We have acquired a pair of blackbirds. They're in & out of the garden all day, paying particular attention to the bed with a heap of compost (teeming with worms) on it. The female, in particular, is prone to ignore us & concentrate on finding food. She's gobbled up all the sunflower seeds from the birdtable (reminds me: must refill), & found the water dish. Last visit last night was just before dark.
On Thursday I saw what may have been mallard rape. A male was chasing a female around Aylesbury Canal Basin. Eventually, she dived, followed by him, surfacing soon afterwards coupled. Afterwards, he seemed very pleased with himself, her less so.
There were some pretty big carp drifting around the basin just below the surface. My stepfather reckons they're surfacing because the dissolved oxygen levels are low. The canal is currently only open one weekend a month due to the water shortage, so the water flow is much less than usual, & there aren't any boats moving around propelled by stern-mounted aerators.
They had a lot of dead fish there last year when the British Waterways Board decided to dredge in autumn, instead of winter as usual. Stirred up all the anaerobic muck at the bottom & set it decaying aerobically.
Had to stop work & bring in aerators.
[edit]Just came in from the garden, looked out of the window & saw two goldfinches stuffing themselves at one of the bird feeders. That's good. They've been very lightly used recently. The removal of the big buddleia in one of the gardens backing onto mine took away a popular perching point, which birds would use to check out the neighbourhood before feeding, & wait to take their turn at a feeder. Visitors dropped off sharply.
