Thursday, March 25, 2010

Nature Notes

I heard my first hoopoe today. I haven't heard a cuckoo yet but they won't be far behind! Spring is here... The birds are nesting...
And some rather interesting eggs have been observed. This first one came back from Edinburgh with us. Note the distinctive purple and yellow markings.
The birds which lay them seem to have developed a form of colourful, protective packaging.
More followed - these birds are clearly prolific breeders.Here are the eggs of a bird which hangs them from trees, rather than in the more traditional nest. Decorative, but perhaps rather less safe than the protective packaging. Maybe that's because these birds lay soft, cloth eggs, in charming patterned fabrics?
This delightful item, found with eggs in a nest, may come from a similar, as yet unknown, bird.Once again, we find some protective packaging.Inside, the mother bird has carefully wrapped her eggs in green tisue paper before depositing them in the safety of the package. Observe the similarity to the first eggs - the same purple and yellow, but with different markings. We can assume that these birds are from the same family as those who laid the first.Once again the purple and yellow, but this time much smaller eggs, laid in a different sort of protection. It may be that the parent birds lay so many knowing that most will be eaten by predators and only a few will survive...Meanwhile, in the undergrowth, rabbits are also celebrating the coming of spring.OK, that's enough David Attenborough. I challenge any bird to lay the protective packaging below!I need to tell you where these lovely gifts have come from. The bird, nests and realistic eggs came from Ele at A Bit of Heaven, and were part of her wonderful Sweet Tweet Swap last year. The first Creme Eggs were bought by me as an Easter treat for us ex-pat Brits languishing in the Cadbury-free zone that is the south of France. Someone else then had the same idea and brought more Creme Eggs for the boys when they came to visit our friends! Sweet of them. And then Vintage Vicki and I did a little mini swap, after various chats about chocolate... I sent her some traditional French Easter chocolates, which are wonderfully different to British ones, and she sent me the Cadbury's goodies we craved, AND MORE! Thanks so much Vicki - that was a great swap and I love your crafted gifts. I shall be hanging up the fabric eggs indoors soon.So we say goodbye to the distinctive purple and yellow eggs, leaving them in the safety of their nest.

There they will remain until Easter Day...

21 comments:

Michela said...

Gosh, I wish the birds in my garden would lay such yummy eggs!
What lovely things you swapped with Vicky! I noticed that French chocs are the same which are sold in Italy at Easter time!

P.S.Thank you for your message about my "geyser"..everything was sorted out on the same day thanks to my dad and uncle's DIY skills..

Kissed by an Angel said...

What fabulous wildlife you have!!! The purple and yellow eggs look really interesting!!! Lovely swaps too!!!
xxxx

VintageVicki said...

I love this post - what a brilliant idea :)

I loved doing the swap - just got to keep boys away from chocs till Easter!

A Bun Can Dance said...

Hmmm, I am very envious of your visits from the Cadbury bird :-)
I am finding the arrival of Spring and the approach of Easter just too exciting for words - I may start to dance around very soon!!
Happy days to you
Denise x

Sherri B. said...

We must have the same breed of bird here in the U.S. as they are seen around our house too. I haven't seen any this year yet but I am looking for them to arrive next week....Cute post Floss.

Unknown said...

You are killing me! I went for a longer run this morning and I am now on a chocolate hunt. Boo! I'm so glad there is none in the house. That's the last thing I need to eat. :)

But, Cadbury eggs are so yummy. I've actually never tried the caramel ones. Maybe I should?

Lola Nova said...

He he, very clever post, brought a big smile to my face. I will be on the look out for similar unusual birds. I can't believe how fast time is flying! I don't know that I will get to my fabric eggs this year but, we shall see.
Have a lovely day.

Elderberry-Rob said...

Fantastic post I really enjoyed it, thanks. brought a smile on a rainy day at work. xxx

Olga said...

Oh, my - I can't believe it is already so green there... here we are just starting to have first buds and spring flowers... I wish I could enjoy spring more but my leg is messing everything up :(

Thanks for linking me to Concha!
I hope you are having good Easter preparations.

Sarah - Red Gingham said...

You are hysterical Floss!! Love those birds eggs, hope those birds migrate over here. Personally I'm hoping for some Queen Anne Marshmellow eggs. They go really quickly so I must hunt them out this week. I'd be very impressed if you manage to save all those precious eggs until Easter!

maryannlucy said...

This post made me laugh, what a great way to do it. Any chance you could send that bird over to us ;-)

Rebecca S. said...

Lots of fun! The Cadbury eggs show up in the shops here just in time for Lent, when many of us just have to look and drool! But then, they are all the more sweet at Easter, just like everything else in life. Looking forward to your upcoming blog project starting Palm Sunday.

Lululiz said...

Just look at all those fabulous birds nests, with such a fabulous collection of eggs.

I had never seen a hoopoe until we bought our cottage in France. They are such interesting birds and we always look out for them when we are out walking. I'll have to listen out for the cuckoo as well, there is usually one in the woods across the little valley from us.

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Love those nests - hope the birds don't lay those eggs around here. To much of a temptation - I need to lose, not gain. :)

Unknown said...

You have some very interesting wil life Floss! I want to find those eggs in my garden! tee hee. What a lovely springy post! suzie xxx

Unknown said...

that was wild life! x

silverpebble said...

Floss I am seriously excited about you hearing a hoopoe. Mr P and I saw and heard them in Tuscany, where we got engaged. They have a special significance for us and it's wonderful to think of them living near you. I'm excited about the chocolate eggs too, of course x

The Curious Cat said...

You are funny! Love the way you introduced this! I love cadbury's cream eggs! And mini eggs! Tis a shame you can't get them in the South of France but thank goodness for kind friends! xxx

BadPenny said...

Oh Floss - I'm having a good giggle here in between sneezing

kirsty said...

You made me smile too... and you made me hungry! Happy weekend x

Luisa said...

Well, I wish the birdies in Australia would get their act together, cause they just lay boring normal ones! Maybe we need to start looking in joey's pouches!
You'll be happy to know too, that in Australia at least, Cadbury chocolate(we make the stuff right here in Hobart), is going to be using fair trade cocoa by this Easter! Yeah!
you can read more about it here:
http://www.fta.org.au/cadbury-announcement
x