Busy birders

 

It was a very busy week for the birdwatchers, two rare birds had been spotted in the Bøjden Nor reserve next to our B&B.

One was an American plover ( pluvialis d. dominica), it was in a larger group of golden plover, and the other one was a dotterel ( charadrius morinellus).

Yesterday they were both in the field next to us, and it was funny to watch all the birdwatchers,  standing along the gravel road down the beach with their telescopes and camera's pointed in our direction. Both birds spend the summer on the tundra, so they were on their way up north and rested here for a few days before going on.

Spring has come to Bøjden, there are loads of birds in the reserve now and this week the cows returned as well.

Winter

It's nearly spring, so I quickly add two winter pictures. We did not have much snow this winter but we managed to take some pictures:

And 2 more, just to show how big Kakusha has grown. The boots are the same.........

Animal updates

A busy year went by, so it is time for an animal update.
My daughter Pernille got a new horse: Ruf Lil Star, an American Quarterhorse. Until then she was riding Lightning, a mustang born in Denmark, but as he kept bucking her off, we decided to buy her a safer horse. Star is very sweet and gentle and moves beautifully. Pernille is now in the team training for the Youth World Cup in western riding, so we do a lot of driving around to training weekends and clinics. Soon the competition season will start too. All very exciting!

This was Lightning. He went back to the people who bred him.

And in came Star, bred by Annette Midtgaard and trained by Ionna Mc Cabe. Here at a competition at Ionna Mc Cabes.

Pixie


Pernille's very first pony Pixie died too, she was old and very ill, but we still miss her everyday, she was such a funny little thing. Pernille was not even 2 years old when we got her, and rode her to school when we still lived in Holland.
In October we sadly had to say goodbye to Arwen, our border colly, nearly 13 years old and fit until last summer, playing around with Kakusha and with every guest willing to throw her some sticks...
And then all of a sudden she fell very ill, refused to eat, and after some gruelling weeks we put her to sleep...she is dearly missed, not only by us, or by Kakusha who fell into a real depression afterwards, but by many of our guests. Some guests sent us pictures, some sent stories or fond memories, for which we were very grateful.

Arwen

House within a house

There are many birds nesting around our house, or in our barn. But two little house martins were very clever: After the first swallows had left this nest early last summer, they rebuilt it, which saved them a lot of time and work. I wonder who will live there next spring.....if it is the swallows, they will have to destroy the upper part again as they need the half open nest and can't use the tiny little hole at the top.

Today is the shortest day of the year, so from tomorrow, we'll slowly be getting nearer next summer!
The summer of 2015 has brought us many guests, from many different countries, each with their own different stories. Some guests have become regulars and it is so nice to see them again.
This summer we were very lucky to get some helpers, also from very different countries. They came from Belgium, Spain, Scotland, Holland and China. Without them we could not have managed all the work that has to be done in the summer, so thank you so much: Thaana, Evelien, Manu, Lucy, Celia, Ireen and Yaya, you were our 'star' workers!
For everyone who stayed here during the summer, it will be hard to realize how short a day at Bøjden Cottage is right now:   not even 7 hours! That sure is a difference to all the long hours we needed to get the daily work done in summer!

6 hours and 55 minutes
Sun up: 8.50 am
Sun down: 15.45 pm
Dagens længde er tiltaget med 0 timer og 0 minutter.
21. December 2015, Denmark.

But although the sun was late this morning, it was a beautiful sunrise:

picture: Søren Greve Pedersen

Our new star

Meet Kakusha, our new puppy. Kaskusha means 'star' in the Ucmalmicwts language.  This is the language of the interior Salish people of British Columbia, Canada. We  have some very good friends there, and as Kakusha is an American Indian dog, they gave her this name. Which fits her fine, as she is our little new 'star' and a real little princess. She has more 'stars' in her family tree, as her great grand parents starred as the dogs in 'Dances with Wolves' with Kevin Costner.
We got her home Boxing Day and Arwen, our Border Collie has taken good care of her ever since. They are playing all day and having big fun.
There are not that many American Indian dogs in Europe. It is a very old breed, already described thousands of years ago by the First Nation peoples.  Lewis and Clark wrote a lot about them when they travelled across the American continent. And if you want more information about these dogs, the website of Old Hawk Kennels/American Indian dogs, can give you a lot of information.