Last year the blackbirds nested in our creepers. This year, they seem to be nesting next door. How much of a snub is that? The previous year we had a pair of wood-pigeons, in a drunken moment I named them Sieglinde and Siegmund. At least next door's blackbirds are using our garden for feeding. They are currently into dates we never got round to at Christmas.
Papa Blackbird is currently foraging; he appeared as soon as we left the table. So I am now under strict orders to stay inside whilst Papa Blackbird does his foraging, because if I went out I'd scare him.
It was so cool last year, they woke me up at about five o'clock in the morning and I watched Papa and Mama perched on chimney pots , one keeping watch on the nest whilst the other went searching for food. Something happened, another bird, one perhaps they see as predator, arrived and their tune changed, and near-panic arose. Mama flew back to the nest, Papa went on the hunt.
They're now singing, relieved that that weird human couple are no longer in their hunting ground.
But it's been a long time since I've seen Siegmund and Sieglinde.
