Squirrels on the Roof, Pheasant on the Lawn
Vernon Coleman
Garden Observations…
1. We watched a harried blackbird struggling to feed two huge cuckoo babies. The young cuckoos were much larger than the blackbird. Two cuckoos to feed seems a trifle unfair.
2. The squirrels who live in our garden spend most of their day burying hazel nuts. (We buy bags of nuts and throw a few out every few hours.) Today, I threw out some baby carrots as a reward for the rabbits who keep the grass down. However, the squirrels buried the carrots before the rabbits could get to them. Now I suppose we will have a garden full of carrot trees.
3. A squirrel knocked a seed feeder onto the grass and then rolled it along the ground to make the seeds fall out. Eat seeds, roll feeder, eat seeds, roll feeder.
4. We have a busy schedule of creature feeding. The pheasant and squirrels come for sunflower hearts for breakfast. During the day the squirrels demand nuts for luncheon and afternoon tea. The pheasant then returns for dinner. And at suppertime the badgers and the fox arrive to hoover up everything that’s left.
5. We have a parliament of crows living in beech trees. The crows keep the seagulls away. If a seagull turns up the crows quickly send it away. Maybe towns which are having trouble with seagulls should encourage more crows.
6. A mother squirrel turned up with two babies. She brought them to the spots where we put out nuts and seeds and then tried to teach them how to climb up a drainpipe. Unfortunately, the babies were too small to manage it and the trio had to take another route to their drey.
7. How do mother squirrels know when their babies no longer need her? Do the baby squirrels perhaps smell differently?
8. The squirrels bury most of the nuts we put out – and then forget about them. We now have small copses of hazel bushes everywhere. It would save time to dig holes in the garden and throw in some nuts. It would cut out the middlemen.
9. I have only just noticed this, but birds of all sizes will always wipe their beaks on the grass after eating and drinking.
10. A pair of Great Tits brought their three babies to the fat ball feeder. It was wonderful to see the family having their first meal out together.
Copyright Vernon Coleman 2019
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