London’s Hampstead Heath on a drizzly Saturday was buzzing with life: Coot, sparrowhawk, kestrel, cormorant, heron, shoveller, grebe, moorhen, mallard, starling, magpie, blackbird, tufted duck, parakeet, mute swan, black headed-gull, greater spotted woodpecker and lots of dogs!
My day started well, in that I managed to stumble out of bed before the BBC London radio car arrived to interview me in my scrappy garden about Feed the Birds Day and Homes for Wildlife. Sadly, the reporter didn’t have a radio mic so we did the interview in the street.
I’d made instant coffee but I think someone in my house had got confused and had added some ground real coffee to the jar of instant – our gritty coffees went untouched. After the interview, the day went downhill rapidly. My boiler developed a fault leaving my partner, three children and me, with no heating and no hot water. Our emergency accident insurance policy disappointed us with news that we won’t get a visit from an engineer until Tuesday – THREE DAYS AWAY!
Next, it was time to rush off to Hampstead Heath for our event. I cycled off to the rail station, bought my ticket, rushed on to the platform where the display told me the next train was on time. The declared “time” came and passed. The display updated to say the next train (due in fifteen minutes) was on time. Again, no train showed up and there was no announcement, no apology. A Third message flashed up to say the next train was on time but that too failed to show and I waved goodbye to almost an hour of my life – admittedly, an hour I’d gain the next night when the clocks went back; I still resented it.
I did arrive at Hampstead Heath in time to help with the setting up of our display and stand next to Pond number one. We were also running pond dipping sessions and a bird-finger-puppet activity in the nearby Secret Garden. These activities will be repeated at other Aren’t Birds Brilliant! events at Hampstead next month, December and January.
Thankfully, the morning’s trials and tribulations ebbed away as visitors stopped to chat and as we looked around to enjoy the Heath and its wildlife. The mute swans put on a great performance flapping and tootling across the pond with loud smacks of their great wings. The heron caught a fish, which the gulls then tried to nick and at least two dogs wee-ed on our display. Not even that final act was able to diminish the glow I’d developed thanks to the enthusiasm and interest shown by visitors for our Homes for Wildlife campaign. If every Londoner were to sign-up imagine how colourful and full of life our towns and cities would be. Go on, let's green the grey and bring wildlife back in to our lives.
Finally I have to urge caution for the coming weekend's firework festivities ... please remember wildlife. There's no evidence that birds are any more startled by fireworks than they are of thunderstorms.. but fireworks are mini-explosives and can harm, so do take care.
You don't need to travel to Hampstead Heath to encounter the Parakeet. We've got a small flock (6 or 7 birds at the moment) living in Wembley. Only a couple of years ago they were alien to us, but now they're comfortable enough to be approached. I've also seen them down in Ealing.