A couple of blackbirds have started eyeing up my plum tree for a potential nest site. This fact alone should give you a clue that they're not the brightest pair - I know the blossoms look lovely, but it's February, for pity's sake, there are no leaves and there was a frost yesterday morning!
I suppose they have some excuse though, as it has been quite a mild winter so far - even the geraniums are still hanging in there. Maybe the mirror you can see behind them has been reflecting the light onto them, or something like that.
However, I don't think Mrs Blackbird is too keen to set up home just yet; she doesn't seem convinced about Mr B's fidelity. You see, she caught sight of a rival the other day - yep, that's right, just behind the aforesaid geraniums. She's been sitting in the flowerpot, pecking angrily away at her reflection for the best part of two days now, while Mr B stands a few feet away on the path looking rather embarrassed. Whether that's because he really has got a girlfriend in the background, or because he knows that it's only a mirror and is having second thoughts about Mrs B's intellectual capacity, I can't be sure. Or perhaps he's had a look himself, obviously seen another male, and is ashamed that he's too much of a coward to do anything about it.
Anyway, my dilemma is this: given that I thoroughly dislike birds and the last think I want is a nest just above where I walk through my gate every day, {particularly if the birds in it are not very intelligent} should I turn the mirror round and end their anguish? But then they'll build a nest. Or should I leave it, hoping their relationship will flounder and they'll both go away? If I leave it, could she actually break the mirror? I'd be really annoyed about that!
She was at it again when I came home this morning and, as I wasn't brave enough to walk past her to get to my back door, I had to walk round the block in the freezing wind to get to my front door. I do feel sorry for her, but this is my territory, and this is war now!
