Well caught

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There is a neighbour who feeds the birds and attracts plenty of them to her front garden. This particular morning I had walked a little way past her house when I saw a young sparrowhawk with a collared dove it had just killed. It almost ignored me as I walked in the carriageway and took photos (which included a car mirror).

As I moved a little closer the hawk hopped into the hedge bottom with its prey. My scaring it actually did it a favour because the magpie would surely have stabbed with its pointed bill and maybe have stolen a meal. Let’s hope the hawk learns to be more wary and more skilful and survives the coming winter.

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Packed Lunch

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Autumn is spider time as well as bird time! This one has set up home just outside our kitchen window and is doing its best to control the fly population.

Watch for the birds

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For a few weeks the birds in evidence in town have been jackdaws and other crows, gulls, including one that could not find its way out of St Thomas’ church, and members of the pigeon family. They do things their own way: last week I saw a half eggshell of a wood pigeon, but a town pigeon landed just in front of my bike to retrieve a lost stick needed for nest building on the old post office.

Precious little sight or sound of the song birds until this week. We were sitting under the trees at the Glebe when two robins began to sing quietly to each other just above our heads. Surely a couple. Then a happy surprise when our 4 year old blackbird reappeared. You may just distinguish his identifying white spots.

Happy Autumn!

Not just the eating

Ready to sow carrot seeds

The journalist and chef had written about moving out of London and starting a vegetable garden. Well done to her! She clearly enjoyed getting her hands dirty and eating her first crops:

“The feeling of satisfaction and fulfilment was addictive. But it wasn’t just the eating: it was the fact that I had created my own food from a tiny seed.”

But no, no, no. You did not create your own food. Even if you are an atheist, you must recognise all the forces of nature that nourish the seed, once you’ve sown it and gone away, leaving it to grow, you hardly know how.

Have some humility; remember you are human, that is humus – earth – and to earth you will return. You can, perhaps, claim to create or design a garden. You can create a recipe for the produce of your garden but you cannot create a carrot. Rather you should watch over it, harvest it, admire it and enjoy eating it as fresh as possible, giving thanks to its creator.