It's official. It was the hottest April ever, so the pundits say! Tell us something we don't know! The garden was on hold and the rivers were drying up. I thought, "I'll fix this! I'll put the recently purchased garden gazebo up!" The idea worked! As I opened the big cardboard box the first large drops of rain started to fall and the clouds rolled in. By the time we'd finished erecting the structure we were thoroughly soaked, so we retreated indoors. The Gods must have been angry: there was rain, thunder and lightning thereafter, all night.
We emerged the next morning, tremulous and wide-eyed, wondering what 'Apocalypse 4' had sent us. Oh dear! On emerging from the backdoor of our 'cave', Super-raptor (Sparrowhawk) had made not one but two kills from a small group of Collared Doves which inhabit our garden ... and just to show its utter contempt for us had plucked them on the backdoor step and carried off the results to its young who have been 'waxing fat' for some time now as he has been visiting the garden at regular intervals during the day for a couple of weeks.
Otherwise, all was well. The garden trees and the orchard had exploded into full leaf overnight with the rain. The sun was out and the birds were singing. Nature had done its worst and Super-raptor had struck - but you wouldn't have known except, of course, for the piles of feathers ... which brings me to the issue of continuing to feed birds in Spring. "Yes, I know the arguments, but, in fact, all we are doing is providing a smorgasbord for every predator in the area. We draw in and retain a large population of birds and are rewarded for our pains by attracting unnatural numbers of raptors and predators into the area also. I said with irony to Judith, "When you've finished filling up the bird feeders and putting them all out, I'm going to ring the handbell to announce 'mealtimes' to all in the area." That's why I've called his post 'Ask not for whom the bell tolls'.
It seems to me the issue is one that has no answer. Man has always intervened in Nature and will continue thus ... and, of course, the moral issue hangs there like a shadow over us all. The huge amounts of money we spend on feeding birds, it can be easily argued, should be spent saving the world's children from malaria or some other dreadful circumstance ravaging our planet. "Yes," I hear you say, "you should be doing both. Give up the case of brandy and wine that you have delivered to your doorstep each month." Mea culpa ... What a selfish uncaring swine I am!
Bird feeding station within hawthorn bush provides safety from raptors.
General view of garden - all areas have their bird feeding stations.
Site of Collared Dove kills near backdoor step.
Mallard Duck eggs predated and brought to central area for consumption. Many attempts by Mallards over the years to nest in the orchard, all of which have been unsuccessful due to either Magpie or resident Crows - Crows have, for at least 25 years, nested in the garden. Strangely - we really like them as they provide much protection from all predators at all times of the year, no matter what or who ... from Foxes, Cats, Sparrowhawks, Harriers, Buzzards, Gulls and Jackdaws etc. They think that they own the garden and the adjacent marsh - nay, they do! - but are at some difficulty when Magpies appear in groups of ten sometimes. Feral cat's, who live in the area, lives are made a misery by these dominant corvids.
General view of damson orchard
Drainage ditch running through the garden.
Connecting DIY bridge to orchard and garden. Incidently, Wrens and Blackbirds are known to nest under the structure.
Showing proximity of garden to Campfield Marsh and Solway Estuary.