Sunday, 24 May 2026

Off line dating

Being a sentimental soul, especially around wildlife, I have been observing the behaviour of a solitary male house sparrow for a couple of weeks now. Having found his perfect nest spot in the wall of the tower that stands in our neighbour's garden, the bird stands/sits on a useful twig of dead wisteria just outside the nest entrance and advertises himself and the perfect patch of real estate non-stop. Ridiculous, but I feel sad for him. It looks like the ideal spot - sheltered, lots of wild grains and insects about, bird bath and ponds . . . no cats, quiet. I suppose he doesn't wake each morning and think, oh no, not all that cheeping again and standing mostly still on a twig for twelve hours, or, it's so not fair, all the other dudes have found someone.

I'd like to help, but short of netting a female and depositing her on the cill of the nest - which would no doubt not be in any way a good idea, and somewhat difficult, I'll just carry on calling out a daily greeting or two and send out a few hopeful vibes to him on his eternal mission.


   The tower, perfect nest building spot
Apparently the construction was a windmill for grinding acorns for tannin 
The only one on our road where 32 flour windmills once stood




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