I topped up, cleaned and resighted some of my feeders, Big Ben chimed 845 am in the background.
Deciding to see just which birds would find the dried mealworms on the tree stump first, I went upstairs and waited, watching from the bedroom window. Almost immediately the hanging feeders were full of house sparrows, I counted 18 squabbling busy brown birds and admired the boldness of 2 smaller goldfinches trying to edge their way in. 2 blackbirds settled down to make a mess of the pond edges again with their daily morning bath. A plane heading for a heathrow landing ploughed its way overhead.
Blue tits & great tits hopped in and around the action, snatching a snack when each opportunity arose, and 4 (the most I've ever counted) dunnocks slunk around the edges, this was a busy morning. A helicopter kept up the aerial noise and a builder shouted from the roof of a nearby block of flats.
The first heavy pigeon landed on the lawn, the sparrows held their places and then in a flash all were gone, surprising us all a sparrowhawk swooped in, only just missing its target.
Silence from one side of the garden, panic and alarm calls on the other. Sparrows sheltering in the sparse and almost leafless honeysuckle, with the sparrowhawk (can a bird look annoyed?) watching intently from the fence. It looked up, fixed me with its brilliantly bright yellow eyes, stared for a moment and then flew off, to try again somewhere else?
The garden was still and quiet, a magpie shouted from the roof of a nearby block of flats, a police siren sounded in the distance and a robin hopped on to the tree stump.
I wish it were countryside proper, but city gardens can still give us wild action.
That's a fabulous description Kogia!! Sounds a great garden! Has anything found those meal worms yet??
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
Yes, super description. I can just picture the scene.
There is something new to learn everyday...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skylark58/
Thank you, I would really prefer to have a house out in the country, but as its not possible right now I've tried to get the best from what we have and I've been blown away by how much diversity and action we do see.
The robin definitely got the main share of the worms, but I think the blackbirds finished them off.
Brilliant narrative - I could picture it all.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Kogia, It was lovely to follow your story. Just remember if there weren't people like you in the city, who feed the birds, then they would all have to leave or only be in the parks.
Sounds like you have got your very own inner city nature reserve going on in your garden Kogia. You're very lucky to have so many house sparrows visit your garden as well. I live in London and although it has taken a few years have learned to love the place. Despite the pressures there is a a huge amount of wildlife to be found in cities, from the kings of speed; Peregrine Falcons to the humble cockney sparrar, we can all do a little bit to help. Check out the RSPB London Blog for interesing posts about city wildlife amongst other things.
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Fabulous RSPB blog Martin, full of information about the why's and what's of bird feeding.
It is good of you Kogia to draw the inner city issues to our attention from your own experiences.
There is so much going on all over the place it is a question of all of us keeping our eyes, ears, and hearts open to nature at its best.
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Martin Abrams Sounds like you have got your very own inner city nature reserve going on in your garden Kogia. You're very lucky to have so many house sparrows visit your garden as well. I live in London and although it has taken a few years have learned to love the place. Despite the pressures there is a a huge amount of wildlife to be found in cities, from the kings of speed; Peregrine Falcons to the humble cockney sparrar, we can all do a little bit to help. Check out the RSPB London Blog for interesing posts about city wildlife amongst other things.
Would love to take the credit for the London blog but that is actually written by my esteemed colleague Tim from the RSPB London Team.
Hi Martin
Well done Tim. Great write up.
I live on the outskirts of London and I will read it over and over again to remind me that there is life in town too,
Well its a great blog, whoever wrote it, I shall try and keep up with it now. Its always good to read about city wildlife ie. animals surviving (and often thriving) in spite of us.
I'm also pleased people liked what I wrote, so thanks for the comments on that.
Thanks Kogia!
Make the boy interested in natural history if you can; it is better than games [Robert Falcon Scott]
Hi Kogia - I used to visit relatives in London and some of my early memories are of Blackbirds tugging away a worms in the lawn and Song Thrushes cracking open snails - Robins singing thru the ight because of the street lighting - foxes more or less hand tame - great days out birdwatching as well around the parks and lakes - logged in one of my birdbooks is a list of sightings at a lake near Heathrow and amongst the birds was the word 'concorde'! Thank you for reminding me of great times spend in the city.
lucybob .....and amongst the birds was the word 'concorde'!
.....and amongst the birds was the word 'concorde'!
The best bird ever - who hatched and fledged at the bottom of my garden and should never have become extinct.
The extinction of the concorde species was a true tragedy.