In the current lockdown, I feel as though one day blurs into another in an interminable continuum, and I seem to ‘lose’ one day a week. There is no way of accounting for a particular day in a week, Tuesday one week, Wednesday in another. What did I do? The correct and horrifying answer is: nothing, niente di niente. Except a trip to the local Co-op.
One of the things that has kept my fragile sanity intact has been walking in Wimbledon Common. Another is birdwatching. I started with a small hanging feeder bought early spring last year. Then the struggle with my arch enemies started. The feral pigeons. When it comes to food, they are clever, crafty, and in no way birdbrained. Over the past year, I tried different feeders, and I have ended up somewhat reluctantly wtih a ground feeder with a cage-like protector that keeps out larger birds such as pigeons, parakeets, and magpies. Feral pigeons aside, I don’t mind feeding parakeets for instance, but I doubt my neighbours would appreciate the noise and droppings.
While I have seen the occasional coal tit, nuthatch, and goldfinch, the regular visitors have been blue tits and a robin. Peanuts are blue tits’ favourite, though they also like sunflower hearts. Given the territorial nature of robins, I suspect it is the same robin that comes almost daily to feed on RSPB buggy nibbles (ingredients: beef suet, wheat flour, and dried mealworms).
I have been photographing the birds that come to the feeder and adding the images to this site slowly. Recently Google Photos created an animation of a blue tit then later a robin visiting the feeder. There was a gap between the blue tit leaving the feeder and the robin arriving, but Google Photos created one animation comrpising these two events.