Nature Notes

[poliphilo]

We have a fat clump of ivy and honeysuckle stuck to our garden wall. And there's a blackbird's nest in it.

I've just spotted father blackbird sitting on the fence across the way with something disgusting in his beak. Look left, look right and all's clear- so he lifts off and flitters home.

The other day I planted wildflower seeds in a window box. These particular wildflowers are supposed to attract butterflies. I'll be glad of that and so will the blackbirds I guess. Ah, the great Chain of Being!

I saw my first butterfly of the season yesterday, sitting on a neighbour's gravel drive, sunning her wings.

Comments

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

When I was a child, my father gave me a blackbird for my own personal pet. It was the most beautiful bird in the world to me; the feathers gleaming black and the beek a glorious yellow. Some say it is wrong to keep a wild bird as a pet, but it wasn't. He was never put in a cage; merely visited our garden every now and then, and I'd look at it and think "That's my bird!", and then, after a while, he'd fly off to do whatever blackbirds do when they are not the pets of a small boy.

That is, perhaps, the greatest present my father has ever given to me. I still see my bird every now and then; he gets around a lot. I've spotted him in London, Paris, Copenhagen... I once threw a tantrum when we were visiting family in a remote part of the country; I saw my bird and became angry at him for having strayed so far away from home. These days I realise that there are, perhaps, more than one blackbird in the world, but whenever I see one I still think of it as mine.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

What a great present.

Who knows, maybe this is your blackbird who is setting up home now in our English back yard. Sleek black feathers, you say? Bright yellow beak? Yup, it's the same little guy.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

As I said; he gets around, the little fellow!

Many bad things can be said about my parents, but they did have imagination! And that is not a bad thing for a parent, or anyone, to have, especially when the budget is low.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

One of my father's greatest gifts to me was that (unpoetical chap though he was) he took it upon himself to read me poems by the fireside when I was very small.

Blake
Belloc
Edward Lear

And so he laid the foundations of my literary taste.