Tiptree Blackbird

Regular followers may have realised by now that I love blackbirds.  I just wanted to record this particular one in my journal.  He hangs around the garden at Mum's, and perches in the same tree every day singing very loudly.  He's instantly recognisable as the same bird, as he incorporates a twiddly bit rather like a car alarm into his song every so often.  The blackbird that frequents my neighbour's garden in Chesham does a wolf-whistle in the middle of his song.  Apparently no two blackbirds ever sing exactly the same pattern.  I learnt today that, throughout their entire lives, English blackbirds rarely stray very far from the spot where they were born and fledged.  I also learnt that, while the average age these birds live to is 3.4 years, the oldest recorded blackbird (which had been ringed) was more than 20 years old.  I particularly like hearing the song-duel between the blackbird in the Tiptree garden and the robin, both extremely territorial birds who probably each feel this is "their" garden.

I'm having an enforced quiet afternoon today.  I would usually go for a long walk after lunch, but the sole of my right foot has been feeling very tender for some time now so I'm resting it in the hope that it might improve.