Guinea Fowl Big Ups

For a fairly small bird which has a strange resemblance to an upturned rugby ball, guinea fowl are the noisiest animals you are likely to run into on a country walk.
For those lucky enough NOT to be privy to their machine gun like warning calls here is a short example of just how devastating their lung power can be!

Our neighbours are very sweet as they never complain when all four birds burst into "song" as it were but I know that when Alf,(above) Hughie and little Ivy get going, I am sure that there are some evil thoughts of murder circulating through various Trelawnyd residents' minds...............
Angostura ( the white "rescue guinea hen) keeps to herself with the older hens in their hen house and does not take up roosting positions with the other birds in the Church Yard trees at night...so at least the volume of the small group is diminished by 25% when they start their daily screaming at the odd unfortunate cat, buzzard and more importantly fox.
Angostura ( so named because her owner described her as being somewhat "bitter with life") will hopefully become a mate for Alf , once she realises that she is indeed a guinea fowl....but in the meantime he follows Hughie and his mate Ivy around like a love suck puppy, ever hopeful for a quick shag in the long grass.

This morning, as on every morning the three outdoor guineas were sitting on the Church wall, waiting for me to feed them.. They have become synonymous with the Graveyard , which they watch over as diligently as sentries of a castle....and I would like to think that they add some more character to a place already steeped in character and history

Caught with my pants (off)

After five hours of lugging wheelbarrows of stones from one side of the field to another, I was left tired and incredibly dirty.
I have been tipping the scree from behind the Church wall into the pig enclosure, by the gate to provide the girls with a mud free platform upon which they can be fed and checked over.
And although the work has been back breaking, it feels rather satisfying to have completed a large and necessary job.
When I got back to the cottage, I peeled off my filthy work pants, socks and underpants and put them into the washing machine, and dressed rather bizarrely in just my "Poseidon Adventure" T shirt, I made myself a cup of coffee!
Now why have I told you this small nugget of personal information, I hear you ask? well, it is only "interesting" as I hadn't noticed two Scottish Electricity workmen standing at the back door window waiting to tell me that they were about to work on our power supply cables!
I don't know who was more embarrassed, them or me!!.......as I dragged the dog blanket out of the basket to hide my modesty, I babbled that I was cleaning my dirty pants and that's why I was nearly naked......The two middle aged workmen were not impressed! (by anything!!!!!!!!!!!! erhmmmm!

The guinea fowl survived another night,even though I did catch Alf walking around the churchyard under the glare of the street light from the lane at 9.30 PM!!! I chased him up into the elms and he too made it safely to morning.
Above Alf with Hughie with the small shy Ivy hiding behind!
Ok enough of fowl...we are finally off to see Up in the Air later!

Life IS a movie

Bel-Ami was right when he likened the struggle for life here on my little field as something from a Lillian Gish movie.........ok my animals have not bounced across an ice covered river in their stocking feet, but the last few days have been rather dramatic for a few of the more junior members of the animal population, that is to be sure.

This morning, I walked out into the sunshine with a heavy heart as not one of the guinea fowl could be seen waiting by the hen houses for their morning's ration of corn. I fed and watered the pigs and then called out in the churchyard for Hughie and there was still nothing!

So I as I started to open the first of the hen houses, Rogo the cockerel inside let rip with a lusty crow, and suddenly I heard a familiar chatter from the field wall and there stood Hughie, calling out excitedly with the two surviving junior guinea fowl (who I have now named Ivy and Alf -after my great uncle and Aunt) in tow behind him.

It was just like the end of Lassie come Home!,and all that was needed to complete the scene was some soaring violin strings and a box of Kleenex.

Mr Bel Ami, you ARE right sometimes......"life IS a movie"

ps All guinea fowl are safely up in the tree this evening! (jazz hands!!!!)

Guinea pigs

The guinea fowl are now free in the field, and have quickly developed from hysterical, pain-in-the arse missiles to complex little characters with a charm and humour all of their own.

When they are let free of their ramshackle rabbit hutch in the morning, with a joyous excitement they burst forth to fly the length and breadth of the field, then quite suddenly realise that they have all been separated, and in noisy panic gallop in from all four corners to meet up again.

They also seem to have incredible appetites, and have deftly stolen feed from the turkeys, ducks and the slower hens. Only the more robust hybrid hens, have kept the six gluttons at bay.

Being free, has strangely calmed them down somewhat, and I have managed to get quite close to them in order to feed and water them all.......amazing what food does for a nervous disposition.

I am getting quite fond of this little group of despots

Animal Update

Dogs can be mischievous. of this I am certain! Years ago I was always delighted in the way that Finlay, our first Welsh terrier would playfully kick at old Joan the cat as he passed her and today I witnessed William amusing himself in a similar way with a chap delivering flyers.
The dogs sit on the window seat of the upstairs bedroom in between walks, and from their advantage point can see all the activity on the lane.
As the delivery chap ambled into view, I watched William bounce off his seat and trot quickly down the stairs. He jumped onto the couch, peeped through the window, then silently went to the door with his nose pressed against the letterbox, tail wagging frantically.
Seconds later the stiff letter box opened and the flyer and a set of fingers poked through. Without a bark, William sat up and playfully grasped a digit, and through the small glass window in the door, the effect on the man was immediate and hysterical, as he literally bounced back into the air snatching his hand away from the letterbox with a muffled shriek!
Obviously happy at this violent reaction William then galloped around in a tight circle, beaming in pleasure! It was a lovely moment to watch
Anyhow, my cold is coming to a head today, and I have been literally streaming! I would have loved to have stayed in bed with a good book, but the sun has been shining so I have cleaned out 4 hen houses, delivered eggs and sweetcorn around the village, disinfected the chick cages out in the shed and weeded the entire front garden before washing windows, doing housework and clearing the paths and weeds from the lane. As snotty as I am it has been lovely to be outside

Albert watching the gardening

The turkey chicks are now over a month old, and like William are becoming playful and full of themselves. They are simply quite delightful! For the longest time I opened their cage and waited for them to amble slowly over in their slightly depressive way to sit on my lap, and the five of them played quite happily pecking at my fingers and jumper! Seeing me fawning over these quirky little birds, made the passing postman shake his head in pity!

The guinea fowl chicks couldn't be more different from the turkey poults. Nervous and hyperactive, as soon as they sense danger they burst out of their standing positions like popcorn out of a pan! and within a fraction of a second the air is filled with tiny, fluffy bodies bouncing off the walls with scary abandon! Gawd help me when they get bigger
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Hughie the gay guinea fowl

This afternoon has been set aside in order to dismantle more of the collapsed Church wall. The piles of rubble ( one face stones the other smaller stones and scree) have been steadily growing all week, and today the hens accompanied by the ubiquitous Hughie have taken over the mounds in search of insects and bugs.
Hughie is such a sweet little chap. Unlike any of the hens, who are pretty peripatetic in their liaisons and behaviour, Hughie is constantly in need to be a only one step behind his hero Rogo.
Wherever the big red cockerel goes the funny little bird with a big voice and a somewhat bemused and shocked expression is surely only inches away, and their "friendship" has been the subject of much comment and amusement by visitors to the Churchyard. "I have never seen a gay bird before", one old chap commented cheerfully as the pair trotted past ...........try going to a Joan Armatrading concert I felt like saying
The guinea fowl is still incredibly nervous of strangers, and if anyone new arrives within 100 yards his machine gun call echoes time and time again around what seems like the whole village.....I have been winning him over ever-so-slowly with handfuls of corn and the odd piece of bread, but he as yet, only allows me to come within six feet or so before legging it behind his hero Rogo
Tonight I called up to give my sister in law, Jayne her birthday gifts Happy Birthday!!!!...... I left Chris complaining about the curry I cooked for him for tea! (I had put vegetables in it!.....unforgivable!!!)

Walt Disney films

Apologies for the poor quality photo but the light had suddenly changed to a gloomy, rain soaked dusk. If you look carefully you can just make out Hughie the Guinea fowl and Rogo the cockerel sharing a crust of bread.

Now I do make an effort NOT to be anthropomorphic when I describe my animals' antics but in the case of Hughie and Rogo's relationship it is pretty hard not to. At the crack of dawn,, as soon as Rogo appeared from his ark, there was a loud chatter from the trees and Hughie floated down to crash land on the grass, within seconds he had galloped over to Rogo and fell in line behind the cockerel as he walked to the duck bath for a drink.

All day the little fella has shadowed his hero, and has not left his side even for a minute.They have fed together, watered together and have sat in the shelter of the stone wall together, Hughie's devotion to another species of bird is interesting, amusing and I must say in a Walt Disney way, strangely moving.

I wrapped up well against the rain at dusk, to watch what would happen to the guinea fowl after Rogo led his 5 hens to roost in his ark, and it was rather heartbreaking to see Hughie literally panic hysterically when the cockerel finally disappeared.

I left Rogo's coop open in the hope that Hughie would find his way up the ladder, but the unfamiliarity of the house layout seemed to confuse him, and he wouldn't trust himself to negotiate the unknown. Just as I thought he would have to fly up into the trees to roost alone , the fat placid buffs saved the day. Hughie caught sight of the girls ambling late into their own hen house and literally fell into line with them, seconds later I had shut them all safely together.

Hughie's hero worship and District 9

Hughie, like some love struck schoolboy, seems to have developed a crush on Rogo the red cockerel. All day he has followed him everywhere he has roamed and with the good nature of a true leader Rogo has accepted this strange little bird follower with a great deal of alacrity. I had to smile to myself at teatime , as when Rogo had his afternoon wander around the gravestones in the Churchyard, there was Hughie tottering around behind him, with his now usual slightly bemused look, much to the amusement of some people placing flowers on a grave.
I have had a fruitful day, clearing the black garden of overgrown herbaceous plants. My stings have produced painful red welts and swelling over my chest and arms, and Chris is worried that I am heading for a full blown allergic reaction if I get stung again......
let's hope not

At the very start of District 9 (2009- at the Scala tonight), a character in this pseudo-documentary movie states that Aliens don't visit cities such as Johannesburg...they much rather dominate American cities such as New York and Washington, and with that cardinal rule in view, the audience is totally wrong footed by Neill Blomkamp's supposed allegorical look at the ghetto existence of the dispossessed.
The aliens or "prawns" as they are called by the local population are despised drone type beings trapped on earth; instead of being assimilated into earth's culture, they are dumped in an enclosed ghetto, where they are abused and used by South African big business firms, who are desperate to understand their weapon technology.
The parallels with the unpalatable aspects of human existence are clearly underlined but Blomkamp obviously has enjoyed making this B movie homage to all the alien films that has gone before and on one level has given his movie a sort of unintentional comical touch at times.
Impressive to watch at times, but generally rather too camp and strangely too bleak to be taken seriously, I found it all a little too much
7/10
ps. you can't take South Africans seriously when they swear!!!