For the majority of the time, the blackbirds are amenable to being around the other birds. They rather lord it over the chaffinches and sparrows, ignore the ring doves and move ‘tactfully’ amidst the jackdaws when they appear en masse. However, today, for whatever reason, we had a thoroughly grumpy blackbird who drove the ring doves off the lawn. They retreated to the safety of the fence and watched as it flew at the robin, which dodged sideways and went up into the apple tree. A couple of sparrows took the hint and disappeared into the hedge. Finally, it had the grass to itself and began hoovering up the suet morsels that I had scattered around. Once satisfied it positively flounced up onto the top of the shed, surveyed the ground and then flew off. It will be interesting to see whether the same thing happens tomorrow.
The garden is now a patchwork of yellow and blue, where the grape hyacinths have replaced the snowdrops. There is a clump of marsh marigolds beside the water tray at the base of the hedge motel. It masks one side of the tray from the kitchen window and means that I can’t always see which birds are having a bath. Sparrows emerge at the front of the dish and shake themselves before flying off. The blackbird is so big that it is easy to spot; however, if there’s just a fountain of spray visible above the marsh marigolds which plumes up, dies down and then plumes up again, you can be sure that it is a starling that will appear damply into the sunshine.
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 