I am a big fan of wild birds. I have an old apple tree in the middle of my lawn and every day I top up the feeder that hangs from a lower branch. I often watch through the window when I write. I keep an eye open through the open kitchen door when washing up. I am often rewarded by visits from blue tits, great tits, chaffinches and goldfinches. I am thrilled when the long tail tits visit and love to see tree sparrows, a species in steady decline now.
Robins are regular visitors. One sits on the highest branch of my 100ft sycamore, trilling his wonderful songs. Last year I found some cushion stuffing blowing round the lawn and hooked it on the branches of the apple tree. When I trimmed the privet hedge in late summer, I found a small, perfect cup, the size of half a tennis ball: a nest made from the same synthetic stuffing. In winter, I have been fortunate to see jays, a tawny owl, three waxwings (that was incredible) and a pair of grey wagtails. One Christmas Day, we sat down to lunch and watched a lesser spotted woodpecker picking off the last hawthorn berries. There was snow on the ground that year, quite a rare event on the Fylde Coast.
Birdsong is always in the air. Sometimes I listen to a CD of birdsong, in an attempt to recognise my little visitors when the light is too difficult to see their colours or they are obscured by leaves. It has been several years since I saw or heard a song thrush at home. I remember my Grandmother was always delighted to see one. I am not sure how many are left now but I will keep looking out. I take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch every January. The song thrush didn't make the Top 20 in Lancashire this year. Click on the link if you want to see the results or take part in the survey next January. https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/results/
In September, during a short break in Kos, I was upset to see wild birds in cages in restaurants and outside in gardens. We sat in a beach front café in Agios Stefanos, listening to a caged goldfinch sing magnificently as it charged frantically back and forth long the perch in the caged. Kos is a beautiful island and to see a wild creature exploited as entertainment always distresses me. A wild bird is meant to be free, "why have the wings, unless you're meant to fly and tell me please, why have a mind unless to question why?" Bergman, Bergman, Legrand.
The subject of birds coming close to extinction has been a feature of the news this week. Many species of wild song birds native to Java in Indonesia are nearing extinction. They are captured, caged and enslaved because of their wonderful vocal repertoire. There are competitions held all over Indonesia in which caged birds sing for massive cash prizes: A top crooner can win equivalent to £60,000. In a poor country, this is huge incentive. It is driving Java's songbirds to extinction.
It is estimated that there are only 80 pairs of this exquisite green bird with bright red beak and black masked eyes left in the wild in Java. Experts from Chester Zoo are now conducting a captive breeding program. Isn't it sad.
Human beings are not content to subjugate and enslave each other. When I worked in Tenerife, we often found baby chimpanzees dead on the beach. Their photographer owners would drug them and dress them in baby clothes. They were cute. People loved having their picture taken with a baby chimp. The trouble is that babies grow up and then they are not useful: then they are drowned in the sea and wash up on the beach. The photographer just gets another baby chimp - wrenched from it's grieving mother - a near relative of every one of us. The world closes its eyes to the exploitation of wild creatures. We are still unable to stop the exploitation of children in third world countries and sex slavery in our own.
Robins are regular visitors. One sits on the highest branch of my 100ft sycamore, trilling his wonderful songs. Last year I found some cushion stuffing blowing round the lawn and hooked it on the branches of the apple tree. When I trimmed the privet hedge in late summer, I found a small, perfect cup, the size of half a tennis ball: a nest made from the same synthetic stuffing. In winter, I have been fortunate to see jays, a tawny owl, three waxwings (that was incredible) and a pair of grey wagtails. One Christmas Day, we sat down to lunch and watched a lesser spotted woodpecker picking off the last hawthorn berries. There was snow on the ground that year, quite a rare event on the Fylde Coast.
Birdsong is always in the air. Sometimes I listen to a CD of birdsong, in an attempt to recognise my little visitors when the light is too difficult to see their colours or they are obscured by leaves. It has been several years since I saw or heard a song thrush at home. I remember my Grandmother was always delighted to see one. I am not sure how many are left now but I will keep looking out. I take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch every January. The song thrush didn't make the Top 20 in Lancashire this year. Click on the link if you want to see the results or take part in the survey next January. https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/results/
In September, during a short break in Kos, I was upset to see wild birds in cages in restaurants and outside in gardens. We sat in a beach front café in Agios Stefanos, listening to a caged goldfinch sing magnificently as it charged frantically back and forth long the perch in the caged. Kos is a beautiful island and to see a wild creature exploited as entertainment always distresses me. A wild bird is meant to be free, "why have the wings, unless you're meant to fly and tell me please, why have a mind unless to question why?" Bergman, Bergman, Legrand.
The subject of birds coming close to extinction has been a feature of the news this week. Many species of wild song birds native to Java in Indonesia are nearing extinction. They are captured, caged and enslaved because of their wonderful vocal repertoire. There are competitions held all over Indonesia in which caged birds sing for massive cash prizes: A top crooner can win equivalent to £60,000. In a poor country, this is huge incentive. It is driving Java's songbirds to extinction.
It is estimated that there are only 80 pairs of this exquisite green bird with bright red beak and black masked eyes left in the wild in Java. Experts from Chester Zoo are now conducting a captive breeding program. Isn't it sad.
Human beings are not content to subjugate and enslave each other. When I worked in Tenerife, we often found baby chimpanzees dead on the beach. Their photographer owners would drug them and dress them in baby clothes. They were cute. People loved having their picture taken with a baby chimp. The trouble is that babies grow up and then they are not useful: then they are drowned in the sea and wash up on the beach. The photographer just gets another baby chimp - wrenched from it's grieving mother - a near relative of every one of us. The world closes its eyes to the exploitation of wild creatures. We are still unable to stop the exploitation of children in third world countries and sex slavery in our own.
Caged
Bird
by Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
