I am a HUGE bird nerd! I’ve always loved birds, especially birds of prey and ever since I met my handsome one, he reignited that love as he feels very much the same. We really are two peas in a pod.
We had last week Friday off, which was brilliant as all we want to do is spend time at our house, and as we got out of the car there were two gorgeous red kites circling over the top of our head! And this is just the start…
Later on that day, I could hear a bird making a noise and couldn’t quite make out which bird it was, so I stepped outside and on a telephone post, just the other side of our fence was a beautiful great spotted woodpecker! He was so very handsome and it wasn’t long before his mate flew by into the near trees, which was a real treat. We’ve seen them several times since, so I will be sure to make sure all the bird feeders are put up very soon.
I thought we were rather spoilt with a pair of great spotted woodpeckers, but little did I know that there was another pair of woodpeckers living nearby, but instead of being spotted, they were green! Where we live currently, we have a pair that we see quite frequently and I know their shrill calls, so I recognised them flying by straight away. They also have quite a distinct flight, as they appear to bob in the air. This is such a great picture from the RSPB, of them in flight.
On Saturday, whilst trying to befriend the horses in the field with polos and carrots, we saw a stunning buzzard over the back field just taking off out of the trees in the field. I adore buzzards; they’re majestic, beautiful and so incredibly common – how lucky are we! I love being a passenger in the car, so I can try and spot them stood on a post or soaring above. This buzzard has been a frequent visitor over the weekend, so I must try and think of a name for him / her.
For us the pièce de rèsistance was the sparrowhawk.
It had started raining whilst we were working on the garden, so we went inside made a cup of tea and decided we would look at the view from the bedroom for a change. Whilst we were taking a well deserved rest, a bird flew past the window and we both jumped up as we realised it was a sparrowhawk.
Stood on the neighbours fence, she was absolutely stunning and we were overjoyed as I have never seen one so closely before. Hanging our heads out of the window and staring in awe at this incredible bird, she suddenly flew off at speed as some sparrows flew past and she proceeded to fan her tail out, turning sharply in mid-air and caught one! I have never seen anything like it, and whilst I felt incredibly bad for the sparrow, I was in utter admiration of this incredible bird.
The more time I spend at our house the more I’m falling in love with it – horses hanging their heads over our fence waiting for carrots, amazing birds and being able to plan out exactly how we want it. I really feel like I have hit the jackpot.
A xx
Abi in the Garden 