Bird Strike

Last weekend was the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which involves sitting still by a window for an hour and watching who lands in the garden. Sounds easy. It only works, however, if you have the cooperation of the birds.

In anticipation of the watch, I kept a close eye on wing activity over the week, many birds visited, ate and left. We even had a gang of Long Tailed Tits gracing our birch tree. They are a rarity in our patch, preferring the house three doors along which is bigger, has a better selection of trees and superior bird food.

Sunday found me perched on the kitchen worktop, feet dangling over dishes on the drainer to gain the best view of the proceedings. The first thirty minutes passed. Not a cheep. After sixty minutes a grand total of 17 birds had been counted. And about half of those were starlings. The Long Tailed Tits were a no show. I think the weather was against me with the wind so strong that it was tricky for little legs to perch on the feeders. That and the presence of Georgie Ginger, the cat from over the wall who chose that very hour to walk with menace across our lawn.

I have emailed my measly total to the RSPB and hope that it will help a little in their studies.

In other news, I made a hat and a scarf for Knittah's Botswana Project and bought a second hand book of embroidery stitches. Inside was this little pressed flower card. A note on the back dates it as 1975.