Ibises and ROMs

M thinks it's because they haven't been picking up the horse manure regularly enough and this has lead to a worm outbreak (which sounds so much nicer than "infestation") but for whatever reason the ibis are flocking to the paddock up the road. Yesterday, the day before and again today they were all over that paddock and the one next to it. I mentioned it to M in the way into The Big House last night which is when she suggested they were after worms - and that made a great deal of sense. This wasn't the first time I had heard that was why people pick up horse pooh - even S and I have had turns (though not that many admittedly and it was a good while ago now) pushing the barrow or working the pitch fork! But the ibis seemed to be liking it a lot and it will be interesting to see how many there are again in the morning ... there seems to be fewer there each morning - which may have something to do with a diminishing nematode population.

The Willy Wagtail is still on the nest and it's all I can do to not investigate - all it would take is the camera on the tripod - and holding it over the branch where the nest is. Alas - or good because this is what is supposed to happen - when I get close - even without the camera gear - the parent bird gets really agitated and does its best to draw me away for the nest. It's probably for the best that we keep our distance - and if there is something in there, waiting to hatch, we will see it soon!

At least the sound of ROM won't be disturbing the birds - until next week at least - which is hopefully when the mechanic will be back to fix it. The deck has been cutting quite crooked for a while and M will have to make up her mind whether she's going to have it replaced with a new deck or not. If it's too long getting fixed, we'll have to give the push mower a go again - as long as one of us has the strength to pull the starter rope - because that grass just keeps on growing - and we have to keep mowing so we can see if there are any snakes out on the lawn when we want to go there!

That's not so far-fetched as it might seem, especially as we saw a carpet snake (a baby!) (SSSSSSS) on the lane way last night as we came home (with slightly lighter pockets) from The Big House!