It’s all too easy to take some birds for granted. It could be robins, starlings, chaffinches, blue tits, dunnocks - whatever it is that you see all the time. Then, something happens that makes you think ‘oh! Perhaps I should look a bit more carefully next time I see one’.
Recently, I went to visit my parents in the village where I grew up. Their garden feels different to how it did when I lived there. There’s no sign of the swings or slide anymore and the grass hasn’t been churned up by my little brother (now aged 26) playing football for some years…
There’s usually something to see when I go back to visit. A few years ago, it was a grey wagtail that dropped in to inspect their pond while I watched. Another time, a female brambling was feeding with the chaffinches on the lawn. That was quite annoying - I had to wait years for my first proper look at a brambling, and my parents hadn’t even noticed it.
This time, it was blackbirds. Hordes of them. We counted carefully: one by the greenhouse, another on the patio, two chasing each other under the cherry tree, another rummaging in the flowerbed, more under the hedge... Altogether, nine, all together in the same, smallish garden!
I felt quite pleased with myself until I saw Brian Tonks’ photo, e-mailed to us after he read our monthly e-newsletter.
His total of 16 really puts mine in the shade.
So, why are there so many blackbirds around at the moment? Imports, that’s why. It’s likely that a large proportion of these birds have flown all the way from Scandinavia to enjoy our mild weather and traditional British earthworms.Bear that in mind next time you see a blackbird in your garden. Its name isn’t Mr Blackbird, it’s probably Sven, Anders or Lars.