The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Lesley Silvester on July 13, 2018, 09:22:39 pm
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Every year a pair of blackbirds nests in ours or our neighbour's hedge and I love watching them finding worms and other goodies for their babies. With the heatwave, the worms have burrowed quite a way down and Mr Blackbird has been very busy digging up my newly established flower bed which is annoying as the soil goes over the patio. The stocks are leaning in all directions and looking quite sorry for themselves despite frequent attempts to put the soil back round their roots.I did feel for the birds though as they were working so hard to feed their young.
Yesterday I had a :idea: . I was filling the bird feeders and through a handful of meal worms onto the flower bed. Today they had all gone, the soil is still where it's meant to be and the stocks are upright.
Just need to remember to do it every day.
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It's amazing how quickly they get us humans trained.
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Just wait - they get impatient and come indoors to get you if you are a little late with the food! Husband had to let Mr B out of the dining room window the other day as he'd strolled in through the patio doors in the living room looking for us. When I come home from shopping or whatever - there he is waiting for me to get out of the car - sitting on it sometimes! Just miniature chickens and equally manipulative. And then there's the robin . . . heaven help me!
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Then the babies fledge and lurk around looking glaikit, just waiting for the sparrow hawk, the cat, the dog or a passing car to get them. Those few days of protecting them are stressful! Then there was the fledgling last week which was determined to fly straight through the house, via the closed windows. He managed to knock himself out on the third attempt, so we could rescue him and carry him round ::) Yes, they have us well trained :thumbsup:
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I'm glad it isn't just us then that are slaves to our wildlife! The mallards wander into the kitchen to raid the cats food bowl if we are late with their corn, the squirrels knock on the French Windows, and the moorhen's share the hens pellets!
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I'm under the spell of a toad. She has moved in into one of my flower pots and I shower her every day with freshwater (all my other pots has to do with greywater and not every day).
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Our next door neighbours have a blackbird called Betty, who comes into the kitchen for bits of cheese.
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Dennis is the senior male BB , will push the cats away from the feed bowl ( they dont bother him ), always leads the night time chorus from my window sill, the same one he uses to wake me up, 03:40 today , nearly all the birds here visit the laundry room for tumble dryer fluff ( that I've saved up over the winter ) at nesting time , passing the 2 coiled springs of Rottweiler guard dogs (zzzz ). Used to have a female BB who would take raisins from my hand .