Oh what a joy to see a Jay on my garden table, inspecting the peanuts with the Germanic earnestness of Professor Yaffle on Bagpuss. Now, I realised that was a somewhat parochial reference - the professor is a wooden Woodpecker in a children's TV series from the 70s about a big old stuffed Cat loved by the little girl Emily. Anyway, I sought out a reference online and found this.... I know, inappropriate, but it made me laugh out loud.
When the Jays first visited - and there were three of them - they had a scruffy adolescent look, their heads still fluffy and soft. Now, the Jay who was checking out my peanuts is sleek and shiny. A bird of maturity.
It was also pleasing to see a Blue Tit pulling strands of wool from the wire mesh.
But today's big news concerns a dog.
While I was running I met a young Springer Spaniel with a woman. The dog was delightful - and incredibly calm. This seemed remarkable for a two year old Springer. What was far more remarkable was his story.
The woman has a condition and occasionally her blood pressure drops so low that she passes out and potentially is at risk of dying. Now, she took on the Springer after four families had rejected him because he was too naughty and no one could train him.
She started training and all would go very well but then all of a sudden he'd go bonkers and get incredibly hyperactive. This happened a few times and they worked out that each time coincided with the onset of one of her episodes. He was predicting her blood pressure getting dangerously low.
She found out that there are medical emergency dogs trained to deliver just such a warning. And, via an online trainer in the US, trained the dog.
Now, when her blood pressure dips, he noses her left thigh. If she hasn't acted and it gets lower, he does something else. And if it gets dangerously low, he criss-crosses in front of her - which was, in fact, what he did before he was trained.
She says he now no longer has unexplained panic attacks. Fate handed her the dog she needed - and the home he needed. She likes, she said, to have a job.
But what it made me think was this: how often do dogs behave in a hyperactive or threatening way and get classified as naughty when in fact they might be trying to communicate something? And something that is salient, perhaps, to the health of the person? What if all four of his previous families turn out to be in the early stages of chronic health conditions?
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