Crows - near Sarehole Mill, Birmingham UK
https://goo.gl/maps/WHmWRM5Qh6J53pQi8
Hi Julie,
Nice to meet you. It's a small forum!
I grew up a short walk away from Sarehole Mill, and we kids used often to go and catch tiddlers (Sticklebacks) in the River Cole near there - more a stream than a river, we would wade into the middle barefoot with our nets. Out after breakfast, home for dinner (=lunch), out until tea (=supper =dinner), no adult supervision; great times.
And my other hot spot there was the Hall Green library. On Saturdays when we didn't go out to play, for example when it rained, rare in England, I know, but it happened, then I'd get three books out when it opened, read them, get three more at lunchtime, read them, then get three more before it closed to get me through Sunday. (Saturday evening was TV with the whole family, the highlight being 'the film' - I still remember that my mum could get grumpy if the film had Barbara Stanwyck in it, because my dad totally had the hots for her.)
Here in the city of Nara, Japan, we are not even locked down - museums are closed, but temples, restaurants, and all shops are still open. However it's very quiet as throughout the year we get huge numbers of Chinese (mainly, also other Asian) tourists, as well as those from the rest of the world, who are not here - and as the cherry is in full bloom, and we've been told to look but not party, it's very strange. The deer from the park have started coming past our house much more than usual, presumably looking for food because there are no longer tourists to pay for and give them the 'deer crackers' (like biscuits, but specially formulated with stuff that is good to eat for deer).
Our Prefecture (about the size of a UK county) has had sixteeen cases so far, of which five were foreigners brought here from the cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, two were locals from that cruise ship, and there are three active cases, all the others recovered, no deaths here so far.
Just for the record, though there may have been mild cases missed, the Japanese numbers (surprisingly low so far) for serious cases and deaths have not been 'fiddled', at least not deliberately - source, a good and trusted friend who is a coronavirus public health centre doctor for her city (not Nara), and very busy (including days with 24-hour phone duty, mostly neurotics and idiots - e.g. true story, 'My neighbour sneezed in the elevator, can you come an disinfect our entire apartment block').
Apologies, all that is totally off topic, and I expect I'll get my knuckles rapped by Nutcracker (it could be worse, fingers crossed he doesn't live up to his name and ...)
This was just prompted by gettting up this morning (it's about 8am here in Japan) and getting a mail from a good UK friend of mine who is very immuno-suppressed (but otherwise fit and active in her fifties - just an auto-immune problem, not anything else) who has been told that it's more dangerous for her at the moment to go to hospital for treatment, than it is not to get treatment, but that she must
completely isolate herself at home for three months (at least, assuming it's over by then) - her (grown) kids can't visit, her man can't visit. Luckily, she has a large garden, and likes plants and birds (which is at last, the Bird Forum connection - I was in the process of replying to her and telling her about this thread when I came across Julie's post), and she lives in a place where she can get food delivered fairly easily.
Anyway, inspired by this thread, I'm going to suggest to my friend that we try and do 'a bird a day' from our respective homes, so maybe she won't feel so isolated.
And I hope all of you are OK, too, of course.
A photo of the season from last year - a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker admiring the cherry blossom near our house; bonus -you can just make out the two red spots on the back of the head of the male, which are only visible when the feathers are ruffled.
Forgive me this one transgression, Nutcracker!