steve_nova
Wednesday 19th March 2003, 21:46
What a fabulous day it has been today. Still, clear blue cloudless skies from horizon to horizon. A perfect day to do some gardening (and some bird watching of course).
I saw a pair of Kestrels in mid courtship ending in the male bird alighting upon the females back with a loud kek kek kek kek announcing his triumph! I have never seen this before, in fact, I have never seen two Kestrels together before.
A pair of Magpies were being particularly noisy with their machine gun chack chack chack and I suddenly noticed two Carrion Crows silently drop over the top of next doors house and land in the tall conifer next door. They were deliberately tormenting the two Magpies who were now dive bombing them, almost buffeting them as they swept past. Loud cawing then ensued and the two Crows must have known that they were near the Magpies nest. They will be back.
A Song Thrush was singing his heart out at the top of a tree over the road, quite oblivious to the shenanigans less than fifty yards away. It was I presume the same one I saw two weeks ago. I hope he finds a mate, or do they have several?
The obligatory gardeners friend, a Robin was following me around for upturned tit bits. Amazing how close they can get to you too. Then what I thought at first to be a Thrush materialized into a Jay. It was just flying very high up so looked quite small though now unmistakably a Jay as it passed overhead. It headed straight for the woodland beyond the fields a mile or so away.
The late afternoon ended with Blackbirds, Songthrush, and a Starling in full song, each seeming to vie with the each others aria.
I did actually get a lot done in the garden, but the distractions were a nice occasional diversion.
I saw a pair of Kestrels in mid courtship ending in the male bird alighting upon the females back with a loud kek kek kek kek announcing his triumph! I have never seen this before, in fact, I have never seen two Kestrels together before.
A pair of Magpies were being particularly noisy with their machine gun chack chack chack and I suddenly noticed two Carrion Crows silently drop over the top of next doors house and land in the tall conifer next door. They were deliberately tormenting the two Magpies who were now dive bombing them, almost buffeting them as they swept past. Loud cawing then ensued and the two Crows must have known that they were near the Magpies nest. They will be back.
A Song Thrush was singing his heart out at the top of a tree over the road, quite oblivious to the shenanigans less than fifty yards away. It was I presume the same one I saw two weeks ago. I hope he finds a mate, or do they have several?
The obligatory gardeners friend, a Robin was following me around for upturned tit bits. Amazing how close they can get to you too. Then what I thought at first to be a Thrush materialized into a Jay. It was just flying very high up so looked quite small though now unmistakably a Jay as it passed overhead. It headed straight for the woodland beyond the fields a mile or so away.
The late afternoon ended with Blackbirds, Songthrush, and a Starling in full song, each seeming to vie with the each others aria.
I did actually get a lot done in the garden, but the distractions were a nice occasional diversion.