BIRD FORMATION OVER BIZE .wmv

This was an amazing site which happens, I believe, at this time of the year all over Europe. We do'nt remember having seen it before, well certainly not in numbers like we did yesterday. The spectacle lasted for most of the morning and afternoon. Today is cloudy and the only birds we can see today are sparrows and my sickly chickens.

A few months ago the chickens started to lose feathers and we just thought they were moulting, but things have got steadily worse and now a couple of them have nasty sores which the others are pecking. I have moved the worst affected to a little cupboard I have on the terrace and things have quietened down. They are eating just the same and dont appear to be ill apart from the fact they looked plucked and ready for the oven!. We are still getting eggs although not as many. Everybody thinks they should be out in the garden all day but there is always so much cleaning up to do when they have finished scraping the earth and sh*****g all over the place. So we have decided to enlarge their enclosure yet again and in the meantime until the fencing arrives I will just have to put up with the mess.

The choir has resumed after the Christmas break and we have some new members. There will be a concert in April so we are learning some new pieces. An update on that will follow before long.

Temperatures have gone from below 0 to 15 degrees and we sat outside yesterday evening with a glass or two of red. My copy of the new Somak Africa holiday brochure arrived last week but I havent dared open it yet. I am trying to convince D that he should risk another trip, so will it be us in 2011 or will it be me in 2011/12???? Who knows - c'est la vie..................