GARDEN BIRDS

I’ve not really got much to say to you all today. The “black dog” is upon me and my spirits are low. Instead, in an effort to cheer myself up, here’s a picture of some long-tailed tits clustering on one of our feeders on some long-ago December morning.

Sometimes I think that it’s really only the watching of the birds in the garden that keeps me sane. I mean, it’s not the most exciting or exotic spectrum of birdlife that we get visiting us, to be honest. Just the usual cluster of tits and finches with the odd robin, nuthatch, magpie, pigeon or blackbird thrown in, and the “biker gang” of jackdaws patrolling the scene like something out of an old Marlon Brando movie, but the simple fascination of watching them go about the daily business of seeking out food can be the most exciting and fulfilling part of many mornings before the usual humdrum of human existence takes over my attentions.

I particularly like the long-tails, resembling, as they do, little flying lollipops. They have a kind of ineffable cuteness and loyalty to each other that seems remarkable as they fly together in much the same little gangs, I suppose, as the jackdaws do, but they do it with far more grace and charm which makes them infinitely more likeable.

They might not be as colourful or pretty as some of the other birds like the finches which I admire, but when they descend en masse, it can be the most thrilling of moments, I can tell you.

And on the days when the “black dog” is around, it’s those thrilling little moments that are the ones you need to try and cling on to.