I think I have a new friend.

Last evening, when I was getting the sheep to bed, I saw this little chap (?) sitting on a rock very close to me.  He was very close and didn’t seem to want to fly away, just kept coming back to me, a few feet away.

Girl or boy?  What do you think?  And is it this year’s fledgling or an older adult.

And then I saw him (he will be a he unless proven otherwise) again this morning, sitting next to me on a gate.  I think it is the same bird and, again, not scared of me and was just around while I was doing stuff.  Most strange.

I just pray others don’t take advantage of wee bird’s apparent tameness and obviously I now need a name for him.

They both have form on the bird front and I would be sad if they succeeded.

I’ve not had a proper bird friend. At the moment, I am mostly just sworn at.

No one, and I mean absolutely no one, is talking to Waffle.

Mostly because he spends many hours in his day wrecking my fences (please note that he has not lost an ounce of weight either.  Funny that.)

I watched him deliberately tread down on the bottom part of the only run of wire fence, stick his head between the top wire and the actual fence to bend over it and eat the long grass on the other side.  Little sod.

My non electric fences are wrecked all thanks to Waffle.

So, today, I walked the original electric fence fixing things that needed to be fixed, while testing both wires every few paces.

And I do feel bad because the grass on the other side is waist high.

This fence was zapping beautifully and that is when I decided to extend the fence to the bit that wasn’t electrified – the bit Waffle was standing on.

And so Waffle is not talking to me now and I’m not talking to him either.

I did see him canter off down the track in an unexpected way.   I do hope he got zapped……

I know it’s wrong, but I really do.

I am so fed up with him.

Yesterday evening was “Thelery Thursday”.  I had come back from Turriefield (the community growing project where I volunteer) with a massive bin-bag full of unwanted celery leaves for the ponies.

So I rattled my bin-bag and called them up ……

And they didn’t need asking twice.  Celery is always a huge hit with the ponies and is the only treat they are allowed.  I only buy it if it is under 50p so they haven’t had it recently – sorry.

The ponies shovelled it all in trying to get as much as possible in one mouthful.

I left them chewing happily away.

The noise of munching celery leaves was fairly loud too.

And later, when I went back, there was no trace of a single leaf anywhere.  Not one.  All gone, thank you very much.

I haven’t seen the two ducklings since they first made an appearance on Monday.  Every time I walk past, it is all a bit like Schrödinger’s Ducklings – are they alive or dead?  Who knows.  I can’t see them.  Mama Duck is fiercely protective of them and keeps her bebbies close to her, which is how it should be.  Many a duckling has died due to a bad mother just wandering off and leaving one behind.  They are notoriously bad at this game.

Today the little family made a quick appearance, which I missed – I was busy making a sheep – but I hoped Mama D would take them outside again.

And just on my way out to work at Turriefield, I briefly saw them all together.

It’s not easy trying to take photos through the fine mesh of the run and Mum is not helpful either.  She hates me with a lot of determination.

But I managed at last to get some nice photos of the bebbies.

And I was being watched the whole time.

I think she could hear my thoughts of wanting to pick up each duck to cuddle.  That’s not happening.  No way!  Her beady eyes were on me the whole time.  I know my place – behind the mesh.

Anyway, I am glad they are all alive still.  It is always touch and go at this stage.

Here are a few black and white photos from my trip to see Efstur and Kappi.  Apologies if you’ve seen them in colour yesterday but I think they look so much nicer like this.

Anyway, this is a short blog as I will let the photos speak for themselves.  It was such a nice afternoon.