Feed the birds - but it's more than tuppence a bag

I seem to have joined the RSPB, and I'm not quite sure how it happened.

Yesterday was one of those hurtling around kind of days, during which I did some word-wrangling and also taught three yoga classes. The problem with teaching morning, afternoon and evening is that it makes it difficult to find time for a proper meal, so by the time I reached Morrisons to pick up a few bits and pieces it is possible that I was feeling a little lightheaded.

Anyway, just inside the door were a couple of people trying to recruit new members to the RSPB. When their opening line is 'Do you like nature?', it makes it hard to say no. I have a limited budget for charitable donations and usually stick to those supporting humans - not that I don't like animals, of course, but finding a cure for cancer is more important to me than supporting, say, the Cats Protection League. The trouble is, this argument doesn't stand up when you consider that if we don't look after our environment the rest of it doesn't matter a hoot, so to speak. The RSPB isn't just about birds, I now know; it's about 'giving nature a home' and all that that entails. What's not to like?

Anyway, weak with hunger and beguiled by the handsome young man who gently outlined the charity's ethos and who was so persuasive, I seem to have signed up. I walked away clutching a temporary membership card and a picture of a hedgehog.

A little bird tells me

One for sorrow...

I've just been disturbed from my work by the tap-tap-tap of a beak against my patio door. It seems I am a little late feeding the birds this morning, and Blacky is getting impatient.

The room at the back of my house where I work looks over the garden. I used to work at the front, but not only was it very chilly, but also I found I was forever going to the window to look into the street for the postman or just to have a nose. At the back of the house, my room faces south and gets all the sun. Even at this time of year I benefit from the 'solar heating' and if I wear a large-brimmed hat I don't have to draw the blinds to see my screen - although I did get a funny look from the window-cleaner this morning.

I've only got a small garden, but I like to put out food for the birds and get quite a variety of visitors: 'Trotty' wagtails are prevalent at the moment, plus the usuals - blackbirds, sparrows, finches (even goldfinches, when I remember to top up the niger seeds) and robins, too, of course. Excitingly, there is often a red kite hovering overhead. And am I the only person being invaded by magpies? Incidentally, one of the only things I ever learnt how to do in art classes at school was to draw a magpie, because it is simply a series of overlapping triangles.

...two for joy

I'm on the mailing list for the e-newsletter from the RSPB: 'Wild About Gardens', which this month has a link about a new BBC series that is look for people whose garden is a haven for wildlife. Sounds interesting - although I was alarmed to hear that: 'Outline Productions are making a new landmark series for BBC ONE about the perilous [sic]  state of Britain’s wildlife and what we can all do to help.'

It's a jungle out there.