To use a
couple of words now in constant use, lockdown has certainly had me ramp
up the garden bird watching. I’ve spent
several hours this past week sat at the patio door with camera at the ready. Patch birding to my mind is without doubt the
best and most rewarding part of bird watching and of course if you have a
garden it will often be a central part of your patch. I remember being asked some years ago by a
then up and coming twitcher ‘’do you not get bored watching the same area
and birds all of the time’’? I’d like to
think that now a little more mature, that the person in question will have a
better understanding of the merits of patch birding. Of course, present circumstances will have
presented the need of all birdwatchers to stick to patch, at any rate
one would hope so.
Chiffchaff on Rose Bush
Blackcap female
I took the
opportunity whilst watching the garden to take some images of common, and in a
couple of cases less common garden birds.
I’ve always been proud of the numbers of birds attracted to my very
small garden in the middle of housing estates in a now not so new township. Gardens will become more and more of a haven
for birds and other wildlife in this and other areas, as concrete and brick
cover more and more green areas around us.
If my garden can attract birds, so can yours, and without too much
effort! Council and developer talk of
wildlife corridors (don’t corridors have to lead somewhere?) and increasing
biodiversity is simply political spin in my opinion, whilst your garden (if you
are lucky enough to have one) could form part of a pattern that provides space
in a real and practical manner.
Robin
Dunnock
In no way do
I try to deflect from the fact that I travel in normal circumstances to watch
birds, although chasing rarities is not and has never been my thing. With such activity along with much else out
of the question at present, it is not only garden watching that I have ramped
up. I’ve been digging out some old music
albums that I retain from my youth and the one I have lined up to play next is,
Snow Goose by Camel, recorded in 1975 and inspired by Paul Gallico’s book The
Snow Goose. I was given a copy of the
latter, which is illustrated by Peter Scott as a gift from a good friend. I believe the central character of the book
was based largely on Peter Scott himself.
The book was also made into a film of course. Now the Snow Goose is one bird I would
chase after and I envy the author William Fiennes who followed the migration of
Snow Geese in North America and produced the book The Snow Goose which I have
somewhere, but can’t find.
Chaffinch
House Sparrow with friend
As well as
albums I’ve been revisiting one or two of my older bird books, and one I pulled
out the other day was Robert Dougal’s Celebration of Birds. Readers of a certain age will remember
Robert was a News Reader on BBC as well as becoming President of the RSPB. I found the receipt for the book inside and
see that I purchased it from Thornes Bookshop on Percy Street, Newcastle on 12th
March 1979. Good grief, that is over 40
years ago. As the man said, I do not
believe it! The book contains quite
a bit of poetry and poetry has appealed to me more as I have aged. Poems can say so much with so few words if
put together well, although I confess there is some poetry I would not touch
with a barge pole and even more that I don’t quite understand. I have become keen on the poet John Clare as
I know no other poet that describes the natural world around him so well. Clare also wrote very well about working
farms and villages in the nineteenth century and although written long before
my childhood they do bring back memories of days spent on the farm I visited as
a child. In the early 1960s the farm
still used a horse in the fields. Bob,
the horse, would not have looked out of place in a scene set in Clare’s time
and neither would the hay-gathers, when everyone mucked in, have looked out of
place. I remember well hot sunny days in
the meadow when everyone would break when the farmers wife brought down the
basket of scones, sandwiches and large pots of tea. I must thank my friends Hilary and Kelsey for
introducing me to Clare’s works and the artwork of Carry Akroyd that often
accompanies them, and I have been reading this poetry and admiring the artwork
over the past few days.
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Goldfinch shares bath with Blue Tit
Returning to
Robert Dougal, he describes in Celebration of Birds a two man show he and
Newcastle born James Alder (one time president of the Natural History Society
of Northumbria amongst many other roles) were involved in at the Theatre Royal,
Newcastle on the 5th November 1970.
Were you there? Apparently James
had with him an injured Kestrel which he released and it flew off into the
auditorium. On hearing James call it,
the bird immediately flew back to him. I
know James would often help injured birds back to fitness and rerelease them
whenever possible. Prior to the show
James had written to The Evening Chronicle about Kestrels breeding on top of a
crane on the banks of the Tyne. I have a
book about this very subject which was completed from notes by the son of
James Alder after his father’s death.
Starling
I’ve
included here several images taken this week in the garden and hope you enjoy
them. There’s nothing of great rarity
but it was never my intention to capture such.
I was pleased to see a Chiffchaff and a pair of Blackcap, the latter may
be nesting at the foot of the garden as may a pair of Robins. The BlueTits are exploring their usual box
and the now resident Wood Pigeons have been very amorous and are nesting in the
large tree again. Noticeable absentees
whist I watched were Coal Tit, Wren and Song Thrush. Perhaps too busy nesting
elsewhere. I was pleased to count
several Blackbirds, this perhaps being my favourite visitor, not least because
of its song. On quiet spring evenings,
and every evening is quiet just now, the song of the Blackbird is a joy to hear
as the early evening light begins to fade.
Over two or three days I listened to the drumming of Great Spotted
Woodpecker. I wonder how many of my
neighbours noticed that?
Wood Pigeon
Jackdaw
Greenfinch
I’ll let
John Clare have the final word. Stay
well.
The Blackbird
The blackbird is a bonny bird;
I love his morning suit,
And song in the spring mornings heard
As mellow as the flute.
How sweet his song in April showers
Pipes from his golden bill
As Yellow as the kingcup flowers,
The sweetest ditty still.
No comments:
Post a Comment