A few days of unsettled weather – winds stripping more of the green cherries from the tree and shredding the peonie flowers, whilst thunder threatens in slate grey skies – and the birds seem to have picked up the uncertain temper of the times.
Whilst an every increasing flock of sparrows, parents and fledglings, and four or five chaffinches, work the grass, there has been undignified scrapping amongst the ring doves – I turned back to the sink and the lawn was empty but there was a large clump of feathers and down on the grass, which was picked apart and taken off by a starling and a blackbird, looking for nest materials. I had already seen one bird, landing on the roof of the beehive, within two feet of the kitchen window, with a distinct wound on its breast.
The jackdaws have been a pest, descending from the roof, up to eight of them, overwhelming the feeding places. I’ve shooed them off more times than is really sensible, but I think the youngsters are beginning to learn that approaching the peanut feeders is not worth the effort – I let them get to within a beak-length, or onto the wire frame, before I intervene.
It is the female woodpecker who provides the best value for the smaller birds; the adult male hangs on the cone vertically and levers out individual nuts, rather like the jackdaws, but the female, working horizontally at the bottom of the cone, pecking out pieces, collects an admiring group of chaffinches and the occasional blackbird, on the grass below, who scavenge the chippings. She usually appears in the late afternoon, when the west-facing garden collects the setting sun and her red tummy glows in the light.
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 