Nature Notes Again

How are you all getting on in the snow? Norfolk was one of the first counties to get the snow which means we've had a very white lookout since Monday night. We're getting a bit fed up of it now, as it means that we're not getting out as much as we'd like to, and things we enjoy keep getting cancelled, but at least we've managed to stay safe and warm.

However, we are working very hard at looking after our feathered friends. We've been keeping the feeders topped up and putting out apples and dried fruit for the bigger birds. We've also been putting out water as the bird bath is frozen over.

Watching all the birds tucking into the food we've provided, gives me hours of fun. One very regular visitor over the last few days, whom I'm always pleased to see, is Woody, our greater spotted woodpecker. He is a great customer as he's happy to eat most things. The fat balls seem to be his favourite at the moment but he also enjoys peanuts and sunflower seeds.

As many of our readers will know all too well, as soon as you put out bird food, especially peanuts, some less welcome visitors quickly arrive on the scene.

We have 2 squirrels who have taken over the tawny owls' nesting box (cheeky!) and they demolish peanuts at an incredible rate. I don't mind too much if it keeps them off the other bird food and I suppose even squirrels have to eat to keep warm this weather.

Talking about keeping warm, we wandered down to our local hostelry in the week and found a rather unusual customer outside ...

Well, we do live in the countryside, so I guess we shouldn't really be surprised, as a pint of beer in a cosy pub has a lot more appeal than a cold, dark and snowy field. Where were his friends though?

Lots of love Chelmer and friends xxx

P.S. our Muscovy friend from last week, didn't like the snow and left us when it arrived; we like to think he has gone to Pensthorpe.

Britain's Favourite Conversation Topic ... again

We hope all our readers having been faring well during the recent icy blast.

One B.U. member who enjoyed last weekend's snow more than most, was Polar from the Midlands branch, who is spending the winter with us.


Polar has adapted well to life off the ice, but when the white stuff falls, and especially when it turns icy, his polar bear genes come to the fore and he is literally in his element.


Along with his hardy friend Russ, he went out last Sunday afternoon to search out some pristine patches of snow to play in and mark with his paw print. The plastic bag his was wearing was not to keep him dry, his fur does that for him, but to give him extra slip when he went body sledging.

Polar played so hard that he got tired and decided to hitch a lift home. Here is is giving his paws up of approval to the snow.


We've all been looking after our feathered friends this week and making sure the bird feeders are well stocked. Our efforts have paid off and Chelmer and Curly were thrilled to sight some more unusual visitors, making their first appearance in our garden yesterday. They sat at the kitchen window with the bird book and binoculars watching ...


... a pair of blackcaps and at least one redpoll. Both species seem to be residing locally, as they're with us, feeding, for several hours each day. It gives us all a special feeling to know we are helping such lovely birds.

But the all important question remains, will today's thaw continue, to allow racing at Fakenham on Friday? We very much hope so.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

P.S. back to Malta next time!

Bon Appetit

No doubt a few of our readers will have noticed that it was getting dark in my last picture and have wondered if my Bears Unlimited colleagues came to help me erect my new feeding station before darkness descended.

Well of course they did. Bears always put each other first and we always give each other's projects full support. The only reason I was waiting on the fence for a couple of minutes was because the rest of the guys were all busy in the kichen, filling all the feeders with scrummy (for birds) food.


I popped in to help fill the feeders as it was a big job with the number we had to fill. As you can see I got to do the fun job which is to squirt everything with Squirrel Stop. This is a chilli pepper spray which birds don't mind but is repugnant to squirrels. It's quite essential in our garden where we have a rather confident and overfamiliar squirrel.

Once the feeders were full and we'd got the feeding post upright and in place, the next job was to carry the feeders outside. The base of the felled tree made a great place to assemble them ready for hanging.


It was quite a long way up to the hanging hooks but fortunately bears are great climbers. As Tommy spends so much time in the garden he is our best climber, so in no time at all he had all the feeders hung up and ready for some hungry birds to tuck into.


Bon appetit, our feathered friends.

Lots of love, Marmaduke and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Can We Fix It ... Yes We Can!

Are our readers' memories good enough to remember our postings as far back as July, or have you cheated and looked back in the blog, to see what happened to affect bird feeding in our garden earlier this year?

On July 23rd, the chain saw gang reported on their rather unusual activities in the garden. Yes, they had felled 3 large fir trees, which had grown too large for the gardening and were threatening our house.


This picture should remind you of this occasion (before anyone says anything about the humans in the photo, we never claimed we did it all ourselves!)

The big fir tree which was outside the kitchen window was the tree from which we hung the majority of our bird feeders, as we enjoyed watching the birds while working in the kitchen. Over the course of the summer, while the birds didn't need feeding, the feeders had just sat in a pile in the garden. With the arrival of the colder weather we needed to find a new home for them.

Marmaduke displayed a real talent and enthusiasm for D.I.Y.


He hit on the idea of making a gibbet like structure which would stand against the fence where the fir tree had been. We would attach all our feeders to this gibbet. Not only did Marmaduke have this great idea, he quickly went into production, and before we knew it there was a marvellous structure waiting for us to help to erect it. It was a bit too much for Marmaduke to manage on his own, and also, he needed someone to tell him when he'd got it straight, but he was happy to wait patiently for help to arrive.

Keep reading to see the finished result.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Looking after our Feathered Friends

We've had some very cold weather this week with temperatures falling below zero overnight. When it's as cold as this, it is essential to remember to put plenty of food and water out for the birds. Some of them, such as the wren that lives in our garden, are so small that they don't carry a lot of spare body fat and rely on us for vital sustenance.

Our preparations for winter bird feeding started a few weeks ago. We had two important jobs to do. The first was to give all the bird feeders a thorough clean especially it was some months since they were last used.


In our picture you can see some of us using the Aga in our kitchen to dry off the bird feeders - it's also great for warming our bottoms when we've been out in the cold. Prior to the drying process we had given everything a good scrub with disinfectant.

This year the disinfecting process is particularly important, following the prevalence of a form of canker, spread by bird droppings, that causes birds to die after their thoats swell up. We read about it in the paper and thought it sounded so horrible that we would be especially careful to keep all our bird feeders nice and clean.

We hope all our readers are doing the same.

If you think about what happened in our garden in the summer (yes we did do a blog about it) you might be able to work out what our next job for our local birds was. Can anyone work out what it was?

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx