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hobby_gardeningThe beauty of my garden is not only flowers. I have bird feeders which I keep filled. This is a totally selfish act; I delight in the beauty and behaviours of the many species that come to my garden. There are all the little songbirds: sparrows, goldfinches, blue and great tits, siskins, greenfinches the near invisible wren and the timid dunnock. I've probably missed a few. Then there's the medium-sized birds: the noisy starling and the melodious blackbird. We have the larger ones, pigeons, a solitary wood pigeon, jackdaws and rooks. There are more occasional visitors like the chaffinch and the sinister sparrowhawk who comes to do her shopping at the bird Tesco. That's a sad thing but she is magnificent and must live too.
I love the tits of both varieties. They zoom in, consume a few sunflower hearts, sit on the wire and wipe their beaks. Then they are just gone. So fast! I don't know why chaffinches are not here. Forty miles south in Helmsdale they were perhaps the commonest birds at our feeders. They flocked with the sparrows and behaved pretty sparrow-like except they spent a little more time on the ground. There's a range of hills between there and here and it must define the outer edge of their area.
I've described the dunnock as timid, and mostly he is, creeping out from a bush to grab a seed. In late spring, though, he loses his shyness. He sits on the fence and sings all day. And he's loud. Very loud indeed. He's calling on mates (plural). Dunnocks have interesting love lives.
I could go on but I'll leave that for another time. But the garden pays for itself in beauty and entertainment. What's the cost of a few seeds, whether for sowing or feeding the birds against the joy that they bring?
I love the tits of both varieties. They zoom in, consume a few sunflower hearts, sit on the wire and wipe their beaks. Then they are just gone. So fast! I don't know why chaffinches are not here. Forty miles south in Helmsdale they were perhaps the commonest birds at our feeders. They flocked with the sparrows and behaved pretty sparrow-like except they spent a little more time on the ground. There's a range of hills between there and here and it must define the outer edge of their area.
I've described the dunnock as timid, and mostly he is, creeping out from a bush to grab a seed. In late spring, though, he loses his shyness. He sits on the fence and sings all day. And he's loud. Very loud indeed. He's calling on mates (plural). Dunnocks have interesting love lives.
I could go on but I'll leave that for another time. But the garden pays for itself in beauty and entertainment. What's the cost of a few seeds, whether for sowing or feeding the birds against the joy that they bring?
