The search for LSW

 Not been out for ages😢 the usual combo of bad weather, work and feeling ill,  curtailing any birding trips, however a window of opportunity, reasonable weather Saturday morning with showers moving up from the South about  10 Am. So up early and head North!! I decided to have a go for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers (LSW), difficult to find but I know a couple of spots to try!!! Checking my records, yes I keep records, 😢sad I know😂I was amazed to find I haven't seen a LSW since 2019, mainly due to laziness to be honest!! The problem is the sites I know are quite far from home, difficult to park at and there isn't much else about and what there is, is hard to get pics of!! 😂 I arrived on site, (will not be giving out the location as the person who told me about them many years ago asked me not to! So don't ask!) just about finding a parking space in the mud, at a creditable 7.15am walked up the hill, could hear plenty of Siskins, a few Chaffinches and a lot of Nuthatches calling. After about 20 mins I heard the drumming of a LSW, hurrah, trouble is it was very distant, most of the area is fenced off and the LSW was the wrong side of the fence, gradually the bird came a bit closer, but was still high in the trees but I eventually got eyes on, pics were at a premium, the bird was high in the trees and behind a screen of small twigs and branches!! Bugger!! I done me best all manual focus and at distance and don't start me off on the sun!! Grrrrrr!! 

LSW

I wandered around the area, could hear lots but saw little, according to Merlin as well as Siskins and Chaffinch, there were Lesser Redpolls which I didn't hear, Marsh Tit which I did hear and Grey Wagtail which I also didn't clock!! None of em posed, in fact nothing did!! I'm pretty sure I had a Crossbill flyover calling and it was nice to see a Siskin display flight!! 

TBF this Robin did look quite nice!

Stonechat one of a pair in an open area, the saying goes when looking for Dartford Warblers find a Stonechat, I did, couldn't find a Dartford 😢😁

Stonechat

I could hear the LSW drumming again so headed back into the wooded area, once again it showed ok through the bins, though once again getting pics was a nightmare!!

LSW

 The LSW had a couple of drumming sessions both about 5 mins long, on and off and I thought I heard another bird calling distantly, but can't be sure. Interestingly only heard a couple of brief burst of Great Spot drumming, Nuthatches were singing well but surprisingly didn't see any, told you the area is hard work, give me a open marshland or heathland  every time, bloody trees!!😃😃😃😃

After a couple of hours, with a long drive ahead, I decided to head home, about halfway back, I made the spur of the moment decision to stop off at Weirwood in the hope of adding Mandarin to the year list, I know pretty sad!!😂 What was even sadder, I couldn't find one!!😢 Did see a Kingfisher, though another bird that wouldn't come out of the bushes and was miles away!! A few Great Crested Grebes cruising the lake and a lot of Cormorant and Heron activity. The feeders were quite busy with Coal, Long-tailed and a Marsh Tit in with large numbers of Blue and Great Tits! 

Great Crested Grebe

Breeding plumage

Non-breeding plumage

Kingfisher was sat in this area the whole time

Long-tailed Tit

Cormorant

Coal Tit

Marsh Tit a bird today that actually showed ok, whoop!! 

On cue the rain started so headed home! A successful mission, birding in woodland is my least favourite kind of birding, looking up the whole time hurts my neck and the views are normally atrocious although at least there are no leaves at the moment.😏  Still the posy Marsh Tit was nice and the LSW is a quality bird, looked forward to the next visit in 5 years!!!😁 Roll on the Seawatching season!!!!!😂

Frogs and Fruitcake

 No birding again this week😢 due to a combo of rain, illness and laziness, the garden has provided some interest. Our new Pond has been getting a lot of Frog action, we think there are at least 3 maybe 4 frequenting it, they have produced at least one large lump of Spawn so far!! Not sure how successful this will prove to be as the Pond being new not sure how much food they will find in it!! We added the first new plants today, there was already Hornwart from the old pond, but now we have Common Rush, Flag Iris and Great Spearwort as well!

Bit of a mud bath still but hopefully will start to grow around soon!

Common Rush, Flag Iris and Great Spearwort all native plants, be expecting Bitterns and Corncrakes once they grow up a bit 😂😏

These plants are in the shallower parts of the pond, there are three levels so we need to get some for the next level and maybe some sort of lily for the deep part! The Frogs are pretty jumpy bit hard to get pics but seems the two below were a bit distracted!!

Phone pic showing the size difference between the male and female, yes I'm assuming their Gender and Sexual Orientation😲 Just going by the amount of Spawn!😂 

Plenty of other signs of spring apart from the rampant frog sex 😂 Both the Hawthorn and Bird Cherry are showing signs of budding and lots of Crocus and Snowdrops. The Snowdrops are nearly finished!!

Hawthorn

Snowdrops

Bird Cherry

Lots of bird action as well, with the Starlings and Sparrows more active, Goldfinch still on the feeders, Blue Tits singing and a Wren very active in and out of the Jasmine and Honeysuckle at the back!!

Wren

Tricky to get pics of, these through the window!

So lots of interest, hopefully the pond will develop quickly, we are optimistic that  the Water Mint which had colonised the surrounds of the old pond will reappear and likewise the Marsh Marigold. The lawn/meadow is a mud pit at the moment especially around the pond, so not sure what we are going to get, hopefully the Snakehead Fritillary I put in will appear in a couple of weeks!

Out of the Garden into the Kitchen, I produced a pretty good Gluten Free fruit cake yesterday, using Cassava Flour, Tiger Nut Flour and Tapioca Starch which came out very well! The flour mountain my daughter bought me for Christmas is finally starting to shrink, though not sure what I'm going to do with the Green Banana Flour!!😂  I've a packet and a half of M&S Gluten Free Hot Cross Buns left, they aren't great to be honest, pretty stodgy, so going to turn them into a Bread and Butter pudding in a minute!! 

Hoping the weather relents around my work schedule and I will get some birding in soon!!!!!!!

GF Chelsea Buns!!

 Now as my both my regular readers will recall, I'm partial to a Cake and/or a Bun.😂 Since turning Gluten Free for the sake of my bowels and dignity😂😱, I have been attempting to create bakes to replace those I'm now missing!! I have been quite successful with Chocolate Brownies, Chocolate Fridge Cake and various flavours of Victoria Sponge that have been on a par if not better than those  made with wheat and both my Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding were virtually indistinguishable from those made in previous years!!! Not just my opinion😂!! However bread and buns are a different kettle of fish, the commercial versions are pretty poor, although M&S Gluten Free, Tiger Rolls and Spiced Buns are nice they are both much heavier than the real thing!! Chelsea Buns have always been a favourite of mine and I made some delicious ones back in 2021 BGF (before gluten free) !! See the link

Glutenated Buns  

Traditional Chelsea Buns, look good don't they!! They were delicious!!

So the question is, can I get close with a Gluten Free recipe, to be honest I'm not confident!!

I found a recipe online, see the link!

GF Chelsea Bun Recipe

It looked a lot of Phaff!! But with a poor weather forecast for Saturday morning, I decided to give it ago!! Couple of issues, despite my Daughter buying  me a load of different flours for Christmas, they were all different to the ones required😏!! Reluctant to buy even more, I made a few substitutions, bit risky but hey ho! The recipe suggested various different dried fruits, but I'm old school and went Sultanas and Raisons, these were to be pre-soaked overnight, the recipe suggested Orange Juice but I'm hardcore and went Brandy😂😲 I know recipes, who needs em!!😁

Organic Raisons and Sultanas, heavy on the Sultanas

Selection of the Flours I will be using!

At this point I discovered the Yeast I had in the cupboard was Best Before End 2021!!😂😱Oops!! However the warm water and sugar worked and it was soon bubbling nicely!!

Three large Eggs

Psyllium Husk!! 

Mix together husk and eggs!

Milk & Butter

Carnage!!!!

 Well bubbly yeast

Melted milk and butter

The flour mix

All mixed together

Beat a bit

and we have dough, told you it was a Phaff!!

Bung it somewhere warm

Doubled in size!!

This recipe makes sixteen buns, so you split the dough in half make one lot of Buns for the oven and one lot for the freezer, so two lots for one lot of phaff so not to bad!

The brandified fruit is now covered in sugar and mixed spice! Luckily I didn't eat too much of the mix!

Despite being a bit sticky the dough comes together quite well

Rolled out!

Cover in melted Butter then put fruit on!

Roll it up!

In the baking dish

Back in the airing cupboard

While it's proving, repeat for the freezer

Just about doubled in size

looking ok!

So the verdict!! Eaten warm they were very tasty, surprisingly light and even a but fluffy, a tad rubbery but far better than any GF versions I've had from the shops!! What they will be like cold?  We will find out later!!😂A success but not in the same league as the original version, but at least I won't have to run to the bog half n hour after eating them 😁😁💩!! In reality I wasn't expecting them to be, but they were a lot better than I expected! Worth the phaff? Yeah just about and possibly would have been even better had I followed the recipe's flour selection!!!!😂