A near disaster averted today…I almost stood on the dumpling blackbird, reeling down the side path carrying a ladder in a howling gale, it shot out from beneath my feet and across into the fruit bushes protesting loudly.
The wind has been gusting angrily since the early hours of the morning, the lawn beneath the cherry tree is covered with green fruits stripped off, whilst the poor damson tree barely has a leaf left on it. I’m only glad that the greengage is tied into the weight of the old Victorian cast iron garden seat. The plum tree, which has sadly brittle branches seems to be getting some shelter from the box pillar and it’s a relief that the rowan was pruned quite hard this year.
The birds have struggled today. None that I can see have even tried to get to the hanging feeders. I scattered plenty of the seed mix on the grass getting it closer than normal into the shade of the rosebed wall. The problem for the little birds was actually managing to get down to eat. Any birds smaller than the ring doves or starlings, at a pinch, were tossed about on the wind. The craftier members of the hedge gang would climb down the hedge and then weave their way through the plants to the edge of the wall, where they’d more or less fall down the stones to the grass below.
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 