Choosing a mate?

I attended a Catholic primary school, and my first memory of Valentine's Day was being told by Sister Camillus that this was the day that the birds decided their mates. Having done a little ferreting on the internet, I think that derived from the work of Chaucer, who was perhaps the first to associate Valentine's Day with romantic love.

In Parlement of Foules (1382) Chaucer wrote:
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
["For this was on Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate."]

And I suspect that the nuns didn't really want eight year old girls filling their heads with dangerous thought of boys and romance!

Certainly today there has been plenty of signs of birds pairing up and setting out territories. First thing this morning I disturbed a wren on the patio, who then flew to a nearby bush and poured out his glorious song. I'm always amazed at the volume such a little bird can produce.

We also have two pairs of robins, two pairs of dunnocks and a pair of blackbirds in the garden. The blackbirds frequent the patio and scoff the sunflower seeds and vitamin-enriched bread and milk put out for the chickens. They are the sleekest, glossiest pair of birds and should raise a healthy brood!!

Pete and I went out for a walk, followed by lunch and then to a garden centre to buy our Valentine's Day plant (Chaenomeles 'Geisha Girl' which has soft apricot flowers and will replace a wall shrub that didn't survive the run of cold winters). While we were out I spotted these two great crested grebes - who look as though they might become a pair - but perhaps haven't quite made up their minds yet!