The foggy foggy dew.
Not so cold this morning (9C) but the visibility is awful.The whole world seems dark and gloomy and when I look beyond the garden it is shrouded in mist. Within the garden, attempting to watch the birds, I can see the washing line resonantly vibrating- something has landed but can I see what? I can hear songs and calls-wood pigeon and great tit are prominent and the rest make an anonymous chorus.
There is enough light to see movements and dim shapes and their behaviour and I identify a robin and a blue tit. Another shape glides down and out of sight beyond the end of the house . I expect a blackbird to come hopping back and am not disappointed. It hops around and then dissolves into the darkness under the edge of the shrubbery. A little later I am amused by the whiteness of an apple core dancing in that same darkness, and realise the blackbird is there using the same trick that puppeteers use on stage.
After some on line comments from my son about his bird feeders in his Newcastle garden I decide it is time to check mine. The peanuts do not seem to have moved for days. Sure enough they are rigidly moulded together, solidified futility like so many fillings of peanut feeders before...I don't know what it is with my peanut feeders but the birds do not seem to want to take to them. I've bought the nuts from various sources, it doesn't seem to make any difference. The only way to get them eaten is to scatter them on the ground and the pigeons then come, but that is not the intention...they are far too expensive for pigeon feed. There was a time when a scattering attracted jays, and I thought that was well worth the pigeon risk...but then the jays moved on. The peanut cage is now emptied washed and drying and will be ready to refill shortly. I musn't grumble...I do have a regular clientele that keeps me royally entertained on the other feeders...more on that perhaps on another day.
There is enough light to see movements and dim shapes and their behaviour and I identify a robin and a blue tit. Another shape glides down and out of sight beyond the end of the house . I expect a blackbird to come hopping back and am not disappointed. It hops around and then dissolves into the darkness under the edge of the shrubbery. A little later I am amused by the whiteness of an apple core dancing in that same darkness, and realise the blackbird is there using the same trick that puppeteers use on stage.
After some on line comments from my son about his bird feeders in his Newcastle garden I decide it is time to check mine. The peanuts do not seem to have moved for days. Sure enough they are rigidly moulded together, solidified futility like so many fillings of peanut feeders before...I don't know what it is with my peanut feeders but the birds do not seem to want to take to them. I've bought the nuts from various sources, it doesn't seem to make any difference. The only way to get them eaten is to scatter them on the ground and the pigeons then come, but that is not the intention...they are far too expensive for pigeon feed. There was a time when a scattering attracted jays, and I thought that was well worth the pigeon risk...but then the jays moved on. The peanut cage is now emptied washed and drying and will be ready to refill shortly. I musn't grumble...I do have a regular clientele that keeps me royally entertained on the other feeders...more on that perhaps on another day.