Bird Battles

For those of you that get lots of Starlings in your gardens you would probably be surprised that I was not 100% sure that this was a baby Starling. There were no parent birds around and I didn't realize juveniles were so brown. I sort of guessed it was a Starling by its walk but was pleased to have it confirmed after watching a video on MIDMARSH JOTTINGS' blog. Obviously there are adult Starlings around nearby so I wonder why they don't come into my garden.

Just about every other bird has been paying us a visit along with their broods of youngsters. The garden seems like a bird version of Piccadilly Circus with all the comings and goings.

The Magpies have taken command of the ground and go around in a gang, like delinquent teenagers, terrorising everything and trying to undo the string that holds the runner bean canes together. Even the Pheasants get their tails pulled.

The feeding tree has become the domain of the Woodpecker family. They don't mind the smaller birds but hate the Parakeets and there are frequent wing flappings and squawkings as they argue it out. Once the Woodpeckers have driven the Parakeets away they seem to like to show their supremacy by drilling a few more holes in the poor old tree. I don't think the tree will survive for much longer.

There is so much going on I think I could happily spend all day just watching at the window but despite the hot weather I am still trying to do at least one walk a day. Today I chose a nice shady bridleway to wander down but other than lots of butterflies and a vole there wasn't much going on. I think everything was sitting sensibly in the shade taking it easy which is probably what I should have been doing as I got very hot. So something to cool down with; this is a picture of the same bridleway that I walked down today but when the photo was taken, only a few months ago, it was below freezing:-)

Wonderful Wildlife

I am going off for a weeks camping on the Isle of wight tomorrow so today I have been busy preparing for the trip. This includes typing out a load of instructions on how to care for all the pets while we are away. There are so many do's and don'ts like... 'don't feed cabbage to the guinea pigs as it gives them wind'... but... 'do give them plenty of freshly cut grass'... but... 'make sure there are no buttercups caught up in the freshly cut grass'. I think my son, who is pet sitting, will want to leave home when he sees all he has to do.

Caring for pets makes me appreciate just how fantastic wild animals are as they manage all on their own. I think it is amazing that a big animal like a deer or a badger can find enough food and shelter to survive even extremes of weather and birds despite having many predators still manage to raise new generations to keep their species going. Its incredible.

This is a picture of mummy woodpecker feeding her baby in the garden this morning (at least I think it is mummy and not daddy). Not a very good picture as it was on full zoom with no tripod but quite sweet.

I won't be able to do any posts while camping so the next one will be in a week or so's time:-)