Well, the crow art is not going as well as I'd hoped. The one on the left is remarkably out of proportion. Look at his 'ickle tiny legs in contrast with that mother of a beak. It might've been a raven, I suppose. The other one, well, maybe it won't be a disaster. It isn't yet.
In the fields and in the park, crows were chasing off raptors. Red kites in both cases. The crows in the park set up their cawing and flying and I thought it was their greeting to Ms Peanut, but then I saw one harassing a kite and after that, everyone was rather keen to stay in the trees. This was disappointing.
Mind you, they might not have wanted my afternoon peanuts. In the morning, I accidentally dropped some dog shit in the peanut bag. Look, these things happen, OK? So, anyway, I got a bit of a shock next time I grabbed a handful of nuts. What to do? I tipped them all out on the grass to see how many were contaminated and wiped the shitty ones on the foliage. But the smell, of course, was still evident.
Then I thought, do crows hate shit like I do? I mean, dogs'll eat cat shit? Plus the nuts themselves are clean. It's only the shells...
So I threw all the peanuts out in great generous handfuls and beat a swift retreat to wash my hands.
This was not so bad except I saw the sweet shy crow who waits at the edge of the park and I had no nuts lefts, so I threw him some dog treats. This seemed to go down well as he and his buddy were waiting for me in the afternoon, when I delivered clean peanuts.
I have taken to putting peanuts on the table in the garden as well as in the squirrel wire thing. That's because I saw a jay jumping up and down on a branch to pull peanuts through the wire. It seemed to be managing and it was amusing to watch, but I figured I could afford an extra handful of nuts. Whether by squirrels, jays or magpies, the peanuts are always eaten. I put mealworms on the tiles under the bamboo and tree peony for blackbirds and sparrows.
The tree surgeon will be cutting back my three trees after Christmas - I must work out where to hang my feeders.
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