Yesterday was one of those days which prove the old saying that things come in threes. I should have been out for lunch but my friend had to postpone the date. I went to the local surgery to have blood taken for my annual check up and for the first time the nurse had to try several veins to get one to work. (Not my idea of a fun activity) In the evening, just as the recorder had started to record a couple of TV programmes I wanted to watch later, the power flickered a few times and died for the next hour and a half. In the 30+ years I have lived here there has hardly been one without a power cut, sometimes several. A few years ago I installed some automatic emergency lighting which can give up to three hours of light during a power failure. I hate the darkness and it is so eerie when the whole village is without light.
Anyway. On with the show:
I don't know about being up with the Lark. Here it is a question of being up with the Blackbird. They must be the first to be out and about looking for breakfast. We often get clucked and tutted at on our early morning walks at twilight. One of the video cameras caught the first to arrive in the garden at 6.30 a.m. as daylight was just breaking. On mild evenings I still put out a dish with a few raisins, sunflower seed hearts and dried mealworms. No signs of Hedgehogs but it doesn't go to waste.
Yesterday a male Blackbird spent quite a while preening in the warmth of the Sunlight. I'm nor sure whether it had been injured, possibly in one of their many squabbles but it flew away normally a while later. The last couple of days have been so warm it has been T-shirt weather.
Before I had to temporarily remove many of the feeders the Starlings had started their winter invasion of the garden.
Have a great weekend watching the wildlife around you.
Great Friday flicks John! The 'early Blackbird' was having a good tuck in to his breakfast and the Starlings were out in force!
ReplyDeleteSorry you had one of those days yesterday. I always think the other inconvenience about power cuts, even a brief one, is having to re-set all the clocks on the cooker, stereo, bedside radios etc...a real nuisance! What a good idea to have emergency lighting...but I might have known you would ;)
By the way, I definitely left a comment on your 'A Quiet Couple of Days' post on the 28th/29th, I can't remember the exact time but it was probably just before or after midnight. I realise with the problems you had yesterday it may still be awaiting moderation but I thought I would mention it just in case there has been some sort of glitch. I notice you didn't have the usual amount of comments on that post which seems slightly odd.
Those Starlings are making short work of the food on offer.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend John.
New camera John? The starling video is great, thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jan. I have noticed for a few years just how early Blackbird rise. In the Winter they are often about as dark shapes on the ground before it starts to get light. I think one can safely say that Starlings are not solitary birds ;)
ReplyDeleteOne advantage of digital radio is that the clock gets set again as soon as it picks up a station. Most of my clocks, as you would probably expect, are radio controlled and most of my timers have a built in battery to keep them going. I just have a couple I have to reset by hand.
All should be back to 'normal' today.
Hi Keith. The Starlings don't waste time on idle chit chat when it comes to meal times. ;)
ReplyDeleteHopefully your area is drier than it is here. It started raining just after I went to bed last night and it is still at it.
Hi Adrian. The early Blackbird video clip is from the Hedgehog camera which I have turned to face across the garden otherwise the rest of the videos are with the Hitachi camcorder.
ReplyDeleteI think its great to have bird calls before it even gets light outside. The little Willie Wagtails are the first to start calling around my house and that is well before there is even any light outside.
ReplyDeleteHi Mick. All I get from the Blackbirds at that time of the morning is their alarm calls when we get too close. How nice to have bird song before it even gets light - as long as it doesn't wake everyone up.
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