The lockdown goes on and is scheduled to continue for a long time. One consequence of this is that everything is generally quieter as there is less traffic and no planes in the sky....or con trails. Everything seems stiller so that we can hear the birds more, the loudest of which at least in my garden, are the squabbling house sparrows and the frequent song of a male chaffinch which ends with his cry of ‘pleased to see ya!’.
Each day I hear the beautiful song of the blackbird mainly during the dawn chorus and in the late afternoon but he delivers a few phrases at other intervals to defend his territory against nearby rivals. A pair of robins have already brought up a brood in the potting shed and the male’s delicate song and warning tics are to be heard throughout the day. Sadly, he lost his partner a few days back and had to work very hard to feed the nestlings on his own.
A serin and a firecrest are both singing from the garden’s trees and the crackling song of the black redstart is always in the background. One pair of these birds has been trying to build a nest on top of the apex beam inside the covered terrace but almost all of the material which they take up there falls down within a few minutes as the beam is too narrow. They seem not to realise this fact and have persisted with their enterprise for at least two weeks ...and continue to make a mess.
I hear a cuckoo, green woodpecker and a buzzard calling most days but the blue and great tits along with the goldfinch and greenfinch which flit through the garden remain generally quiet.
I am still awaiting the first hoopoe and nightingale but swallows are becoming more commonplace and some are now feed around the village rather than flying through.
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