Pandemic

No, not that pandemic, but the outbreak of avian flu that is particularly bad across the country this year.   Migrant birds may have brought it here – seabird colonies and flocks of wild geese have been much affected – and it has now reached our parts.  It’s highly contagious and apparently birds die very quickly after catching it.  The estate next to the village brings in large numbers of pheasants for shooting, which have come down with the disease; they roam very freely around the area, spreading the flu to at least one of the village farms, whose hens all died yesterday.  500 of the pheasants have also died;  the prospects don’t look good for the other chicken flocks round here (and our local supply of eggs will be disrupted for some time).  Fortunately hardly any pheasants and few partridges have been wandering into the garden this autumn, so perhaps our land isn't badly infected.

But I wasn’t entirely surprised to find a dead woodpigeon under the holly tree today.  It hadn’t been attacked; it just looked as if it had just keeled over, so I’m assuming it was another casualty of the flu rather than a victim of a predator.  I found it a burial place in the front border by the wall.  But we’re hoping that our many other birds in the garden and beyond stay clear of the disease, especially the birds of prey such as the kites which might scavenge on the carcasses of the dead pheasants.  Ultimately, though, there’s not much we can do about it.

Our lame woodpigeon Lefty is still hale and hearty, and has been clearing up the dropped scraps under the fatball container when the sparrows are having their fill.  We’re hoping he’ll make it into 2023 when he will be at least 10 years old (we first noticed him in 2013, see the blog from that year).

Lefty and the sparrows

The weather has been on the mild side for November, but rather wet on the whole.  While stacking firewood for the winter, D noticed that the birds had been making use of the woodstore over the summer – there are two nests tucked up under the roof on top of the wood.  We left them there at least for the time being in case they are of use as a winter roost!

Nest in the woodstore