Carrion Crows v Blackbirds

Photos copyright: Maggie May

You will remember from my earlier post, *dicing with death,* that my neighbour had to postpone her tree pruning because the men who had started to cut back the branches found a black birds nest with fledglings in it. It is against the law in England to interfere with a wild birds nest (though I don't know who would ever be around to prosecute anyone for doing this.)

Well it appeared that the blackbird parents continued to feed the young as I saw them going backwards and forwards with beaks full of worms.

A few days later, there was a commotion going on in all the back gardens. I opened the window to investigate and saw carrion crows calling out loudly and flying around and distressed blackbird parents calling out in protest.

I can only assume their young have been eaten.

If I had have been more up together, I am sure that I could have taken pictures, but it is just as well I missed the actual killing.

Seems to have been a lot of hard work for the blackbirds to try to raise them, all for nothing and the tree lopping had to be postponed for nothing too.

Very shortly after all this, the blackbirds returned to my shrub. You can see in the above photo, just where it is located. They go in somewhere at the top nearest my neighbour's side with nesting material.

These blackbirds need a medal for perseverance, starting all over again to try and raise another family or maybe the natural drive they have to produce live young is very powerful. I really hope those carrion crows don't get the next brood because I feel like shooting them!

If you have been reading my posts regularly, you will know that I have been looking after the girls while their dad went to the south coast on a course that involved an exam. I was really looking forward to doing this. Unfortunately Granddad got very sick within a day of having them here and he was diagnosed with a bad chest infection. He was really ill so couldn't do anything that he normally did to help out.

Within a very short time I was feeling very achey and ill too, so I have had to tumble into bed as soon as the girls went to school and rest. I did go to the doctor to ask him what was going on with me. Difficult to know when you finish chemo, whether cancer is causing a problem or if it is a virus.

The doctor thought it was because my immune system has been stretched to the limits and is working extra hard after six chemo sessions.

Anyway, the girls have been extremely good considering they have never been parted from Sam for so long and they have told me that they like being here because they have a fun time.......

Just Sod's law that we had to get sick on the very days we needed to be well. Sam has to go away again in about a months time for more exams, so we will have another stab at it then.

Footnote: Since this post was published, my neighbour has been in touch with me and told me the adult blackbirds are still going back & forth to the nest in the Eucalyptus. The babies can be heard calling out.

I must have another pair in my garden.

Dicing With Death

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

This is the view I have from my back garden of a lovely, tall eucalyptus tree. It belongs to a neighbour further up the terrace.

It is good to see trees and greenery in city gardens as the birds use the trees for nesting and perching.

My neighbour is very fond of any wild life that visits her garden and she puts out bird feeders, like I do.

I had seen blackbirds using this tree on a number of occasions and I regularly get a couple of them searching for worms in my garden. I don't have any lawn but they seem to know which bushes to search under for choice worms and I only posted about the way that they can pile half a dozen worms in their beaks without dropping any, the other day. It is amazing to see them at work.

Earlier in the year, I did think blackbirds were interested in nesting in my tall Eleagnus shrub and a nesting couple went back and forth for several days with twigs........ obviously starting a nest.

I don't know for sure what scared them off, but one evening I saw a huge carrion crow peeping over the wall, watching the proposed nesting site. Its face looked positively evil.

They stopped visiting the shrub after that, but continued to look for worms, especially during the evening.

The other morning, I heard the sound of a chain saw. I knew what it was because my neighbour had told me about the intended lopping of the eucalyptus tree.

The noise went on for a while. It certainly wasn't unusual. The tree is regularly cut back every few years in order to keep the tree's growth under control, as we all have fairly small gardens here.

Suddenly, the noise and commotion seemed to stop abruptly and the tree was left much taller than it had been on other occasions, but I soon forgot about it.

Later on in the day, I heard that the men had found a nest in the tree with several blackbird fledglings in it. They had feathers but were obviously dependant on the adult birds for food and protection. The men were postponing the rest of the pruning for a month in the hope that they will have flown the nest by then.

My neighbour was filled with remorse at having the tree surgeons in as she is the last person who would have caused harm to any wild life.

I must admit that I hadn't given a thought to the blackbirds being in the tree, though it was obvious that they were nesting somewhere near to me.

I thought that the poor fledglings would be abandoned after that intrusion, because the men had taken half the branches off the tree as you can see from the picture below and the saws did make a terrible noise.

These things happen, it wasn't done on purpose.

That night, I had my granddaughters for a sleep-over and next morning, while I was tidying their bedroom, I saw Mrs Blackbird sitting in a tree at the end of my garden with worms neatly draped in her beak. She flew straight to the eucalyptus tree, so I knew that the fledglings were still alive.

However, they are not out of danger yet because they now have to face that horrible carrion crow while they are learning to fly, as well as the half dozen or so cats marauding around the area, not to mention the fox. Oh well........ it doesn't pay to get too sentimental about them. It does seem to be a hard life though, if you are a bird.......especially if you are a feathered variety.

Blessings and Surprises

I am lucky that I can count my blessings. They are many and one of the blessings that I have is the friendship of people from afar, who I have never met in person, as well as people who I can give a hug to, who I see regularly.

The person who sent me this tag in a special packet from overseas will know who they are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity.

I know that I am surrounded by love and friendship.

Photos copyright: Maggie May

As well as the blessings of friends who have been persistently praying for me and sending positive vibes and wishing me well, there are the blessings of the unexpected happenings.

I had thought that the pots of tulips that my friend, Squirrel gave me last Christmas, had nearly come to an end. The tulips were all a lovely shade of pink and just recently, bright orange ones appeared. Just as I thought they were the last ones to break through, some almost black ones appeared too.

Today is election day in Britain. I wonder what surprises might be in store for us when the votes are counted. I wonder if it will be a surprise?

The unexpected is always happening. Life is full of surprises.

A not so brilliant surprise was this egg that was left on my path by Mr Fox, who I haven't seen for a good while and I had thought he might have died of mange because of the sorry state he was in. Obviously he or another fox still comes to my garden and deposits eggs at random. This time there was just an empty shell.

The blackbird decided against nesting in my tall shrub, even though she /he had started to build a nest. It really wasn't the safest place to raise a family. However, the male comes regularly into my garden and gathers worms for his family. Now how does he manage to drape half a dozen worms in his mouth so neatly? You would think that when he opened his mouth to pick the last one up, that the rest would fall out. That never happens.

Hidden Nesting and Washing Machines

Photo copyright: Maggie May

These past few days, I have noticed that a pair of blackbirds have been taking bits of nesting materials into my garden shrub. It is a very tall Elaeagnus Pungens and borders my next door neighbour's garden too, with a bit of an overhang, especially at the top.

I am quite excited that they seem to have chosen my shrub, as they usually nest in another neighbours tall Eucalyptus tree, along the terrace.

For young birds to survive here, they will have to evade my next door neighbour's four cats on the other side and my other neighbour's tendency to suddenly chop down everything in sight without any rhyme or reason.

I also get a regular pair of dunnocks, wrens, great tits and blue tits but no house sparrows anywhere in sight.

When I was young, the house sparrows where in such profusion that their chattering could be heard all the time and they would swoop down into the garden constantly. Even when my children were young they were a very common sight. So I wonder where they have gone? I suspect it is because of modern buildings regulations giving no room for little nooks and crannies in roof spaces for the sparrows to nest in.

Some of you have remarked that you are worried about the state of my mangy fox and wondered whether I could do anything to help it. I think the answer is no. If it got so that it couldn't jump the wall and could be trapped by a box, then I suppose that I could call the RSPCA and they would despatch it but it is still too fast and would bite me if I tried to trap it now.

I know that I have had to lower my horizons a great deal....... I no longer work and go to wonderful places or have the same access to the grandchildren, so you will see that I have had to concentrate on much simpler things so you will probably groan when I say that I am quite excited today because I have ordered a new washing machine. I decided to buy locally and that paid off as the company promised that they would deliver the next day and take the old one away as well as reconnecting the new model and getting it ready for its first wash.

The old machine was still working but it jumped about all over the place and some one had to sit on it to stop it travelling round the kitchen.

Can you imagine having to leave a guest mid speech to go and sit on a washing machine in the next room? Or having to stay in until the washing was taken out?

It was one extra burden when I wasn't feeling well having to wrestle with it.

So I hope they do come this afternoon with the new one as I have a good pile of washing to try out in it.

You know what they say about simple things pleasing.......... simple minds?