The second blackbird fledgling, who should really be nicknamed ‘Tail-less’, is gradually becoming more agile amongst the larger branches – and he is starting to grow a tail. Today, he spent a deal of his time at the bottom of the garden, beginning to follow his parents around as they forage, rather than wait somewhere… Continue reading Dumpling blackbird II

The rain arrived mid-afternoon. Hopefully it will encourage the bugs, slugs and snails that our birds love. Not, obviously, to the point that they decimate the fruit bushes, but enough to have a good supply of soft protein for the nestlings…and the insistent fledglings. A few of the adults seem to be trying to wean… Continue reading There comes a point…

The wind is finally dying down, just as the light is fading. I’ve moved a couple of the feeders. The three-quarter coconut was scoured clean inside, so I put peanuts and some fat and seed crumbs from another fat block into it. I’ll try it as a seed container, with no more than a handful… Continue reading Stormy weather…

It was an awkward sort of day, yesterday, but at least the garden was busy. There is a newly enlarged family of sparrows returned to the bustle, with fat, fluffy fledglings harassing their thin and busy parents who rush from lawn to peanut feeder to fat ball with their fluttering offspring barely a few inches… Continue reading Food and feathers…

Yesterday, I had intended to write about the blackbirds who were working to feed a nestling, a clumsy bundle of speckled brown and buff feathers which alternately staggered around the rosebed, or stayed motionless on the earth next to the drystone wall, so quiet and still that it almost disappears into the colours of the… Continue reading Running buffet…