My Managerie when l was growing up.

                                                             ABOUT MYSELF.
l have been retired for four years and befor that semi retired for ten years,working part time. When l was a young boy l lived with my Gran and Grandfather who brought me up.My early years
 were spent in East Sussex at Heathfield,where l went to school and lived untill l was sixteen. l have always had animals and l had a small managerie from a early age. l had Light Sussex Chicken and a Cockrell that crowed,l had twenty Pigeons and ten white Doves. l had lots off white Rabbits and golden Hampsters. l also had cage birds Budgerigars,Canarys and Red Eared Waxbills.l had a dog called Bob, he was a black Labrador and a cat called Tiddles. My Grandfather also bought me a pony Trixie, she was a New Forrest and was brown also l  had a Jersey Heffer and a ferret that used to bite back in those days the 1950 after the second world war we still had food rashoning so my ferret came in very usefull and l could for give him for bitting.
           l remember the long hot summers and the Swallows nest under the gutters of my Grandfathers old house and the Batts that would fly up the lane when it was just getting dark and Grandad and l would walk down the lane with Bob to check the Pony and Heffer.l would take a sack and collect  food for the rabbits and bring back straw for thier comfort.l had a wooden trolley made out of old planks of wood and old pram wheels and axels and l could steer it a bail of straw just fitted onto it.
l also remember the wild birds the Sparrows that fed every morning with my chicken and the swarms of Starlings flying at dusk and sitting along the telephone cables. The Swallows and the House Martins used to do the same when autumn came and they would fly back to Africa and then fly back to us the following spring.
Grandad had a large vegtable garden and when he was working in it there would always be a Robin sitting on a old spade handle that was dug in the ground.He would be looking to see if Grandad
dug any worms up and he would soon gather them up, he was quite tame.We had Blackbirds that nested every year in our hedges.There was two sand stone out houses Blue and Great Tits nested in these and l think the Robin did also.There was also Song Thrushes and Dunnocks but in those days they called them Hedge Sparrows and there was theWagtail and Wrens and Nuthatch. Lots of Crows and Rooks and in the trees was quite a large Rookery and l must not forget the Magpies,Jackdaws and Wood Pigeons that also took the chicken food.