My new friend nature.
Sunday afternoon, whilst down on the plot, I made a new friend. Whilst digging a bed, I got buzzed by a female blackbird. I'm not sure whether she actually brushed my head with her wings, or whether it was the down draught from them that just ruffled my hair. Either way, it was a serious bit of precision flying.
I'm lucky to have a plot I can share with nature. At the end of the plot, there's a public footpath, frequented by endless dog walkers. The other side of that there's a big overgrown hedge which, at the moment, is a favourite breeding and feeding ground for the local birds. Little flocks of finches are continually chasing each other around and a pair of blackbirds seem to spend half their day talking to one another. I've also got a robin sizing me up, presumably well aware of the treats to be picked from freshly dug beds.
Sunday evening, as I offloaded a bag of horse manure onto the pile, I noticed a dark shadow fly down to near my feet. I was suprised to see the female blackbird, just a matter of inches from me. I've never seen one act so bold so quickly. She's obviously well aware of the fact that a bag of manure might contain worms or insects. I gave her some food, which she rapidly picked away at before flying off, presumably back to a nest somewhere.
This evening, I came home from work via Wilkinsons, where I picked up some ring nails to finish my first raised bed with, plus an assortment of screws, as its clearly evident I'm going to be using them endlessly on the plot. Stopping of for a quick change of clothes at home, I went down to the plot via the house selling well rotted manure, picking up another 4 bags.
Down on the plot, I stopped off at the water pump to refill my 20l jerry can. We've got a hand pumped borehole on site, which means we have a constant supply of groundwater, but it's just that little bit too far away from my plot to be completely convenient. Lugging 20 litres the couple of hundred metres to the plot gets tiring quite quickly, so I've taken to bringing the can home with me and stopping off in the Landy to save me having to haul the can all the way.
I'd expected the polytunnel to be dry, but it wasn't half as bad as anticipated. However, the tray of wild flowers I've grown to plant out on the plot to keep the birds and bees happy has dried out and most of the plants are on the verge of dying. It's obviously a warning from nature that I can't afford to turn my back on stuff in the polytunnel, as it'll clearly die from lack of water given half a chance. I've now broken the plants up and stuck them in one bed temporarily until I can plant them outside. With a massive dousing with water, hopefully most of them will recover.
Today has been a great day weather wise, but the sky has clouded over as evening has set in and there's a bitter wind blowing across the plot. I really need to find a way to shelter parts of the plot a bit, as it's completely exposed at the moment, with barely a tree for hundreds of metres on one side.
As I offloaded the manure onto the heap, my little blackbird joined me again - once again just inches from my feet. I was transfixed as she bounced her way around, picking the odd insect off the heap. I went back to the Landy to get some food, them came back to find her lurking in the hedge. I scattered some food around and she came back, quite happy to pick around my feet, before dashing off to feed her young.
I know it's probably not the right thing to do, but I'm going to have to try and get her to feed directly from my hand.....
April 13, 2010
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Tags: blackbird В· Posted in: Wildlife
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