BuJo Birdwatching

 Before I start today's blog post I wanted to say a huge thank you to all those who visit my blog and take the time to leave lovely comments. I must apologise that I have been very lacking in returning your visits. I will try harder in 2022! Happy New Year to you and lets hope this is a better one for everyone!

 I have kept a minimal Bullet Journal in 2021 and found it was better suited to me than a diary. I have had pages more specific to my requirements this way.

As many of you know I love watching the birds in the garden and one of the things I did last year was to make a garden bird list for my bullet journal. I have loved filling it in and enjoyed seeing the population changes from one month to another, so decided to do another for 2022. Here is a step by step for how I made it.

I began by drawing 12 boxes using the BuJo templates ( I had to adjust the length of the vertical boxes slightly)

Next I stamped the months of the year in the boxes. The super skinny slim border is great for getting up close to the edge in a ring bound journal. 

I used a pale green highlighter through the BuJo template to highlight the months.

I stamped some of the botanical springs in Distress oxide inks around the edges of the boxes.

I used the mirror blocks to stamp a reverse image of the bird at the top of each page.

Using second generation ink I stamped another bird facing each of the others.

Using the typewriter alpha I added the year and then used a coordinating gelly roll moonlight pen to write Garden Birds at the top of the page. I added a few more doodles and then got my bird book out to colour the finches in different ways. 

Here are the finished pages. Here is last year's page filled in:

 It was so exciting to see two birds I had not seen in our garden before in the 22 years we have lived here - the Brambling and the Lesser Redpoll. 

To create this years and last years page I used:

BuJo templates #1

A6 Botanical Sprig stamp set 

Months, Days and Dates stamp set

Birds and Butterflies regular stamp set 

Mirror Blocks stamps

Typewriter Alpha stamp set

Sakura Sigma Micron pens 

Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight pens

Versafine Clair ink in grey

Distress oxide inks in Kitsch Flamingo, Salvaged Patina and Peacock Feathers 

This sort of page could be used for all sorts of things from when things flower in the garden, to butterflies, bees or other creatures. 

Thanks for looking! 

Our Robin and a few other visitors

 I've seen quite a few robins around blog land on cards at the moment, so I thought I would tell you about ours. we call him Spot because he has a white fluffy spot on his back about where his tail starts. He comes and sits on top of the hook that holds our window feeder and sings to us (or his own reflection). He is never aggressive towards his reflection, as I have heard stories of birds trying to fight their reflections thinking it is a rival. He will often sing whilst the female watches then nip to one of the other feeders, peck out a fat pellet and feed it to her. 

Anyway, I've been trying for a couple of weeks to get a bit of decent footage on my camera and finally managed it!  (You will need to crank up the volume to hear him)

We have been watching the birds a little more closely during lockdown and had some fabulous winter visitors. There was a little flock of longtailed tits,

and a small group of bramblings. 

These seem to have moved on this month but we have our first lesser redpolls now!  

I'm afraid my photos aren't great because they are of the feeders at the bottom of the garden through the windows. 

Thanks for looking! 

A garden full of fledglings!

Hi there! Thought I would take the opportunity to share some photos of the new fledglings in the garden. I think the weather kept a few broods nest-bound for longer than expected and over the last few days we have had lots at the feeders. I haven't managed to photograph them all, but we have at least 5 blue tits, 3 great tits, 4 robins, 2 blackbirds and 4 or 5 wrens in addition to the house sparrows, starlings and godfinches that were around before the rain.
Here are some photos...

first up is the blackbird

Daddy blackbird is very busy keeping them fed

 Here is a great tit

then some bluetits...

 Here are the robins...

 More blue tits

 The tiny tiny wrens...

 And one last robin...

 So as you can see the report writing is going slowly when I have all these distractions just outside the window and a camera next to me!!! Hope you have enjoyed looking at the photos and not noticed the state of our windows, lol!
Thanks for looking and I will be back on Tuesday with my mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations.

A few birds in the Garden

Hi There
I've been a bit quiet but it's half term this week so I am going to be a frequent visitor to blog land this week! Thought I would share some photos of the birds visiting our bird feeders at the moment. Spring seems to be in the air and the blackbirds are busy chasing off their rivals. Mrs Blackcap has made an appearance - the first female we have seen here, so hoping we will get youngsters this year. Here she is with her brown cap.

There has also been a little flock of long-tailed tits. They are such beautiful birds!

Thanks for looking and I will be back tomorrow with some mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations.

Feathered Visitors

We have had rather a lot of different visitors to the bird feeders recently, and both Meg and I managed to get some photos, so I thought I would share them with you.

 first up is our male Blackbird, who is already staking his claim to his territory and chasing off the competition. The next photos aren't the best as they are taken through the slightly grubby window on full zoom to the bottom of the garden, but first we have a chaffinch

 and also goldfinches (top) and greenfinches (bottom). Just in case you were wondering, the glass lampshade prevents the squirrel from reaching the holes on the birdfeeder!

 Then the male Blackcap appeared and has been around for over a fortnight now

 Here is a better photo of the goldfinch.

 The great tit loves the berry flavoured fat candle from B&M!

 The starling is looking very smart at the moment too.

 Bobbin the Robin is always around the garden

 And finally, meet our resident goldcrest, Britain's smallest bird. Don't you just love his yellow mohican?

I am just hoping they all show up for the RSPB's big garden Birdwatch in a couple of weeks time. If you want to join in with the biggest citizen science project of the year, you can find out more here . All you do is commit to watching for an hour and then you can log your sightings online or by post.
Thanks for looking and for your lovely comments

A Couple of Digis from Dora

Here are two DT offering for Dora's Digis which are here on her blog. I coloured them with Be Creative Alcohol markers. They are a few days late, I'm afraid! I was supposed to post this before I went to stay with Lynne, but completely forgot!
My first is Dora's lovely Elephant teamed up with Chocolate Baroque papers and a die cut bow

 My second is Dora's Seagulls and Crafty individuals paper from their Seaside pad.
Both Images were coloured with Be creative Alcohol markers.
As I said, I have just come back from a little break at Lynne's house. We had some good walks and there were lots of photo opportunities. I thought I would share some of my bird photos here. First we have a lesser Redpoll

 a tree sparrow

 A pair of siskins

A pheasant

a Buzzard

 A yellow Hammer

 and Goldfinches

 As you can see, Lynne gets a wonderful array of birds on her feeders, and the Buzzard is a regular visitor to the field next to her home.
Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great weekend. We will be seeing Meg as it is her 20th Birthday on Monday - where did that time go?!
 Happy Easter!