Christmas Present

Santa delivered the present I asked him for although it could have had a lot to do with the fact that I mentioned to Doug that I would like a new bird bath to replace my old one that had seen better days.

The birds have been a bit slow to bathe in it although they do use it to drink from.

Yesterday I was thrilled to see a Kereru or Native Pigeon drinking from it.

I was indoors and the first hurried photo was on normal lens but the second one used the zoom.  You will need to enlarge the photos to see the kereru.

Bird Bath

We have had a bird table but no bird bath.  For some time I have been thinking of using the stump of a tamarillo to put a dish on for the birds.

I have been completely lacking in energy for some time but this morning decided I was going to get something done.  I actually took a couple of "before photos" and then moved some karaka trees in pb's.  We brought these seedlings with us and they were going to be put in the wasteland behind us that belongs to the High School but that has not happened.  Three of these trees were standing on soil and have actually sent roots through and are thriving, the others are in need of some TLC.

Anyway, once they were removed I cut down the flowering bush which I understand is a native fuschia - it was self sown and I have taken a couple of cuttings which are growing well so I cut this one down and painted it with a gel.  It was shading my small veggie area.

I then got my trusty saw and tried to cut the top of the tamarillo evenly.  When I cut it originally I did it on an angle as we were hoping it would re-shoot.

Having it reasonably level I found a piece of timber and nailed that onto the top of the stump and placed the terracotta coloured dish on top.

I just went down and took a couple of "after shots" and it looks as though it has been used as the "table" was quite wet.

I have left two of the karaka trees that have sent their roots down in the meantime.  I bought the baby bath at a garage sale and used it for seedlings but then it ended up with self sown plants.  I have removed these and will fill it with fresh mix and re-sow it with some veggies.  I also noticed that the larger of the cabbage trees (also known as palms in Cornwall) is about to flower.

Last week I weeded th chard that it planted there and also put a few more in.  It still needs some more tidying and the pots of dahlias need some new soil and feeding ready for the summer.