It was my birthday at the weekend and I was lucky enough to receive some fantastic presents, including a nestbox webcam which is currently on the optional fat-ball feeder it came with. The company (handykam.com) had thought of everything, and I must say it is rather compulsive viewing, despite the fact that the chickens wandering around underneath look the same size as the sparrows and blue tits. It's a real window in to the birds' world and if it's something you've always to try - do!

I was also given a Dinky Duck House by my parents which is brilliant. It was a timely gift as Jean the call duck has gone broody, and as I had a bit of a scare the other day when she wasn't well, I thought I'd better breed some potential replacements! Female call ducks are hard to come by and they have a strong pair bond, so if anything happened to one of them, the other would be bereft. So, I took the decision to try for some ducklings :-) She is sitting on 5 eggs so hopefully I'll get at least one female. Blossom's eggs are due to hatch this weekend so I am considering investing in a new broody coop from Flyte So Fancy. I have a bit of a rat problem and I'm concerned that my Heath Robinson attempt won't be rodent-proof, and I've got a feeling Mary (Blossom's brood-mother) might be getting the nesting urge too as she was tucked up in the corner of the Lurve Lavatory at bedtime. Although that could be because she's a bit thick.

The weather's been dreadful here (although we need the rain blah blah) and the bees have been pouring out of the hives as soon as its dry to head off to the oil seed rape and dandelions. I've been rejigging all the frames in my spare hives and I am debating as to whether I should split the big colony or let them swarm. The garden is looking fantastic with the frequent cloudbursts (including the couch grass and willowherb in the borders) and I had a bit of a result with Freecycle: I'd requested some hanging baskets to use as cloches to protect my new plants as Henry can spot a shiny new perennial like a hawk, and before I know it he's scuffed the whole thing across the garden with his great feet in the name of impressing the hens with his muscular leg action and worm-finding abilities. Anyway, a chap called Alf emailed me and this morning I collected 24 hanging baskets from just down the road! The are all a bit rusty which means they blend in to the borders really well and in fact are not devoid of charm in my rural setting. Think delapidated milk churn or ancient tractor aging gracefully into the landscape and it's sort of the look I feel I've achieved. Once the foliage grows up through them they'll disappear anyway. I'll kick myself if I see my idea in one of the Chelsea Show Gardens...

My knitting project is growing although I need to find some other stitch markers as I'm using my wedding and eternity rings at the moment which are not ideal, although it does put them to good use :-D I've signed up to finish my degree as I've swapped the courses over to a BSc which doesn't need me to go on a residential school. I had stopped for a break with every reason to suspect I would not pick it up again, but I miss the challenge [of feeling completely out of my depth!] and I end up fretting about useless pointless stuff so I figure my best option is to lock the old grey cells into something worthwhile. The children are pootling along quite happily with their various interests and actually I find that they get swept along with me to a certain extent when I'm studying.

I hope to have some duckling and chick pics to show everyone at some point :-)