A grey drizzly day here in Stourbridge but the light rain has its uses. Over the past month, I’ve been tempting the local blackbirds with a packet of Moroccan cous- cous I found at the back of a cupboard. It’s probably worth its weight in gold on the black market now, but up to six blackbirds have been tucking in only a few feet from my desk. Softened by rain, the fine particles go down a treat and have also lured in a pair of waddling woodpigeons.
With more time to watch them now, I’m interested to see how the blackbirds tolerated each other in February but now that March has arrived, territorial urges have taken over. The males are beginning to sing and parcel out the neighbourhood, so that only one dominant pair remains to rule the patio.
Watching them stab at the morsels of food or side-swipe at dead leaves to reveal creatures beneath, I’m reminded of Ted Hughes' poem about thrushes “more coiled steel than living”. These are efficient predators with precise hunting methods. A recent survey has linked their success to areas where earthworm numbers are highest, so the cous- cous is merely an hors d’oeuvre before the main feast. I lay off the herbicides or pesticides in the garden to encourage “my” worms to thrive and I hope that the blackbirds will repay me with their mellow song and rear at least two clutches of youngsters.