Spring is Sprung
There was a surprise the other day. A lavender bush with a lot of flowers on it waiting to be picked and dried appeared to have suffered from a dose of voracious moths. But no sign of caterpillars and when do caterpillars eat lavender flowers?
That was before we caught the culprits.
The grass is riz
Goldfinches, I believe. Not seen these beauties in ages. Watching them do their avian-as-locust impersonation took me back to boyhood and trailing after Dad as we went birds’ nesting.
Back then it wasn’t illegal to collect a bird’s eggs though it was becoming rather passé. Rather we’d hunt for the nests, identify the birds either from the actual birds flying in and out or, better still from my perspective because it seemed like we were detectives from the eggs themselves.
I wonder where the burdies is.
Dad was exceptional at finding nests. Benefit of the classic misspent youth, I guess. And he had a compendious knowledge of the birds themselves. We’d be out on a walk and while most would look at the view or talk in awed terms about the trees or the flowers, Dad would be peering into the nearest hedge.
While the rest of us would see twigs and leaves Dad could make out the shape of a nest. Once, he saw a yellowhammer flit into a hedge some fifty yards ahead. Dad’s excitement was palpable as he increased his pace and headed for where that little bird had disappeared.
The yellow hammer is interesting enough
but what I really remember where its eggs
because, as a result of these patterned beauties it was also called the Arabic-writing bird for a reason.
The burd is on the wing
Being shown that nest, tucked into the hawthorn of a straggly unprepossessing hedge alongside a nondescript rural road in deepest darkest Kent will stay with me for a long time yet.
Not that long ago I did a post on a walk I’d done from Margate to Broadstairs. At one point that day I spotted a skylark. People talk about the skylark for its exceptional song. But the thing I like about it – as shown to me by Dad – was how it would try and deceive you as to where it had made its nest.
But that’s absurd
The cunning little minx would hover and then drop to the cliff top ground cover making you think ‘ah ha’ nest. But in fact I’m landed yards away and, on landing scurried off to its nest through the undergrowth.
And then there was the red back shrike.
A shrike is one of the most blood thirsty of nature’s beasts impaling its prey on spikes. As a small, naturally bloodthirsty lad this was brilliant.
Birds. Ah the fun. Clever, beautiful and dangerous to know. You might say the same about … no, of course I couldn’t. After all I don’t know anyone who eats lavender.
The wing is on the burd
TanGental 
This is a charming post, Geoff, fascinating too. I never did anything like that, so I enjoyed hearing about you and your dad. Sorry about the lavender… Hugs!
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Yep, a country boy at heart. Many’s the tale…
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Greedy little so-and-sos aren’t they?
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absolutely; it’s not like we don’t put food out for the little beggars – I wonder if they were trying to shame us into upgrading the seeds we supply?
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Wouldn’t put it past them!
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I love birds, one of these days I may become a twitcher!
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Do, you know it makes sense…
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I remember the first time we saw a yellowhammer. We thought someone had sprayed a sparrow with yellow paint, but we had several visit out garden when we had the cottage. We also had green finches and gold finches. We also saw a white sparrow, a one in a million chance, but it was on the marina that I saw my first bull finch and redwing up close. Love the birds. I could watch them all day.
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There are days when time just slips past watching their antics. Never seen a redwing and no bullfinches for years, but an absolute glut of chaffinches recently which is something
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The number of sparrows and starlings around here is amazing.
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Starlings are a bit of a rarity here, unlike a few years ago. I blame the parakeets.
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Are they like Magpies and raid nests then?
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They bully the medium sized birds. Tits and finches seem to be ignored – fly below the radar you might say- and they keep away from crows and jays but the woodpeckers and starlings are now thin on the ground since they began to expand in numbers.
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Haven’t seen or heard a woodpecker locally.
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The wild bunnies always ate my lavender.
Lovely post and photos, top of my morning, thank you
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Tis a great pleasure. The wild bunnies, oddly seem not to care for our lavender but the newly planted beech hedge… hmm
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Lovely post, Geoff. My dad was also great at finding nests and had been a keen egg collector when he was young. Even when he was in the later stages of dementia he could identify and remember the names of the birds he saw.
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That’s a precious memory, Mary. As Dad slowed in that last year he took pleasure in his bird table and recalling stories around the birds he saw.
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I’ve never seen birds eating lavender. Thanks
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I know, who knew. Though these were Suffolk birds and since Suffolk is next to Norfolk and the inhabitants’ actions aren’t labelled NFN (normal for Norfolk) for nothing that may be the (convoluted) explanation
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Make perfect sense to me. Now I’m concerned.
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Be afraid… be…
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I get it. *slams door
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So…if you were to stuff one of these said lavender-munching birds, and store in your underpants drawer, would they be the same as a scent sachet…? And give your undies the beautiful aroma of lavender???
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😀 😀 😀
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😜
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I have to say that scenting my smalls is not something I’ve considered in my 61 plus years on this rock but maybe it’s something I need to embrace alongside pintrest and kale smoothies as i move into the sixty-twos
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I think you should definitely consider!!!
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I’ve had tiny little wrens gathered on my lavender plants, I’d assumed they were consuming any little aphids or such but maybe they weren’t………. I love watching birds and should have loved having your dad around!
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yeah, he could be quite cool when he was doing his natural history professor shtick… otherwise…
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These birds are gorgeous, Geoff, and your tidbits of information fascinating. Thank you for sharing.
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Pleasure . As ever it’s odd what pops back into the old noggin.
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Not to mention what pops out. 🙂
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Lovely post, I have learned a great deal 💜
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Oh my pleasure.
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🐤🐦🕊️
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My husband is crazy about birds – he even names the ones that show up regularly and owns several books on birds so that he can identify them. We rarely see their nests but then we live next to a grove of trees.
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Somehow he could spot them when everyone else just say bushes…
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The birds know winter is coming and they are voracious for seeds right now. Your father’s misspent youth led you to be the observant writer you are, making a fine post out of stripped lavender. Do your goldfinches fly like riding a roller-coaster like their American cousins? They are one of my favorite birds to watch in flight. So happy.
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Ah that ‘swoop’ is common in wrens and finches and the English robin. It’s an energy saving device and is part why they’re build like winged lozenges. A few wing beats, swoop and beat again, hence that rollercoaster motion.
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Ah! That’s so interesting! I love the twitter that accompanies the swoop, too.
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The goldfinches eat zinnia petals, seeds, and yes, lavender blossoms. Your pictures of them are lovely. I’m interested linguistically, though, as “yellowhammer” here refers to a flicker, which is a sort of woodpecker. Alabama is the yellowhammer state and my father always called flickers that. Now, I find that other folks apply that term to finches… fascinating! And great pictures.
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There, who knew? Another ‘separated by a common language’ moment!
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Their poop must smell like Parma violets. Love your pics too. From one bird freak to another.
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I remember one very cold winter in Oxfawdshire, a flock of Goldcrests coming and eating the entire lot of flowers I’d left on a lavender in about 3 minutes. They were quite a sight!
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They were voracious.
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