From the Newsletter [2]…
Friend or Foe?
Many people say that the Robin is the friendliest bird to the human race; also being unafraid. But there could be other birds. Puffins on Skomer for instance. The other day whilst at Bakewell, I saw a drake Mallard take food from a man's hand.
Last week I was sitting on my patio having a well earned cup of tea when a Carrion Crow came into next door's guttering which ran along the garage. The Crow was no more than 7 feet away from me. It looked down at me, then walked the length of the guttering looking for food; now and then looking at me out of the corner of its eye.
On my right-hand-side, there's a bed of shrubs, not more than 5ft away. A male House sparrow, a Dunnock and Blue Tit search for aphids, totally ignoring me. I've gone to my greenhouse to water the tomatoes and sitting on top of the runner bean poles are 2 Collared doves; I get to within 3 fet of them before they fly off.
A Blackbird can become quite friendly when tempted with a few currants. There are other instances especially in parks when there's food.
But there are nasty birds that are not so friendly. One day whilst holidaying on the coast, a Herring Gull came from behind and snatched the pasty from my wife's hand, scratching her neck and drawing blood.
I've seen a Canada Goose snatch a slice of bread from a child's hand, making the fingers bleed and it's now been reported that Red Kites in Cambridgeshire have taken to snatching food from peoples hands.
We can't complain too much for it's man's fault for feeding birds this way getting them to feed from our hands.
Getting back to the friendly birds, the Robin had better beware for there are contenders waiting in the wings, willing to snatch his number one spot from his grasp!
Alf Askew
Last updated: 10th November
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