Nature Reserve

We are lucky enough to live close to a nature reserve which makes for some beautiful walks. This time of year we love to observe some of the babies that have just hatched and it turned out our timing was perfect.

These are the Egyptian geese, they are a personal favourite of mine, along with five goslings.

A close up of an Egyptian gosling... the children love these too as the little ones make a distinctive peep peep noise which is very cute. The photo below shows the family on the water.

We saw a few ducks with ducklings but did not really get close enough to get some pictures. We also saw Canadian geese with four goslings.

The goslings are huddled together in between the parent birds if you look closely. The other type of goose we spotted was the Greylag, they very very busy with ten goslings.

From the photo above we thought they had nine goslings but when they took to the water ten goslings can clearly be seen.

The children love to watch the babies and we usually go back and visit quite a few times to see how they grow and if they all survive.

This beautiful swan seemed to follow us along the bank, posing for many photos. A lovely day was made even better when we got to watch pike swimming in the nearby river for what seemed like a very long time.

A Trip to the Castle

Last week we went to see the Roman Empire exhibition just before it moved on to another museum. The children had a really interesting time revisiting this historical subject and examining all the artifacts but unfortunately photography was forbidden in the exhibition itself so all photos are from the rest of the museum.

We collected the pamphlets above to remind us of some the things we had seen and for further investigations into the subject.

The children spent some time riding in the replica Iceni chariot in the Boudicca gallery and examining some of the treasures that have been dug up in and around our local area.

Had a go at building stone arches and traced the route of the stone used to build the castle from it's origins. My son had a go at firing the medieval siege engine whilst my daughter examined all the types of food eaten at the banquets held in the great hall.

I think we explored all the narrow stone corridors and what felt like the longest winding staircase ever. We love exploring our museums and try to go as often as possible. My daughter recently went on an art master class day held at the museum with our local home education group and we all went on a special RSPB open day, where the children got to dissect owl pellets for the first time and join in with many bird related activities.

New Year and a Return

We are just returning from our Christmas break and hope you have all had a good start to the year. Every year we try to hand make a few extra stocking fillers for the children and I thought I would share some of the things we made here quickly. Last year I made little monsters, this year my crochet took a slightly different turn.

My daughter is a huge fan of the Despicable me films so I decided to crochet a minion, she was absolutely thrilled on Christmas morning.

I also had a go at making a replica of Edith's hat. Edith is one of the little girls from the film. My son is more interested in games so a Boo was made from the Mario games.

The children love these little extras, my husband also hand made some extra stocking fillers that were amazing. He made a beautiful wooden ring toss game I have put links in if you would like to take a look. A lovely tower of hanoi puzzle and large wooden dice, he also cut out all the parts for a bird house and wrapped them with instructions for the children to make for themselves, which made a good alternative craft present to be put up in our nature garden.

We also made some catnip mice for new our kittens, can't forget presents for them. I would like to introduce our newest members here at lightly enchanted Crow and Tesla.

This was a photograph from when they first arrived, they are a little larger now. Crow was named after two things, the bird is a spiritual messenger and also a character from my husbands favourite series in which a crow was the nickname for a member of the nights watch. Tesla is named after one of our favourite genius inventors, Nikola Tesla, the master of lightning. They have both been exploring the garden a lot lately and are learning how to get along with the chickens.

Wool Wrapped Wire Reindeer

Yesterday I wrote about the wool wrapped wire snowflakes we made... Today I'm bringing you something much cuter, Rudolf the red nosed reindeer, made in the same way as the snowflakes.

We started in a similar way to the snowflakes, my husband began by drilling small holes into some left over dowel and inserting the wire to make a reindeer shape as seen in the photo below. My daughter also made one with an old cork and some wooden skewers as you will see in the last photo.

After getting the basic shape I then wrapped the entire reindeer in brown wool until every last piece was covered. I managed to use one continuous piece of wool again as this is easier to fasten off the end with a spot of glue.

To finish I toyed with the idea of a small, shiny red button or bead for his nose but in the end we opted for a little red pom pom and a quick spray of glitter.

 

He makes a very cute addition to our festive decorations this year, my daughter absolutely loves him and has made one of her own. She decided to paint her reindeer instead of wrapping him in wool.

 And then there were two...

Wool Wrapped Wire Snowflakes

Every year we try to make some new decorations for our tree, this year we have been so busy I'm only just getting around to posting them here. One of my favourite things were the wool wrapped wire snowflakes... so simple but they look so lovely on the tree.

First I made the basic shape of a snowflake with wire, any wire will do as it will be covered, I've just used cheap garden wire. My husband soldered three lengths of wire in the middle to hold them together but it is possible just to wind the wire to get the basic shape. The smaller pieces of wire on each arm are just wrapped around the larger wire, once the wool is added they will fix better in place.

Then it's time to wrap the entire wire snowflake in wool, I used white for snow. I did this in one continuous piece starting from the centre and going down each arm in turn then back to the centre so that it is covered with two layers of wool, before going down the next arm. This made it easier to fix the end of the wool when the snowflake is completely covered with just one spot of glue.

When the wool wrapping is finished your snowflake will look like the photograph above. I decided to add a tiny pearl bead to the end of each wire like a little stopper, adding a spot of glue to hold it on. This not only looks pretty it also covers the wire ends in case it is a little scratchy and helps to hold all the wool in place.

Here is the finished snowflake after a quick spray with glitter spray, ready to have a loop added to hang on the tree. These look gorgeous hanging on the tree, are very simple and quick to make and we think they look quite stylish too.

We would like to take the chance to wish you all a Merry Yule / Christmas from all of us here.

Garden Charms and Bird Treats

At this time of year, as the weather gets colder, our thoughts go to feeding the birds. This is our way of giving something back to nature to replace the berries we foraged in autumn. As well as making sure the bird table and feeders are full we have also been making some garden charms, which look very pretty hanging in the trees and provide an extra feast for our feathered friends.

For the charms we have used some garden wire bent into the shape of a heart or star and various dried berries and nuts. The heart shape has been threaded with rosehips and raisins.

When fully threaded the shape was secured safely with either tape, string or wire and a loop was added to hang it on the tree.

We also made a star shape which was threaded with chestnuts and Rowan berries. It is harder to see the shape of this one as the chestnuts are much larger. Anything that birds find tasty can be threaded onto your wire shape and they look gorgeous hanging in the garden.

The pine cone feeders have been a firm favourite with the children for quite a few years now. First attach string or wire for attaching the feeder to the tree as seen in the above photo. Then coat your pine cone with either peanut butter or lard and roll it in bird seed.

These little pine cone feeders usually attract the small birds that are a bit nervous about visiting the bird table when larger birds are around. They are very simple and a lot of fun to make even for very small children.

I will leave you with a couple of photographs of the garden charms and pine cone bird feeders hanging in the trees. They add some much needed colour to the garden this time of year.

The children love feeding the birds and this also provides them with extra opportunities for bird watching.

Pumpkin sun catchers

Just thought I would share this quick Halloween craft with you. If your children are as busy with crafts as mine, it is inevitable that you will have many left over pre cut out sheets of random shapes... I always save these just in case they come in useful and it makes perfect sense to re-use craft items to save money.

This is a left over sparkly, foam sheet with pre cut pumpkins on it. First cut out one of the pumpkin shapes... sounds odd cutting out an already cut out shape but you will need to leave a border around the shape, a bit like a photo frame...see below.

This is our sparkly pumpkin border, which was then stuck down to a piece of orange tissue paper. Our craft sheet was already self adhesive making it very simple. Then cut out the whole shape and it will look like a coloured in pumpkin.

All that's left to do is add your facial features and stick on the window, for some pumpkins we cut out eye, nose and mouth shapes and stuck them on, but in others we just used a marker pen.

These are some of the finished sun catcher pumpkins which can also be fixed around a light source like a jar with a tea light inside to be used after dark.

This is a very thrifty and easy craft for children to do using something that normally gets thrown away. This could be tried with any shapes you have, but if you don't have the craft sheets you can always cut out your own shapes in black card.