Summer has finally hit this corner of Wales, and in general seems to have been a popular move apart from those individuals who seem determined to show things the rest of us really don’t want to see. The birdies are responding well though.
Apart from one minor problem. It looks to be either a Speckled Thrush or Mistle Thrush, and it’s a thug.
I have seen it chasing crows twice its size across three gardens, and it was trying to kill our Blackbird until I intervened (screw Starfleet directives, that Blackbird has a family to support). It makes the most appalling racket to boot.
Interestingly it seems to have no quarrel with Wood Pigeons, which continue to coo and do regular impressions of a strangled French Horn. Whether a strangled French Horn would leave "deposits" all over the gate is a matter for conjecture, but the Pigeons definitely do. I can only assume that the Blackbird suffered the fate of many who stand up to a bully and then find that nobody is going to back them. Mind you, judging by the noise it’s currently making I suspect a repeat bout may have gone in favour of the yellow-beaked defender.
Sparrows. Lots of them, and most likely more to come. Once again they are looking at our guttering for nesting potential and a Beech hedge seems to have turned into the Sparrow version of a hot nightspot and pickup joint. Despite the bird feeder having been removed they still resemble feathered tennis balls.
