave his food with no fear of anything else getting in to eat it, he would have light, warmth and security, and to be honest I am quite excited and relieved about it. Can't wait to sort it out. He can also come into the back garden too, I couldn't have the big hen round by the back door, she made too much mess and would have recked the border with the heathers and woodchip, but he is no bother at all.

This afternoon, I went to Newcastle Emlyn with Emma and went round the castle. It has been a fabulous day again, really warm, sweating in a t-shirt, who would expect that in late September? Great stuff. I bought some homeopathic stuff from the Health shop called Nux vom. It was mentioned in the leaflet that Anna kindly sent me from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and is recommended for the treatment of blood in the urine or faeces. I am going to try in in Ryan's drinking water, it may just work, hope so anyway.

Finally, my day ended with the most amazing thing happening. I had an idea yesterday and earlier today though, that I wasn't mistaken about something. Last winter I had a tame robin in my garden, I called him Bouncer. He used to come when I called. His territory was up by my aviary, he used to feed from the hanging bird table. He once came and took a sunflower heart from my hand when we had snow on the ground, the only time a wild bird has ever done that to me. I was so fond of him. He disappeared at the beginning of March, and I was heartbroken. Tonight he came back to me! I am 99.9% sure it is him. I caught a glimpse earlier, and thought, this one's tame. But tonight he came to the bird table and took a suet pellet almost from my hand, and took it into the holly. I called him, and he came back. He then went down to the water dish by my feet, and bathed and splashed, within two feet of me. I am sure it's him! I stood there with tears streaming down my face. It was like two things had been taken from me today, and another one whom I assumed was dead had returned to me to make up for it. I know it's him. All I need now is for Snuffles to come back, and I will be overjoyed.

RIP Max














RIP Darky













My Handsome Diddy















Bouncer