A visit, sewing and a cat.

The week has been so busy with one thing and another that I didn't have any energy to write a blog post. It has been a funny old week, with temperatures well below the seasonal norm. It meant I've had to defrost the car every morning which means I need to get up slightly earlier. When I went into the office on Monday it was really cold and the first job of the morning was to call facilities to get them to increase the heating. 

On Saturday, John and I went on a coach trip to Slimbridge. It was organised by the central London local branch of the RSPB. We had visited Slimbridge in early December but it is always a good place to visit for a whole range of birds. I enjoyed being driven for a change, since usually I do all the driving. We arrived at 11 am and we had to meet back at the coach at 4 so we had loads of time to walk all round the reserve and spend time watching bird. They also have a good cafe that serves tasty hot food. Normally when we visit we spend time in the  hides by the estuary so this time we decided we would walk all round the reserve to see what was going on.

The flamingos were all inside to keep them warm. They were an amazing colour. Unfortunately taking a photo through glass is a pain as you get the reflection

There were also several crane around. They have been running a successful crane breeding programme. These two were chilling out by the fence but there were several more hanging out on the pasture by the estuary.

This lot looked a little cold. I was cold and I had several layers on as well as my thick hat and gloves.

I also loved the colour of the branches .

There were large clumps of snowdrops.

I took this photo from the heated hide. It is always a pleasure to be able to sit and watch birds in the warm. Over the day we saw about 20 Berwick swans, but these ones spent most of the time with their head under water. They over winter in Britain but numbers have been dropping in recent years with the climate change.

Way over the back of the next photo was a flock of curlew but we could only see them through John's scope and I didn't have the camera attachment.

We enjoyed leek and potato soup for lunch and just before leaving we revisited the cafe for tea and cake. You have to look after yourself on an expedition! We enjoyed our day, saw lots of birds and the journey was comfortable. We have another birdwatching trip arranged for February.

On Sunday I did some work on my project for the white rabbit blog hop. I'm pleased with how this is going. My day is Monday. Over the week I have been doing some knitting. This has been my slow stitching for the week. At first I had problems working out the chart for the pattern but once I understood it I found it knits up quite quickly.

Today I sewed the pinwheel blocks together in groups of 4. I took extra time to try and get the points right and I'm happy with the result. Not all the points are perfect but I did the best I could.

I also made some 4 patch blocks. Tomorrow I'm hoping to put this quilt top together if I have enough fabric for the sashing. I forgot to check supplies before the shop shut.

Finally the cat. As those of you who follow my blog know, our cat Picasso died in 2022 at  the age of 20. We decided not to get another cat at that time. Fast forward to Thursday evening and my son rescued an injured and stray cat. He took him to our vert for emergency treatment of a burn to his mouth and tongue. His face was very swollen and sore. He then bought him home to look after. By this morning he had a name and he has responded well to the antibiotics and pain relief. He is now eating and drinking and looking a little better. If no one claims him I think he will probably join the family. The vet says he is roughly a year old. He and Missy have met and not hissed, scratched or killed each other. We are keeping them apart as far as possible at the moment to avoid any cross infection. I'll let you know how he gets on and post a picture once his face looks a little better.

If the weather is bad where you are, please take care and stay safe.

Lyndsey