The starlings are nest building! The exclamation mark is a measure of the excitement, industry and disruption a pair caused in the garden this morning. I think that they may be first time nest builders, if only because their technique for collecting nest materials has more enthusiasm than technique. Rootling around in the leaf litter… Continue reading Home Sweet Home
Author: baebell
More-or-less retired academic in the lively arts.
A bad-tempered blackbird
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… Continue reading A bad-tempered blackbird
A moment’s magic
There is a old tradition of creating images of trees with different birds on every branch. It was particularly popular in the nineteenth century and the William Morris pattern called the Kelmscott Tree is one of the best known. I thought of it this morning when a magical moment, of no more than a few… Continue reading A moment’s magic
little and larger…
There’s a plant that tumbles over the wall and creeps into the rosebed if you don’t keep an eye on it – with small pale blue/grey leaves that form a tightly packed mat. At the moment, there aren’t any of the white flowers that give it its name, Snow in Summer, but it clearly provides… Continue reading little and larger…
Small but mighty…
You don’t ‘see’ the wren, there is just a flicker of brown somewhere at the edge of your vision and you have to go looking for it. This morning it was foraging along the base of the wall, a solid little ball of energy, flashing its tipped up tail as it almost bounces from place… Continue reading Small but mighty…
Getting a grip…
There was a lot of sun today, but a sharp, cold breeze has meant that the birds have been most evident in the gaps between blasts of cold air. Nevertheless, there have been many of our regular visitors. A blackbird was taking a bath in the morning sun, feeding on the grass mid afternoon and… Continue reading Getting a grip…
Waifs and strays…
Today was quiet and only a smattering of birds appeared. It seemed as though all the mature birds were elsewhere, engaged on more important business, whilst the birds that were not paired up kept to their usual round of feeding sites…of course the single ring dove perched on the fence, the strutting blackbird splashing about… Continue reading Waifs and strays…
All the world needs now is love…
Our ring doves seem to have a very complicated social life. There are four, sometimes five, birds who come to the garden to take the seed from the grass, and because males and females look almost identical, it becomes very difficult to work out what ‘s going on, with all the chasing and chest puffing.… Continue reading All the world needs now is love…
The daggers are out…
We haven’t seen much of the starlings recently, but today there were three on the greengage tree very early, irridescent feathers glittering in the first sunshine. Their sharp beaks are dark daggers they wield with something like gay abandon. They returned in late afternoon, when none of the other birds were around, to swarm over… Continue reading The daggers are out…
Splish splash…
We must either have the cleanest blackbirds in the area or avians riddled with feather mites of some kind. They seem to have decided that the smaller of the water trays is the most suitable bathing pool. I was watching a blackbird today and his technique was positively reinforced with every swoop. He would duck… Continue reading Splish splash…
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 