Saturday, 8 May 2010

I decided to take time out today to write a post. Much the same as always, I stocked up the feeders early morning and huddling my cup of tea I did the head count. Today is the first day for a long time that we have had 4 Long Tailed Tits feeding. There have only been two for a while now. The number of Swifts is increasing too. I saw my first two over the house early last week and the count now is 12. After I came in Trevor went out and within minutes I heard something that made my heart sink. It was Trevor sounding like something awful had happened… “Oh no… oh no, no, no…” I raced outside and he looked devastated. He had been watching the Wren, who has been spending a lot of time in the garden lately. It wandered along the fence and onto next door’s fence. The cat from next door but one must have been hiding, as, in Trevor’s words “it just appeared from nowhere and snatched the Wren”. I just hope that Wren got away; I have to believe it did.

I then went out to get Molly some sweets and chocolate. She loves fruit jellies. I visited her (in the residential home where she is staying) before heading out to her house to sort a few more things out (you can collect a lot of “stuff” in 88 years, and at this rate Molly will be 100 before we are finished sorting it all out!). We didn’t go for a walk in the garden today; it was far too cold for Molly, and me, truth be told. We sat by a window and talked, but we still managed to see a Green Woodpecker, Great Tits, a Nuthatch, Corvids, Swallows and a Buzzard!

I managed 20 minutes at Porthpean late afternoon. The sea was choppy and it was blowing a hooley! I could hardly keep the scope steady. I heard a Chiffchaff and saw GBB Gull x 3, Gannet x 5, Fulmar x 23, Great Northern Diver x 3, Cormorant x 3, Shag x 1, Sandwich Tern x 5, and just before I was planning to leave I spotted two back dots on the horizon, which appeared to be heading towards me. I watched them getting closer and closer until eventually I realized they were Swifts. As they got closer to land one took a drink from the sea, and then headed in towards Par. It was lovely to see them arrive. A very special moment and much needed after the sadness of the Wren this morning.

One of our garden Wrens…


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12 comments:

  1. Ashley Hugo8 May 2010 at 22:22

    Glad your out and about again!
    Nice pic!!

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  2. Angad Achappa9 May 2010 at 05:03

    Nice image of the Wren...
    Regards,
    Angad

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  3. Angie Moore9 May 2010 at 08:34

    Thank you Ashley and Angad.

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  4. ShySongbird9 May 2010 at 13:13

    “Oh no… oh no, no, no…”... That sounds exactly like the anguished sound which I recall making when my lovely Song Thrush was taken by the neighbour's cat last Spring. It was heartbreaking and I'm so sorry about the Wren, poor Trevor! I know how helpless he must have felt. I remember charging down the garden with a jug of water after seeing the same cat climbing the bird table and poised to pounce on an unsuspecting Collared Dove. How I didn't break my neck falling over one of the uneven slabs I will never know but I did manage to save the bird (and soak the cat). I would never, ever be cruel to any living thing but cats do challenge one's patience and shouting and hand clapping don't work with that particular cat!!

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  5. Monts10 May 2010 at 19:09

    Sad about the Wren Angie it happens all to often,
    my worst hate is seeing Blackbirds the have been hit by cars that really saddens me. Just wish they would learn to fly higher rather than hedge hopping.

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  6. Angie Moore10 May 2010 at 22:21

    Hi Monty. I'm glad I didn't see it. I caught the same cat at it again yesterday. There were two Blackbirds. One on the washing line and one on the fence. The cat jumped up from the other side of the fence, but the Blackbird was too quick on this occasion. The cat got a cussing and went off looking sorry for itself. The sad thing is, I love that cat and I don't think the owners feed it enough :-(

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  7. Anonymous12 May 2010 at 22:29

    Its nice to read your post as you used to do, Hope you are keeping well.
    Keith

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  8. Angie Moore13 May 2010 at 07:44

    Thank you Keith.

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  9. ShySongbird13 May 2010 at 14:26

    Hi again, Angie. I just nipped back as it has been niggling me that I may have offended you with my tale of the cat and the Collared Dove. My account was rather exaggerated in that the cat actually received just a few drops of water on one ear :) which was enough to frighten it away from the poor dove. I also once coaxed the same cat down from the top of our Apple tree which it had climbed in fright after a visiting dog had chased it in the adjoining garden! Strangely enough as I took it back to the safety of its owners I asked it if in reward it would stop bothering my birds :) and since then I have only seen it in the garden once and it just seemed to be passing through!!

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  10. holdingmoments13 May 2010 at 17:25

    Really sad news about the Wren Angie.
    I've got a pair of Blue Tits feeding young in a nest box at the moment, and if anything happened to them I'd be devastated. I can imagine how you and Trevor must feel.

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  11. Angie Moore13 May 2010 at 21:06

    Hi SSB. Absolutely not. Last year I was using a pump action water gun on our little whiskered visitors. (Sorry cat owners!) It did the trick, but left me feeling guilty! I don't think it bothers them that much because they still all come to me for cuddles as soon as I get out of the car when I arrive home and they love a bit of Hesper's boiled chicken breast in the evening when the birds have gone to bed :-)

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  12. Angie Moore13 May 2010 at 21:07

    Thank you Keith. Look after those Blue Tits :-)

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