Out of Practice
This last week, after a virtually non-existant winter, spring had decided to arrive…there were storks gliding above my house, chiffchaffs in every tree and the oystercatchers were calling me back to the marsh…
Within a few seconds on my approach I was greeted by a rather excited black-tailed godwit, a sparrowhawk with a small rodent in its’ talons and two mute swans blocking the narrow path who hissed at me as I passed…I was fortunate to escape the situation without a broken arm. 😉
The resident canada geese seemed somewhat sparse in numbers as in winter there are thousands of geese on the marsh…some decide to stay while the majority move on…
It was possible to confuse such days with summer…yet the brown reeds, bare trees and lack of swallows kept reminding me it was April…being a little rusty after a rather prolonged spell of winter dormancy it’s good to be back! 🙂
Considering Crows
Crows are everywhere, they seem to be present in all habitats…on the marsh, in the forest, heathland, farmland, in the town centre and of course in my street and garden.
I regularly witness crows attacking raptors like buzzards and sparrowhawks, either chasing them off or stealing their recently caught prey. In turn the crows are not too popular with smaller birds…so their visits to my garden are generally short and opportunistic in nature.
Early mornings on a weekend I’ve seen them in the town centre clearing up the mess from the previous nights’ festivities alongside several species of seagulls.
First Steps
Crocuses are to me a sign to start moving about outside again, to shake off the shackles of a long, cold winter and make a start on the garden…I leave all last years growth and leaves until this time to clear up so I have quite a task to get everything ready for the year.
On top of everything I decided to attack the privet hedge with a serious prune…the sparrows were shocked by my sudden change in behaviour, but they could still feed when my back was turned so everything was alright 😉 . As I was working on the hedge I heard a lot of commotion behind me and as I turned I witnessed a sparrowhawk heading straight for me :O ….it landed on the hedge about a yard from me, looked at me briefly then effortlessly took back to the wing (they make it look so easy). No photos of the incident unfortunately as I don’t generally expect a hawk attack when I’m pruning the hedge…
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
It was early evening…I was just starting to open my eyes and get breakfast ready, I’d already catered for the garden birds…I suddenly heard a woosh and the familiar chirp the sparrows use to signal the presence of a sparrowhawk.
This is a regular occurance which I have learnt to accept, I mean, I was just about to boil a couple of eggs and a hawks got a right to eat too….it’s just difficult when it’s my sparrows right in front of my face…it was empty talons this time for old hawky but that is not always the case…
a heartical view 