AdnamsGirl

I posted a link to the Foxearth Society website earlier in this thread as they have a collection of transcribed newscuttings from old Beccles newspapers which cover the 18th and 19th centuries. I revisited the site a couple of days ago as I was searching for info on something, and got rather distracted by a fairly new addition of newspaper transcriptions relating to Beccles during the years of WW2. They provide an absolutely fascinating glimpse into a Suffolk town in wartime - both in the preparations made in the months leading up to the declaration of war, the war itself and the aftermath. There are some incredible little snippets of news amongst these ..... preparations for evacuees should war come and the speed at which the country mobilised that evacuation within the first week of the war. There was notice of the old wine vaults in Hungate (now a restaurant) being converted into a air raid shelter, people being fined for being concienscious objectors or flouting blackout rukes. Notices about rationing .... etc. .. etc. There are also a few amusing bit and bobs ... like the market trader who was fined £35 for selling over priced hairpins and combs! If you have an hour or two to spare then it is quite interesting stuff! http://www.foxearth.org.uk/BecclesWartimeYears.html Carol

Crumbs .... I'd be climbing the walls without a computer! Hope that you get sorted soon. I know I said that I'd posted the last picture but this poor unfortunate pigeon was hanging about in the garden over the weekend. I mentioned before that our resident pair of wood pigeons were being very aggressive towards the magpies, this has now turmed to other pigeons too. I always thought that they were happy to flock together but it seems that they can get very territorial when they are nesting. I am guessing that they must have nestlings nearby as they really tore lumps out of this one ... the poor thing! He was determined to try and stay in the garden though but the others wouldn't leave him alone. I haven't seen him for a few days so I guess he must have got the message. I have also read that they will attack crows if, again, they are too near the nest as they are known to take pigeon chicks ... I guess that is why they have such issues with the magpies as they are just posh crows! On a cuter note - it was raining all day here yesterday (at last!) and the feeders were just swarming with birds throughout. Easier to get food here than try and find it naturally in the downpour. The poor things were so bedraggled but determined to feed. At one point it really did tip it down - the parents of a young blackbird who was being fed flew off leaving him behind. He decided to take shelter under the roof of the bird table and sat put in the food tray until it passed. Several of the tits who were on the feeders then made there way right up underneath the bird table to huddle together and try to keep dry. The bird table base is actually sheer laziness on our part... we had a massive conifer which had just got far too big for the small front garden and had to come down. We stripped all the branches off but there was no way that we could dig the stump out. I came up with the bright idea of leaving it about 5 ft high and building a bird table on top! It is actually rather good for the birds as they can scramble around on it and cling on to the remains of the old branches. The woodpecker clatters all round it practising his clinging on skills and looking for insects, the blackbirds can perch on it and reach the fatballs and the rest of the birds can sit on it queueing up for their turn on the fatballs and sunflower seeds! You can see about four tits here if you look closely, but I think there were 7 or 8 of them clustered under there. Sorry for the poor quality but it was raining quite heavily and taken on full zoom again. Carol

Lovely goldfinch pics colin - it is amazing just how different the young birds look before they get their adult feathers. Simon - we had a pair of goldfinches which were occasional visitors to the black sunflower seed feeder furthest away from the house during the spring. The youngster then started using the other feeder just outside the window, and then a pair of adults found it too. The niger seeds were bought because they just kept shovelling out all the black sunflower seeds looking for ones without husks. I have now bought sunflower hearts for them too, but they seem to like the niger. I have since read (don't know if it is correct) that niger seeds are a bit like marmite for goldfinches .... some absolutely love them, whilst others are just not interested. I'm sure that an SLR would be the best way to go .... unfortunatley just too expensive a route for us to think about at the moment. We are currently looking at the super zoom, bridge cameras with the Fuji HS10 being a possible at the moment. On another birdie note, I can confirm that we still have barn owls and tawny owls about as I have heard both calling over the last couple of weeks in the early hours of the morning. Having very inconsiderate, noisy neighbours does have some bonuses I guess when they keep you awake until 4am in the morning! We also have a family of hedgehogs nesting in the hedge about 10 feet away from our door. We have spotted an adult coming out a few times over the last week, and last night a baby (no more than two months old) scuttled down the path in front of our door .... bless! Unfortunately, I don't think I am likely to be able to get any photos of them. We think we have also heard foxes calling in the distance ... probably the same ones that wiped our neighbours chickens out a couple of months ago! Sorry ... this seems to be turning into a Springwatch/Summerwatch thread! I look forward to seeing the photographic results if you manage to get your feeders sorted out. Carol

Checking their online availability, Pacific Cruisers at Loddon also appear to have some boats still available during August (and a few this month) for those who want to avoid the crowds and explore the beautiful southern rivers. http://www.pacificcruisers.co.uk/ Carol

Unfortunately, I don't think it works like that. Much the same as with hiring boats ... you will probably pay more for two cottages that each sleep 6 people in than you will for one that sleeps 12. Carol

I don't know what time of year you are looking at Jonny, but as Julia says, you will not find riverside accomodation for 11 people cheaply I'm afraid! On thought is Hedera House which is about 50 yards from Thurne Mouth - they have a large farmhouse which sleeps up to 12 people or smaller villas and bungalows. The accomodation looks clean, but basic, so is likely to be around the cheapest you will find. Don't expect luxury though. Even so, Hedera House itself will cost between £575 to £1,045 per week depending on the time of year. Don't forget that pets are also likely to incur extra charges of around £25 each per week. http://www.hederahouse.co.uk/hedera-house click on the "terms" button for the prices. Carol

Try some of these: http://www.riverside-rentals.co.uk/ http://www.peninsulacottage.co.uk/ http://www.riverside-holidays.co.uk/ http://www.urwins.co.uk/ http://www.waveneyrivercentre.co.uk/holiday-accommodation.asp http://www.norfolk-broads.co.uk/ There are also lots of individual holiday cottages to rent too .. will post some more later when I get a spare moment. Carol

I'll make this the last one ... unless anything weird and wonderful turns up in the garden! The goldfinches have discovered the niger seeds and decided they like them.... so at least it wasn't a waste of money and hopefully they will stop shovelling sunflower seeds out of the other feeder now. They really are very beautiful birds. I just need that new camera now so that I can do them justice! Carol

Funnily enough, we have been looking at the Fuji Finepix HS10 to replace Kev's Finepix S5600. I have always had Fuji digital cameras (although mine have been at the cheaper P&S end) and have been pleased with the results they have given for the money. We don't want to go down the SLR route because of the expense of additional lenses so have decided that we want to stick with one of the bridge cameras. The features on the HS10 seem pretty damn good and the zoom range is incredible! The reviews I have read so far seem to be generally very good. The fact that it has a manual rather than digital zoom is something we definately like the sound of, plus it also has a manual focusing ring (as well as electronic) for fine tuning. If anyone does get the chance to try one out, I would be very interested to see some of the results and get some feedback on it. Carol

Shame about the racoons ... as for winning the photo competition, I don't think they had that many entries back in the pre-digital camera days! If they are still running it, then you have some definate contenders here .... go for it! I've also just remembered - when I left school I had a summer job working in one of the souvenir shops at Banham which entitled me to free entry to the zoo to have a wander round whenever I wanted. They have developed the site rather a lot since then! Kilverstone zoo was also just up the road from us and was another great place for taking photos but sadly, that closed down a good few years ago. Carol

It's a collared dove Julia, not a wood pigeon. Very pretty birds! Lovely pics Simon! We used to go over to Banham Zoo quite regularly at one time (even had a season ticket one year) but I have to admit that we haven't visited for years! It always used to be a great place for taking photos. Kev and I even won a prize in their annual photo competition during the 1980s! I especially love the prairie dogs - I used to spend ages watching them over there as they are so entertaining .... and so cute! The racoon was my favourite animal over there to photograph (and the one that won me a prize) but I don't think they had any left the last time we went? Carol

Many thanks Perry and Suzanne! I've learnt so much more about them this year by getting such a close view. We installed the second feeding station in the front garden during the winter and, as mentioned before, it is only about 8ft away from the kitchen window. I've also got the advantage this year that we are doing some major overhauling of the front garden - the large flower bed where the feeder and bird bath are is currently empty as we needed to remove everything to try and get rid of the bindweed which had taken over. It's meant that plenty of birds have been hopping around in it picking up all the scraps dropped from the feeders! The bird bath and other water dishes have proved to be a massive draw for all sorts of birds during this hot weather - both for drinking and bathing - and this has given some great photo opportunities and huge entertainment! I guess it must be very difficult for them to find sources of water when it has been so dry, so if you stick out food for the birds, then try and put some water out for them too ... any old dish will do! I scrubbed out all the dishes today and no sooner had I filled them up again and stepped indoors when the hoards descended! I'm sure they must sit out there watching what I do and all rushed to get to the cool, clean water!! First in was Mr Blackbird who was being closely watched by one of our young house sparrows. It became evident that the blackbird was having another bad hair (feather) day! There are two young house sparrows (a male and a female I think) who seem to do everything together ... presumably they were nestlings. They fly to the feeders together and they fly to the bird bath together. They also like to have a good dust bath and, as the flower bed is empty and dry, it provides them with the ideal place! This is the young male - at least it looks as though it is beginning to get male markings as his adult feathers develop. One of the young bluetits searching for a nut that it can pull out! Compared to our lumbering great wood pigeons, the collared doves are very elegant. Carol

We don't have squirrels this far up the lane ... they are determined little dears aren't they? It is obviously bath night .... everything has been queueing up for a wash and brush up. I have finally got some proper blackbird jacuzzi pics! Firstly, Mrs Blackbird takes a dip .... Then Mr Balckbird uses the bathwater after her ... he really does go for it and is rather blurry, but it does give you an idea of exactly how comical he is in a small bowl! But not quite as comical as when he's finished!! Presumably plus-fours are back in fashion! Then it was time for the local tit population to take a dip. This is a rather bedraggled coal tit ...... One in ... all in! Two great tits in the bath whilst a couple of blue tits have a shower. I am starting to get worried ..... I have been looking at new cameras! Carol

I've never seen a yellow wagtail, so looked it up in one of our books. Very pretty! It says that they are often found around marshes ... I'm guessing that there must be one or two marshes near to you! It's been bird wars in the garden today. The blackbirds are squabbling, the magpies and jackdaw have been chasing the woodpecker off but the biggest fights have been between the wood pigeons and the magpies. The wood pigeons hate them !!! Especially the female who really does go for them in a big way. My climbing rose seems to have come out worse from it all having lost most of it's petals. Even the bluetits have been arguing over the feeders .... I'm obviously not the only one being made grumpy by the hot weather! The jackdaw meanwhile has learnt a new trick. I have just watched him lift the fatball feeder up over the hook and drop it on the ground. It's a fairly substantial hook too, not just a case of pushing it off, he had to lift it a good inch to get it over. I shall be wiring it on later !! Carol

And before anyone mentions it ... yes ... the grass does need cutting! Not my department though!! Carol

Some lovely pics too Simon - thanks for posting them. It sounds as though you have a fairly wide selection of species visiting - I love long tailed tits! We also had a troupe of around 20 of them which used to come through two or three times a day to feed on the fatballs during the bad weather. It was wonderful to see them clustered like little fruits, 6 or 8 to a feeder at a time. A pair did hang around during the early spring and I thought they might nest nearby, but sadly I haven't seen them for a couple of months now. We have had Jays in the lane on and off over the years, a young one did drop in a few weeks back to feed on the bits of dropped fatball on the ground, but I haven't seen him again. There was a sparrowhawk in the lane a few years back too as a neighbour saw it swoop down and take one of another neighbours doves. We have had a few unusual things ... a brambling this year in the garden and we saw a redwing about 50 yards down from us last year. Probably the rarest visitor was a great grey shrike which was sitting in the hedge opposite the house .... this was once only and about 15 years ago! I know we have little owls (seen them in the past and found a pellet the other day), tawny owls (a male sat calling to his mate on top of our chimney one night!) and barn owls (I think I have related the tale of the night one attacked me as I walked up the lane). We don't get any wagtails here - go in to the local town and pied wagtails are in abundance! In theory there is no reason why we shouldn't get siskins here, but we've never seen one ... perhaps the niger seeds will attract them! But we have hoards of blue and great tits, a few coal tits, masses of greenfinches and chaffinches, starlings, robins, song thrush, yellowhammers, hedge and house sparrows and dunnocks and we have four magpies at the moment. The parents had three babies last year and seem to have two this year. I have been trying to get a photo for ages but they are extremely camera shy. I finally managed to today!! I think this is one of the youngsters .... This is a different member of the family which I took earlier today .... not brilliant because he wouldn't stay still! And this is one of the greenfinches who was sunbathing by the pool this afternoon..... Carol

The racing pigeon reminds me of an incident when I was a child. We had a racing pigeon in the garden for a couple of weeks .... the news had been full at the time of one of the Queen's racing pigeons having gone missing and my mum was convinced that we had the queen's pigeon in the garden! I buy gourmet seed, ordinary wild bird seed and sunflower seeds in 20kg and 25kg sacks because it was just getting so expensive to buy smaller quantities. The saving per kg by buying in bulk is incredible. I am going to switch over to sunflower hearts before the winter, but having only recently bought a new sack of the husked variety, they need to eat those first! I get fed up with having to pull out sunflower seedlings from beneath the feeders and scraping up the huge mounds of discarded husk,s so it will create a lot less mess. Mind you, the bird seed has thrown up sone interesting plants over the years too. A few years ago something started growing which had amazing looking leaves ... quite tropical in appearance. I decided to leave it to grow as it looked quite good in with the bamboo we had there at the time. It got to about three feet high. I was looking through my RHS book on herbs one day and suddenly spotted a picture of it .... it was a hemp plant! I went straight out and ripped it up as I didn't want to get nicked for growing illegal substances!! It was a shame because it looked so pretty ... I can see why the Victorians used to grow it as an ornamental plant. I now recognise the seedlings as they are coming up and pull them out quickly !! Carol

OOOh ... they keep me amused for hours .... when I am supposed to be getting some work done! You can see now why I am getting though an average of 6 fatballs a day and am having to buy all seeds by the sack rather than the bag now!! The best thing has been seeing all the fledglings being brought to the garden - firstly perching on the top of the feeders, fluttering their wings and cheeping whilst mum or dad feeds them, then they finally take the plunge and learn to cling on to them themselves. The baby bluetits have been adorable! Well ... they are all adorable but the little bluetits are so cute! The good thing we have noticed this year is that the local sparrow population, which has been in severe decline for the last few years, has definately increased. The woodpecker is a first this year but is possibly to do with the fact that we had to cut two large trees down from the garden which has opened it all up now. Newest visitor to the garden is a red legged partridge which has been turning up with our local male pheasant ...... I am expecting to see some interesting hybrid babies soon! The photos are all taken from the kitchen window and are mostly on maximum zoom - one feeder is about 8ft away from the house and the other (that the woodpecker and jackdaw are on) is about 20ft away. Carol

We have had Jackdaws round here for a few years ..... during the winter there were 6 of them coming to feed! I hadn't seen them around for a month or so, but this fella has been visiting again over the last few days. Hmmmmm .... I like the look of those ... but can I get to them? Maybe if I try from this end ..... Result!! This made me smile .... it's a case of little and large! One of our resident wood pigeons and two young sparrows. Carol

I think he might have been trying for a Nigel Kennedy look! Carol

Hi Simon If you have an hour (or two!) to spare at any point then please do go through the postcards on BM ... feel free to take copies of any of those to try doing Then & Nows with. Plenty to chose from amongst that lot! http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/page67.html Carol

One of the birdie visitors I am most proud of is the juvenile Greater Spotted Woodpecker which has been coming to the garden for just over a week now. His/her mother was around for a while a month or so ago and one of her offspring has discovered fatballs! Beats hammering your head against a tree I suppose! It's out there feeding again as I write this, but the photo was taken earlier today. The young birds apparently have red heads .... adult females have black heads and the males end up with a red patch on the back of their necks. This was taken a couple of weeks ago and features two young bluetits and a young goldfinch which didn't have the characteristic head markings and colourings. When they fledge they are speckly brown all over with just the wing and tail markings to show what they actually are. (The bird flying away is an adult great tit). This may be the same goldfinch - we have two that now come and feed. I have just splashed out on some niger seeds and a feeder for them as they are supposed to love them! I also had to buy some sunflower hearts as I found the little B's were just shovelling out a whole feeders worth of the normal black seeds looking for ones without their husks! The other bird is a young sparrow and the pair of them sat there like this for about 15 minutes just staring at one another. Carol

I thought I'd post a few pics of some of the birds which have been visiting the feeders in our garden recently ... they are not great quality as they were not taken using anything expensive. I just pinched Kev's Finepix s5600. We have been feeding the birds constantly through the winter and spring and are stunned at the amount of different species we have had. We live on the very edge of farmland, with wooded areas nearby, which I guess helps! The species count for this year alone currently stands at 28 which includes the swifts which fly through the garden and the Little Owl pellet which we found beside the oil tank at the weekend! The remaining 26 have all visited the feeders of garden itself to feed on natural food sources. During the harsh part of the winter we must have been feeding between 200-300 birds ..... it has cost (and is still costing) me an absolute fortune on bird food, but it's great to think we are helping to increase the local wild bird population. Many of the birds who were feeding during the winter have hung around, paired up and had broods of their own. Whilst the babies were still in the nest we would regularly see the parents fly off with beak-fulls of grub for the babies ..... once they fledged, they were all brought to the feeders and shown where to get food! The amount of bluetit and great tit fledglings we have had is staggering - sometimes around 30 of them on the feeders at any one time! This is one of our adult male blackbirds taking a bath. He has successfully raised one brood and, by the looks of things, is now feeding a second batch. We have several water dishes - one on the ground is a small metal bowl which is supposed to be for the cats, but at least one of the local blackbirds likes to use it for a bath even though it barely fits in it! I know when it's out there as I can hear the clatter, clatter of wings and beak on the sides of the bowl. I haven't managed to grab a photo of that yet, but this is taken in the main bird bath. And another ... he looked extremely bedraggled by the time he had finished! This is a young female, I think. This was the male a couple of weeks ago feeding one of his fledglings. Despite the fact it looks like a sock puppet in my photo, this is he again! Carol

Many thanks - glad that you are finding them of interest. I really find it such a fascinating thing to do, and Google streetview has proved to be a superb tool for actually finding the locations before geting there! One more for now ... this is Loddon High Street at the junction with Bridge Street and George Lane. The view is looking down towards the Kings head (on the right) and Lims fish & chip shop and the Happy Buddah takeaway (highly recommended btw). The old postcard dates from around 1910. Carol

Kev and I managed to get around 15 or 16 Then & Nows done on our recently holiday ... I have only just started to work on them, but thought I'd post a few on this thread. The first illustrates just how difficult it can be to get evrything right! This is Ballygate in Beccles .... firstly Kev wasn't quite close enough and secondly, he wasn't able to take it at a wide enough angle with his digital camera so the church is too tall in relation to the buildings in the foreground. It was also extremely difficult to do on a Saturday lunchtime on what is now a very busy road! I think we need to go back with one of our old 35mm cameras and a wide angles lens and try it again. However, it does show that this part of the town has changed very little since 1907 when the top image was taken. Staying in Beccles - this was a slightly better effort (although still needs to be taken with a wider angle lens) and shows Exchange Square. Many of the older building remain, but the rather obvious difference (apart from the traffic!) is that the large shop in the middle of the photograph has now gone. presumably this was demolished to widen the road? The earlier postcard dates from around 1909. And another from Beccles ... this is Puddingmoor. The postcard also dates from 1909 and you can see that there is currently building work going on in the latest photo, which means that we will have to go back and retake this once it is completed. The row of old terraced houses in the foreground on the right have been demolished and new housing is presumably being built in their place. The buildings beyond still remain, as does the little cottage on the left. In the old postcard you can see a house up on the hill ... this is still there but is now obscured by trees. And finally, one for Dan! This is Thorpe St Andrew, looking across the river to the old Hearts boatyard. I think that the postcard dates from the early 1960s - if I had pulled Swift just a little further forward it would have looked very close to the original image! Carol