Garden Birds

I've become obsessed with the birds in our garden this winter.

With the death of our cat last year, the wild birds of Hertfordshire soon came to dance on his grave. They thrilled in his wake at fed at his wake.  They had very little shame, though to be fair he'd not tried his best to befriend them.

Anyway, the bird feeder has always been there but this year they can't get enough. Maybe it's said cat's departure, maybe it's been all the snow and ice but our garden is full of wild birds tucking in to the All-You-Can-Peck Folland Buffet.

They've become like kids to me though. I worry about them far too much. The other day we ran out of milk for our real human son.. and yet I realised whilst shopping I'd picked up an extra bag of bird seed! Still, our boy has adapted remarkably well to feeding from a coconut filled with lard.

I watch as one after another they flit in and out constantly grazing (whilst they watched me no doubt over Christmas, constantly flitting in and out of the kitchen constantly grazing - picking at Quality Street, sausage rolls, shortbread and cocktail sausages, stocking up for the winter..)

Apparently they need all this food as garden birds in cold weather lose 5% of the body weight whilst asleep. I could really do with evolving in the same direction.

Expect a weight loss DVD from a couple of Blue Tits next Christmas.

I like to sound knowledgable to my wife and son as the birds come in and out of the yard. She's Australian so doesn't know English birds so well and he's 14 months old so the only garden he's great with contains Igglepiggle. So I find myself saying 'ooh hear comes a sparrow... robin.. blue tit.. great tit.. thrush.. starling.. (I start to clutch at straws after this..).. erm.. Goldfinch... Chaffinch.. (looking around the kitchen for inspiration).. Kettlefinch.. ToastTit... (she seems unsure).. Lesser Spotted Toe Curler.. Hedge dwelling Fridgemagnetishaw.. Quality Street.. ooh Quality Street, I'll just have one of those...