Babysitting

When I am Rich I will install a bird nursery in my lovely garden – a safe enclosure where parent birds can leave their little fledglings, and I won’t have to worry about them.

Baby house sparrow

 
Over the last few days I’ve had baby blackbirds, starlings, house sparrows, hedge sparrows, robins and goldfinches in my tiny garden.

Baby robin

I know their mums and dads won’t be too far away, but I can’t help watching them just in case a cat or magpie comes along, or they go out on to the road, or they fall off the fence and can’t fly up again …

  And I thought my babyminding days were finished!

Time for Dad to take over!

I love you, but …

I’m constantly delighted by the number and variety of birds that manage to find their way into my small backyard, and I’m usually happy to encourage them by supplying them with food and water. But sometimes I wonder if I’m being a bit too kind.
   

Picture the scene …

It was a fine, sunny day so, after doing the usual weekly wash, I decided to wash some curtains as well. I couldn’t fit everything on the two washing lines strung across the yard but I solved that problem by taking a clothes horse outside and draping some items over that. Then I left it all to dry while I went out for the afternoon.

Glancing through the window when I came back, I noticed some dark streaks down a white towel. I might not have minded too much if it had only been one towel but, on closer inspection, I found that almost all my washing was streaked, spotted and splashed with bird poo!

From the size and quantity I’m pretty sure I know who the culprit was.

Who, me?

It wasn't me!

I’m working on finding a way to make the yard a no-fly area on washing days.

In the meantime, here’s a story about scarecrows

 

In sync

At last, the weather and nature are agreeing with the calendar.

 

Sunshine, showers, and a woodpigeon cooing outside my bedroom window.

It must be April!

 

Mystery solved

I couldn’t understand why the path outside my front door was littered with cherry stones. How had they got there? The nearest cherry trees are two streets away.

Then I noticed this young starling on the roof.

When I am Rich I’ll have lots of cherry trees in my garden – some for me, some for the birds – but I’ll have to find a way of teaching them to eat their food where they find it.

Do messy eaters annoy you?

Christmas birds

I did enjoy my Christmas pheasant.

I watched him through the window as he strolled about in the winter sun and then joined his friends to feast on the sugar beet left behind after the field was harvested a couple of weeks ago.

The sparrows helped themselves to their usual snack of peanuts.

This little chap visits the garden most days, but seeing him on Christmas Day is always a bit special.

And my Christmas dinner? A very tasty cashew and mushroom roast with all the trimmings.

Growing inspiration

One of the many pleasures of my recent trip toScotland was gathering some new ideas for the garden I plan to create when I am Rich.

I love the colour scheme of this barrel,

 and these tumbling  

 nasturtiums,

 

and I really want

these trees!   

A clever way to give new life to an old boat.

  

And no garden would be complete without one of these,

and some of this,

and a smiley crocodile!

 

I think I’ll have to add a few more acres ... 

Meet the help

When I am Rich, I might not have the time – or energy – to keep my lovely garden looking its best every day. I’ll need to employ some people to mow the lawns, trim the hedges, tidy the flower beds, sweep the paths and do all those other routine but essential jobs.

But training and supervising all those people will take me nearly as long as doing the work myself, so I’ll also need to hire a head gardener to take charge when I’m not around. (Of course I’ll still be the head, head gardener.)

So my garden will look wonderful, but then I’ll have to deal with all the paperwork involved with employing people. I think I’m going to need a bookkeeper, an accountant, a personnel manager and a health and safety officer to make sure nobody infringes the latest regulations … How much time and money is all that going to take?

Sometimes, a tiny garden seems the sensible option.

And here’s my one and only helper, quietly cleaning up all those difficult to get at nooks and crannies in return for a few tasty creepy crawlies.

 

Swanning about

I was thinking that, When I am Rich, it would be lovely if a swan decided to take up residence on the lake in my garden.

But cycling round the back lanes last week I came across a whole field of swans.

 

 

They were
coming,

and going,

and feasting on the lush, green grass.

My vision of a solitary swan seems rather boring now. And only one lake? I think my garden needs to be a little bit bigger!

Home, sweet home

When I am Rich, I’ll make sure there are plenty of safe and cosy nesting sites for all the birds I’m hoping to attract into my lovely, big garden. Although this pair seem to have already decided where they’re going to set up home.




Folklore tells us that birds choose their mates and begin nest building on St Valentine’s Day, but these wood pigeons took up residence in a neighbour’s apple tree several weeks ago. They might just be sheltering from all the wind and rain but the way they keep snuggling up together makes me think they’re making plans!

Ploughing a new furrow

One of the things I love best about this time of year is the way so many birds suddenly decide to flock together. Nature switches to party mode as the jostling, chattering crowd swoops excitedly from place to place.

 When I am Rich I’ll buy a tractor and offer to help the neighbouring farmers with their autumn ploughing and sowing. I might even resort to offering bribes for the chance to be the centre of such joyful attention!

The Dove Saga – Part 2

I don’t know if the doves heard about my plans to provide them with a bespoke nesting box – but they got very excited when they saw this:

 We’re having some building work done, and as soon as the scaffolding was erected the doves arrived to claim it.

Where would be the best place to build their nest?

On the wide, wooden planks of the walkway?

Against the house wall where it would be sheltered from the weather?

No, they had a much better idea. Let’s see if we can balance some twigs on the metal poles right at the edge …

They spent the rest of the day bringing in twigs, watching most of them fall to the ground, and flying off to find some more. Luckily, the builders arrived the next day and the doves (surprisingly) decided to abandon their new-found home.

Sorry, doves. Perhaps next year …

Home, Sweet Home

When I am Rich I’ll buy a strong, roomy, weatherproof nest box for this pair of collared doves.

I don’t know why they’ve decided that this would be an ideal place to raise a family

 

  or why they haven’t yet worked out that their nest blows away every time there’s a strong wind 

 

but I think they deserve a reward for persistence.

Strictly for the birds

I was looking out at my real-life garden, and making plans for my dream garden, when I suddenly realised what was missing. I need one of these …



so all the birds I hope to attract will be able to drink and bathe in comfort.

In the meantime, this little chap doesn’t seem to mind too much having to make do with a plastic dish.



And others are always happy to share a puddle.

They’re back!

When I am rich I will be able to fly to Africa whenever I please – and I will be very pleased.

I have never set foot on that vast continent. I’ve seen photos, watched documentaries, read traveller’s tales … and I’m impatient to experience some of those things for myself.

Now, Africa has come to me. The swallows are back!

Was the first one I saw an English swallow returning home from a holiday in the sun? Or an African swallow coming here to start 4 months of hard work raising 2, or perhaps 3, new families?
I like to think birds have no boundaries. They belong to the whole World.

I haven’t been able to get any photos of this year’s swallows, but here are some of last year’s visitors.