The bird scene has been a bit sparse lately. I think since the breeding season is over, most of the adult birds have gone off to recover. I think I *did* confirm the blackbird that died wasn’t our resident Mr B, as there was a male blackbird in the garden with white flecks on the left wing, so it must’ve been Mr B. For about a week now there’s been no presence of either he or Mrs B.
The goldfinches have been away for a while too, but have just started to come back in the last few days. The robin and dunnock have been absent from the garden as well. The only birds that have been frequenting the garden have been doves and pigeons. As much as a I was happy to save the baby pigeon some weeks back, the daily sight of doves and pigeons isn’t exactly a twitcher’s delight! I mean, look at them!
Woodpigeon (R) But I’m glad to see the goldfinches back. I hope it means the others are to return shortly too. As for the hedgehog… I’ve been seeing him around at night. Last night he was out in the garden, nosing around with that little cute pointy snout of his. I watched him for about 10 minutes. We have a ground-feeding bird tray in the middle of the garden. He made his way over there. Em had given our regularly interloping cat, Kitty (the tortoiseshell one – the cat terrorist as she’s come to known – I’ll explain in a minute) some ham outside and Kitty had left some behind, so little hoggy might’ve been getting that. After a few mins he slowly made his way over to the direction of the compost bin. I lost sight of him then ‘cos he was in the shadows. I hope he found something to snack on. It was a warm, dry night last night, so I can’t imagine too many slugs were around. Why is Kitty called The Cat Terrorist? Well, about a week ago, she came to visit. Normally we know she’s arrived, because she climbs up on the rubbish bins outside and sits on them looking into the living room windows. This day, she decided to take bold action. Em was downstairs on her own (I was having a shower, or upstairs doing something, can’t quite remember). When she’s sitting in front of a computer, Em can blot out all kinds of stuff, so the fact Kitty had arrived outside had (funnily enough) escaped her attention. Being ignored wasn’t going to stop Kitty! We have the living room window open most days. It’s surrounded by black mesh, to keep insects out and help keep Chrissy in. ANYWAY…Kitty decides it’s no barrier for her, uses a paw and makes a parting in the mesh and busts her way in!!! Em only then turns around to see on the lounge what she thought was Chris, was actually Kitty and nearly has an eppy!! Thank goodness Chris was upstairs with me, otherwise their would’ve been one holy cat war if Chris had seen Kitty in the house! Another reason Kitty is called The Cat Terrorist – if you don’t get her her ham fast enough, she just helps herself to the food in Chris’s bowl! Naughty Kitty!!! She’s starting to get sick of ham though, so we’re going to have to buy her some other kind of deli meat. The bats come and go. Sometimes I see them, sometimes I don’t. They are little masters of the air though. The way they fly about just on sonar just amazes me.