Saturday 16 April 2011

Oh Dear, What Can the Matter be?

Third day with no nesting activity in the Great Tit box. I did hear a GT belting out its alarm call yesterday and last night was the first time there has been no bird roosting in the box for many months. Has she fallen foul of the Sparrowhawk or the killer black cat I wonder or just changed her mind as the Blue Tit did last year.


The title is from an old song the first verse of which is:

O dear, what can the matter be?
Dear, dear, what can the matter be?
O dear, what can the matter be?
Johnny's so long at the fair.

My upbringing was not so refined as some so I knew a different version which started:

Oh, dear, what can the matter be,
Seven old ladies were locked in the lava'try,
They were there from Monday till Saturday,
And nobody knew they were there.

These and other information about this song can be found HERE on Wikipedia.

12 comments:

  1. That is a major disappointment. How is the Wren doing? Let us hope she'll be back or found somewhere out of the glare of publicity.

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  2. It is Adrian. No sight or sound of a GT about the garden so far today. Not sure about the Wren nest as I keep away from it and I can't see in even with binoculars as the hole is so small. There is a Wren around the garden much of the time though.

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  3. Oh dear this really is a disappointment John. I really hope if it isn't to be then it is due to a change of mind rather than the other horrible possibility.

    Our version was always 'three old ladies'. It still engenders fits of giggles from the little ones in the family :)

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  4. Whoops! Just found I missed Friday at the Flicks and the Green post! I thought the green post was spot on, it said it all really.

    I loved the tadpole video and it was so clear, they seem to be doing really well, excellent news!

    The Wren video was lovely too. They never show themselves as openly as that in my garden. I assume it is one of your nesters?

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  5. Oh dear John,
    I hope they re-change their minds if nothing horrible has happened to them! The Blue Tits have only just started nest-building in our garden, with some interest from the local cat!
    J
    Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

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  6. Yipes! Let's hope they return to the nest building and nothing untoward has happened.

    Nice to see sunshine on your side bar!

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  7. I hope the Great Tit returns John.

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  8. Still no sign Glo. I have seen the male but not the female.

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  9. It is a great loss Keith. No signs as yet.

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  10. Hello Jan. I think the birds which collect moss are very vulnerable as they are concentrating so hard on the job in hand.

    There appear to be hundreds of tadpoles, certainly more than 100.

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  11. It's hard to tell John. The Blue Tits changed their mind last year, different box but same position.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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