Lockdown Mascot

A rather special day. My birthday.

Unbeknownst to me, J had decided that despite the strictures we currently operate within, we would have a fun day. And indeed, it has been.

After breakfast I was told to isolate within West Wing North, and on being let out was informed there would be a treasure hunt. All I had to do was follow the clues around the house (and garden - it stayed dry, fortunately).

So this is one of my presents. J commissioned it from S, a potter we know in the New Forest (photos were posted). “Baldy” (he suffered from feather loss around his eyes) was our resident blackbird during the lockdown, singing from our and our neighbours roofs, looking for worms and sunbathing in our front garden.

We got very attached to him, he will be something we’ll remember with fondness about this year’s very strange Spring. The last time he was sighted, J was sitting in the back garden and he ran along the top of the fence and hopped down before flying off. Unusual, as the ridge line of our roof was a territorial boundary between his territory and another’s. A sort of blackbird no go zone. Things shifted subsequently and we now have another blackbird pair nesting in the hedge at the back of our back garden.

This afternoon, a walk. Despite appearances extra), we avoided the rain.