Waiting for breakfast

This 'ere pigeon sat on the patio table for several minutes undoubtably waiting for Susan to provide his (or her) breakfast. For the past couple of months the main benificiaries of the bird food have been magpies and pigeons, all of whom have become fat and accustomed to having breakfast provided rather than having to forage for it.

There has been more variety in the bird life at the table and on the feeders of late as the breeding season has accelerated. Now great tits, blackbirds and a small flock of sparrows visit to sustain themselves while engaged in the frantic search for insect life. Nowhere near the variety of birds that we have had in the past - no goldfinches or greenfinches for example yet.

However, there is a fly (or bird) in the ointment as Susan thought she'd heard the cry of a sparrowhawk yesterday and this afternoon when we passed the bird feeder there was a little pile of feathers underneath it. They looked pigeon coloured and I wondered if our feathered friend above had become a victim of the sparrowhawk. Drama and intrigue in the garden.

Apart from that it was a slow news day. A bit of work in the morning, some tasks on behalf of Susan's mum who needs a new TV and then an afternoon down the allotment planting peas we'd grown at home in guttering, sorting out the strawberry bed and continuing to wage war on the irrepressable weeds and tenacious mares tails. So much still to do there, but we did have the first lettuce and the last of the leeks and a plot holder gave us some radishes. The garlic looks a bit sick so I dug one up to see what the bulb was like. It was suprisingly good so we had that in the tomato sauce on the pizza.