Precious days at home

I'm entering my last precious day at home before heading to Bregenz (via Manchester) for the Summer.

In this game, home takes on almost mythical status as a place of refuge, a touchstone, shangri la - all because one rarely gets here! We give up many things for our profession which everyone else would consider normal, but of course  experience huge benefits in return. For me though the ache to really develop the garden and to have animals around the house again gets more and more acute.

There has been some consolation in this brief time at home in the form of a pair of blackbirds who have become regulars. Last year they nested (though I know not where) and raised a couple of fledgelings in our back yard. Early this year they nested in the discarded Christmas Tree, which I was tardy to dispose of, and again raised two ugly and noisy chicks who fluttered and squawked behind the many pots until they could fly away. The handsome Mr Blackbird was kept busy feeding them until they were bigger than he.

Barely before this year's fledgelings have taken to the wing, and whilst her partner was still busily sating the appetite of their first brood, Mrs Blackbird was pulling her old nest to pieces and building another. This time she chose a clematis growing from a pot and clambering messily over trellis in the backyard for cover. The nest is a deep construction - almost a foot - which clings precariously to the wide-weave trellis and the thin, brittle clematis.

She has happily built despite our constant interruptions and, for the last week, sat snugly in her nest awaiting the occasional visits of Mr Blackbird who lets her fly off for a few minutes, fetching her back sharply if he thinks she is taking too long.

We have sat out just three feet away from her for many hours enjoying the Summer Sun and she seems quite unconcerned. In fact checking in with Mrs B first thing in the morning and last thing at night has become an enjoyable habit. Quite like having a pet.

I shall miss seeing how this latest brood (?) develops and it will be left to our visitors to see Mrs B feed and raise her chicks.

I hope she comes back next year.