The bully boys

The cold weather has gone, for the moment, and temperatures are now more normal for this time of year, above freezing with clear, sunny spells – good gardening weather at last!  The birds, less concerned now about keeping warm and finding food, are focussing their efforts on territory and pairing up.  The patio robins are an item again, protecting their patch against incursions by the robin from the far side of the garden; the dunnocks, who are often the target for robins’ territorial ire, don’t seem to bother them, at least for now.  However, all is not peaceful on the patio.

The patio robins - with dunnock

A pair of collared doves have started coming for breakfast, and don’t tolerate competition.  I’ve always thought of them as gentle birds, but these two are bully boys; the little birds are safe from them, but they’re not happy with the blackbirds (admittedly, the blackbirds aren’t happy with other blackbirds either; there are at least three males and three females around, and there’s a lot of aggro), and the woodpigeons, specifically Lefty the lame pigeon, whose territory the patio is, are enemy no 1.   After one of the doves attacked Lefty, landing on his head, he has given them a wide berth, even avoiding the patio when food is put out if the doves are around.  We’re trying to scare the bovver boys off, but it’s not easy to do without frightening Lefty as well.

The doves weren’t around during the hour when I did the Big Garden Birdwatch last weekend.  The count was better than expected, with a good range of species and quite respectable numbers.  We have a lot of sparrows, but they’re fidgety birds and difficult to count; I managed 13, which I thought was a good representative number (there are almost certainly more).   This was typical of the count: I recorded a fair number of each species, although I know that there are actually more in the garden.  Four of the six blackbirds, for example, and three blue tits; the two patio robins (but not the interloper), three dunnocks and two of the longtailed tits.  The rest were singles, but I was pleased that a wren showed up, and surprised when a song thrush appeared; there was one singing last summer in a garden nearby, but I don’t think we actually saw it, and this was the first sighting for months.  The others, a greater spotted woodpecker and a starling, were more predictable but still welcome.  No finches at all, nor great tits; I don’t know what’s happened to them.

Today I finally got round to planting the tulips (in pots)!  Better (very) late than never.