Air traffic control at Bird Station 1

Last week the RSPB invited garden owners to take part in 'The Great Garden Birdwatch' as part of their gathering of statistics. We duly downloaded the App to take part and added our list of regular visitors to our bird feeding station.

We inherited this Bird Feeding Station from our dear friends, Les and Anne and have never altered its position in some 12 years or so. Positioned strategically close to hedges for shelter and nesting, surrounded by berried shrubs to perch and feed amongst with ground space underneath for bottom foragers.  It is the perfect place and  a regular delight to us. An old bathing fountain completes the picture tucked in amongst the grasses to provide water for sipping and bathing in.

Making coffee this morning at my kitchen window after a productive gardening session my gaze as ever was drawn to it as a lot of activity seemed to be taking place.

Cocky Locky, our beautiful but dim pheasant was furking around under the bird feeder, trawling through the husks and remnants left by other tinier tidier visitors.  As he turned around his enormous tale, bashed into the newly sown Stipa arundinacea - damn him!  Suddenly he takes off vertically, squawking in that shrill echoing wail familiar to countryside dwellers, crashing through the soft emerging buds of the Magnolia soulangiana behind the bird feeder as he just about clears the hedge. At take off  he almost collides with Fat Boy Pigeon, coming in without clearance who manages to crash-land amongst the plants, bird feeders and  narrowly miss the drinking fountain before subsiding into the Phlomis.

As I notice that the fat balls need replenishing a vivid scarlet flash swoops into the scene,  disappearing behind the Magnolia trunk as if awaiting some invisible command.  It is 'Mission Impossible' ( cue music...) time as the Great Spotted Woodpecker begins his par cour tactics.  Perhaps he doesn't realise there are no laser alarms attached to my bird feeders? But still he avoids the floor, then scales the wooden post claws only, before dropping down as if on a zip wire onto the tube of nuts. He knows he has only 30 seconds to peck, eat and get out of there.....

I drink my coffee feeling like an Air traffic controller on a break, never a boring moment on my watch!