To say hello to a blackbird every evening and feel lovely about it

[badonkydonk]

Every evening at dusk, there is a beautiful blackbird singing its tuneful little heart out just behind my house. Same tree, and same time (later and later as the nights get longer). I just happened to notice him a few nights in row but I actively stand outside to hear it now.

The latest development is that I actually address him as Mr Blackbird (maybe Mrs Blackbird but I don't like to pry), say good evening to him and tell him how lovely he is (may have even asked him if he had a good day tonight!)

Does anyone else say hello to random things and get an overbearing sense of warmth from it?

I'm very fortunate to get a wide variety in my garden - it sounds just like stuckinreverse

my woodpecker is Woody (of course!) and the nuthatches are all called Nutty.
(I've seen 3 nuthatches together but they usually come one at a time.)

I have 2 robins who inhabit different parts of the garden, they seem very careful to avoid each other.

I love the long tailed tits, they are so cute. Its great seeing them first thing in the morning so I can start the day with a smile.

The magpies are magnificent-looking birds but they do drive the smaller birds away.

I have a wren who lives behind a euonymus next to a low wall that separates the lawn from the patio. My neighbour's cat likes to sleep on the patio side underneath the bits that overhang. I wonder if either of them knows about the other!

shouts I LOVE THIS THREAD

Oh and I forgot Mr Crow who lives among the chimney pots on the roof across the street and visits our balcony for crusts, and the ridiculously fat and beautifully iridescent pigeon who patrols the windowsill outside my study.

And there are redstarts who nest in the courtyard every year and used to divebomb our ancient cat (now sadly deceased) when he took a rare stroll outside.

This thread is brilliant, warms the cockles to hear from all you other nature lovers!

In my garden I have a beautiful little robin, blackbirds, magpies, wood pigeons, foxes and a few nights recently I could hear an owl hooting from high up in a tree. Oh and a ladybird family.

I am rubbish with pets but I love all the wildlife.

We have a pair of barn owls in a box we put up in a field shelter that we believe hatched some young last year , but because they're protected we could never go and look , and my neighbour has a pair of little owls in his roof , that come out and hunt at 10pm every summers evening . Well , mr little owl does anyway . Mrs little owl perches on the end of the washing line and twitters at him constantly . We think this little one that we found in the hedge was theirs too .

Oh, I'd so love owls somewhere near. Very jealous of anyone who has!

I feel blessed to have found likeminded "twitchers" (as my husband calls me). We have two robins, and their blackbird "best friend" who live either in my garden or in the alleyway at the side of our house.

I go out at 7.30am each morning and throw some mealworms out, whilst I am calling to the robins. I can guarantee that within seconds, either one or both of the robins come and sit on the fence. I leave the back door open and stand there and chat to them. Sometimes they are really brave and swoop down right in front of my feet for the mealworms. I have seen one robin feed the other robin a mealworm (that really made me smile).

I see the robins and the blackbird together mainly when they are using the suet ball feeders in the main part of the garden. The blackbird does seem to be the hired "muscle" as he is there to protect the robins from the godawful magpies and pigeons that come too.

My aim is to be able to hand feed the mealworms to the robins. It is work in progress and will take time to gain their trust.

I love love love watching the birds in my garden.

There's a robin that pops up every time I go down and feed my horses. He's incredibly tame and will sit on the floor while I make up the feeds and then has stood between my big horse's front legs picking up the bits that the horse misses. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a picture of him but I always say hello and apologise if I disturb him! I'd love to leave a little extra food out but because of the potential for rats/mice I can't so I've been thinking about getting him his own feeder to put in the nearest tree.

Autumnchil I had this problem with the jackdaws eating everything and knocking the bottoms off the feeders so I had to buy these:

www.amazon.co.uk/Kingfisher-Squirrel-Proof-Bird-Feeders/dp/B00PC9BW56/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1488449810&sr=8-5&keywords=squirrel+proof+bird+feeder&tag=mumsnetforum-21

We have two cheeky dunnocks that like to come into the path and eat the chickens food, and conversely the chickens stand under the bird feeders waiting for anything that drops

Lovely thread. As a moody 15 year old I loved A blackbird Singing by R S Thomas (sorry can't link on a phone). I have just re read it and it brings me back to those gentle April evenings listening to a blackbird singing (and blaming my parents for yet another aberration obv).

I bought a few cages from Amazon that go over the feeders, they've been very successful. All the smaller birds soon learnt to feed safely in them and the bigger ones use the others.

There's a wood pigeon sitting in the bird bath this morning. Every so often he has a huge splashabout but mostly he just sits there seeing off the other birds.

Our garden is so alive since I became a bird watcher. It's one of life's great pleasures.

My squirrel-proof bird feeder isn't.

(taken last summer)

I used to have a lady blackbird who would sit by me while I was gardening, and if I dug up a worm she'd take it out of my hand.

Every year I really enjoy sharing my bedroom with the little nest of starlings that i hear rustling about and feeding their chicks every morning. I also enjoy watching them take food to them and when they leave, hopping down the front gardens every morning gathering food while I wash up

My OH has a 'friend' he calls 'Jacky the one armed crow'...he may not be a crow though. He struts up and down the roofs of the bungalows at the back and does seem to have an odd wing he drags behind.

I dont know if they disappear in the winter but I heard a shout a week or so ago..."Jacky's back". He whistles to the bird...the bird takes no notice

I have a family of crows that wait every morning for breakfast (cat biscuits). I absolutely love them, they are really intelligent and mischievous. Corvids are my favourite birds. I like all the other tweety things we get as well starlings, bluetits, a robin or two, a fat little wren, dunnocks, various types of finches. We have even had a sparrowhawk vist a few times. Then there are the gulls, lots and lots of gulls ( we live on the coast).

I buy monkey nuts especially for the crows. They wait on the roof of the neighbours house and start calling as I go out. We had a green woodpecker in the garden yesterday as well as lots of small birds like tits, pigeons, jackdaws, magpies, starlings and parakeets (London - feral ring necks).
I am another Corvid fan we even get jays in the garden sometimes which isn't bad for London.
When we moved in, the garage was in poor condition and the side door broken in places. DH took the door off to replace it, then we realised a wren had nested in the garage and had been able to get in through the gaps in the broken door. We had to wait until the nestlings fledged before we could put new a door on.

Prom I want an owl!

That should be Plom!

Raisins were left out all day, no takers.

Will try again tomorrow. They need some time to find them.

The other day I said, "Hello Mr Squirrel, whatever are you looking for?"

"I'm just trying to find a shirt," said DP behind me. Fool, obviously I was talking to an actual squirrel in the garden!

Ooh I get jays too Chaz, in S London, and bull finches, gold finches and the odd green woodpecker. Normally the usual thrushes, starlings, magpies and robins though. And basketfuls of squirrels and three foxes who seem to be in some sort of amiable menage-a-trois.

Blackbirds skipping everywhere, a fat robin loitering by the kitchen door and a huge great tit on the feeder.

I cleared some leaves yesterday, and the blackbirds came picking grubs after me.

Ah what a lovely thread. I always talk to birds. I also talk to dogs, cats, sheep, cows, horses and toddlers. Never had it occured to me that people might think I'm crazy until now

Definitely not BU. I always say hi to our Blackbird (I hope it's always the same one...) when I hear him singing in the morning. Also a very perky sparrow has been out recently.

bibbitybobbity - I feel that surge of hope and happiness when I see snowdrops. I wondered the other day if Donald Trump has ever felt that? Do they even have snowdrops in America? There must be an equivalent. Not meaning to turn this into a political thread...