That is lovely Kazzie. We had a lovely surprize on sunday morning when the sparrowhawk dropped in again. We took some photos which are on the website. Little lucy thought it was an owl (she is three). Actually we are not sure if it is the same one that visited before as it looked like a juvenile. It only stayed a couple of minutes or so but it was lovely.
Alison

Alison... I've just had a look at your up-dated bird pictures. The hawk is beautiful and I particularly love your shots of the wren. You've done really well... I find birds so difficult snap. You've inspired me to start a garden wildlife section on my website.

Nice, I thought it was going to be a heron, phewwww.

Gorgeous isn't he? I had one whole wonderful Sunday last April when a male pheasant visited. He slowly checked out all the garden and even came down the (difficult to manage) steps and hopped onto the window ledge of the conservatory! I took some photos but on my ordinary camera. I considered it a privilege for him to visit.

Sandyxx

I love that shimmery green on their neck.... and I reckon your neighbour won't mind too much if he leaves a little something on her sheets.. he's such a regal chappy :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: cooking guests :-)

Linda has the devil in her tonight!!!!

Sandy... I agree, it feels a real privilege when the wildlife pays us a visit. I so want to bottle the moments... more than anything when the barn and tawny owls are hunting in the field at the bottom of my garden.

Many mornings on my way to work, I see hares. They just stand in the road and I have to toot them.

Thanks for the recipe Linda, but I've always preferred fish to meat... I'm particularly partial to Gin Rin, Copper Chagoi, Benegoi & Soragoi... with a dash of lemon... yum yum

Sean... be advised that all herons have been directed to Belfast!

The pheasant showed up again this morning and he ventured nearer to the house, so got a slightly better picture:

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All that grass and he's chosen to balance on 2 small pieces of wood.

well snapped kazzie but hope its not an omen of more bad weather? he's sorted out his snow shoes!!!!!!!!! d:( jo o/

Why thank you Kazzie, shall I send you some of my gannets or cormorants in return. )))))

Sean, Kazzie - Bird traffiking now, you two do get up to some shenanigins!
I wonder where he has come from? Is there a stately home nearby that might have a pheasant breeding thing going on.. gamekeeper and shooting and all that. He could be an escapee. Now I'm totally against the shooting bit, but gamekeepers...
talking about fish Kazzie, we have an injury on our ginrin chagoi and she has had to have anitbiotic injection to clear it up. I was there at the local large supermarket eyeing up the fish for one with similar shape, texture etc to our ginrin, so we could practice the injecting.. you know there just wasn't a fish with similar scales or shape .. the fishmonger was quite bemused when I told him what is was I wanted and why. So we have been having ginrin out on the table, .. but no lemon :-)

Awww... how is ginrin now?

she has bashed her nose, and is due out tomorrow for a close inspection and, if needed sedation and another shot of antibiotic. As soon as I nose, I let you's nose my dear. Have you tracked down that gamekeeper yet? :-)

Hi Kazzie, Here's a picture of her 14th Feb. Not got her out today too much else going on and need very quiet and uninterrupted time to get her in the kitchen and look properly. Hoards of grandchildren tend to make us nervous when we're tending a fish. I have to say despite the antibiotics the nose does not look that much better. There is less white area, so I suppose thats something. I'm betting if we upped the temp it would do the trick, but an reluctant because of the cold snap.
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the photo is huge by the way. She is only 36cm long.

The poor little mite... I hope she recovers quickly.

The game keeper.... we've only got a grumpy farmer who makes a good living from charging £25.00 per car he pulls out of a ditch on a dodgy hairpin bend just down the road from me!

Thats a nice ulcer, koi often get them, antibiotic injections are a bit harsh for that, there are several liquid remedies on the market and a lot less dangerous, if you are not experienced or careful with a needle you might do more harm than good!!! personaly, i would pop her in a large bucket with two gallons of water a and 1.5 onces of salt with and air stone for 20 minutes (dont leave her alone tho) if she shows signs of going to sleep wip her out and put her in the pond, but leave her as long as possible upto 20 mins, have a small bowl with a cup of water and as much salt in as you can get in it, deslove it, when she has done her 20 minutes in the salt water dab a small clean cloth in the bowl and pop it straight onto the wound for 30 seconds, put her back in the pond, that might be enough, you might need to repeat it in few days tho, but you will see an improvement the next day or two.

I have treated a dozen koi like this, large and small, never needed more than two doses in the bucket, often one is enough, an injection in the wrong place will be fatal and painful for the koi, this method is only fatal if you over dose the salt and leave it in to long! but there are ulcer treatments too, cost a packet and some are used in the same way others you have to apply manualy with the fish out of water, and it can take a while and stress the fish more.

Hi AJC. I do agree, I went down the salt route first. Then topical antiseptic kursuri product, betadine etc, before antibiotics. Had a good look today, and it's new pink skin, so fingers crossed, seems to be on the mend.

Pink is a good sign Linda, but keep a very close eye on it, you have the cold water with and against you at the mo.

I'm heated to 18 degree's at the moment, we upped it from 15-6 to give the fish a better temp to heal at.. and yes I think we're mad! Recapping on this fish though, she was new in late january, and injured her nose the 1st week in feb, so I think the injury would have healed fine if she had not just been introduced into a new enviromnent. I suspect the initial stress of being moved suppressed her healing resources.

Ah, that explains a lot! do you keep it heated all winter?

Yes AJC, we do, it's set to a minimum of 15 degrees. we ended up using a gas central heating boiler and a heat exchanger. We use an aquosis cover to minimise heat loss. It'd be reasonably economical if we didn't sit out some nights in our woolly jumpers with the pond lights on and the steam rising :-) Kazzie.. bad news about the game keeper... I was about to re-read Lady Chatterly
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Linda... your koi pond looks fantastic!!!

So Alan... when are you going to start posting pictures? Have you finished off your waterfall yet?

Hi Kazzie, havent finished my pond yet, been doing a little this week but still to cold for major works, I will post some when its done tho.

Linda, have you concidered letting your koi have a short winter? its amazingly good for them, its a proven fact not fiction, koi kept in heated ponds do not reach full potential in age, size or colour, heating from January to April is a much better idea, seems a short winter break is good for them! but its your pond and your koi :) if you think about it, Japanese winters are harder than ours, but only half as long from start to finish, and look at thier koi?

This heat or not, and if you do for how long and at what temp debate is wonderfully diverse. There is much to be taken into consideration, not least being the costs and of course the optimum conditons for the Koi. We have just joined a Koi club and hope to listen to, and evaluate all of the members different views. I am not exagerating if I say that there are more people offering 'the right advice' on how to 'bring up' your Koi, than there are folks to tell you how to 'bring up' your children :-) On the whole I think kids are simpler!