Aint it just typical! The day before I do my Big Garden Birdwatch my partner happily spots and enjoys the sight of a sparrowhawk perched on a fence post in our garden, wings slightly stretched, sunning itself. Have I ever seen one in our garden? NO!
I realise I'm in danger of sounding like my younger children but if I want to stamp my feet, clench my fists and rage at the injustice of it all, then I will. But hey. It's only a bird. OK it's a bird of prey. A fast and agile one. A beautiful and noble creature. An accomplished flier and I missed IT!
The next day my older daughters and I laid out our ID sheets, dusted off the binoculars, re-filled the feeders, got ourselves a drink and sat down to record all the birds that came to our garden. It's still largely concrete paving slabs but there are a few shrubs, some very muddy bits and the newly planted native hedge of buckthorn, hawthorn, dogwood, dog rose, beech and whips looking rather stick-like at the top of the railway embankment at the bottom of our garden.
We did well. Eleven different species was rather good I thought. At least the weather this year was far better than twelve months ago. Then it was grey, cold and very bleak. This year it was chilly, but it was dry and bright and not too windy. I've even managed to submit my results.
This week I'm off to a couple of schools taking part in the Big Schools' Birdwatch and it will be interesting to see if we spot more than eleven species. This may be an inner city, but birds know no boundaries and go anywhere. That's partly why we love them.
I was intrigued by some coverage in the German media of the Big Garden Birdwatch. It seems the British stereotype for them is a twitcher. We are a nation of bird lovers and they can't understand the fascination, which I think is rather weird. It's not that we all religiously rush out to see birds. We just like having them around. Birds are indicators of environmental health so shouldn't we all celebrate them as a mark of the effort put in to making our surroundings healthy? And can't we just enjoy the moment of seeing a bird furiously flapping its wings as it snatches seed from a feeder? Maybe grin with enjoyment as we see a blackbird splash in a bird bath? Gasp in admiration as a sparrowhawk snatches its prey? Sorry I'm off on another jealous rant here.
Ja, I think we should smile, admire, gasp and simply enjoy the world around us. Don't you?