Gape

It was a day of frantic activity in the garden - for the blackbirds. Big chick has been out of the nest for a few days now, and has an insatiable appetite. The father was feeding it ivy berries, while its mother was gathering worms apace - to take back to the rest of the brood in the nest - mainly it seems from the numerous pots on the patio.  Some of the newly rooted Pelargoniums were not just unearthed, but disappeared completely as she was taking beakfuls of peat-free compost to the nest.  

The night before I had put out my tender young brussels sprout and calabrese seedlings to harden off before they get planted into the allotment. I had taken the precaution of putting them into a tunnel of chicken wire, but the female has been emboldened by the drive to feed her hungry chicks and she got into the tunnel and three weeks' worth of sprout seedlings were simply demolished. The perils of wildlife gardening.

C's clever idea later was to rig up some netting tents (using our indoor drying racks) to protect what is left, so we have done that and pinned the netting down with stones. If the hen blackbird  can find her way in there, there is no hope for the veggies this year.

Big chick was deep in our Viburnum bush where this was taken, and getting a clear line of sight through the foliage was a challenge that involved crouching on the low wall with its loose topping stones, while being pricked in the back by a Berberis.