Lovely Birds

[BomberPat]

I never grew up with the stories about robins representing lost loved ones - I grew up around farms, and we owned a lot of animals, so it was almost a point of principle from my parents and older brother not to anthropomorphise them or lean into myth or folklore or anything like that.

But last year I was with my partner walking through some woodland around the Forest of Dean, and my family had just recently lost one of their dogs, Alfie, who was a real favourite of mine. As we were walking across some stepping stones, a robin came and landed on the one right in front of me, and my girlfriend said that it was Alfie come to make sure I was okay. I got really teary-eyed and still do when thinking about it. Then in January we were visiting my parents, and a robin came and landed outside the window right by me as soon as I got sat in my usual chair in their living room, and again, my girlfriend just turned to me and said, "there's Alfie". It's a bit of folk belief I'm perfectly happy to have adopted.

[Gus Mears]

I've long enjoyed the concept of robin's being loved ones. We had a particularly friendly blighter who turned up at the house shortly after my Dad died. Then he flew in through the bedroom window and took a massive shit on the bedspread, doing little to add to the charm and whimsy of the idea.

[gmoney]

I think I've mentioned this on here before, but I always think of my nan when I see a robin in the garden attacking other birds without provocation. 

 

[Keith Houchen]

We always had a Robin visit our garden and my girlfriend liked to think it was her nana keeping an eye on her. Her house was always a safe haven for her during a troubled childhood. Her granddad spent his life after she died with bad depression (understandable) and he died recently.  On the journey back from his funeral my girlfriend kept saying “At least he’s with nana now”. 
 

The next morning there were two Robins in the garden. 

[Bus Surfer]

I think I said similar in this thread last year about Robins. I've spotted a Robin in our garden a few times over the last years since my Mam passed. My Dad passed away 2 weeks back so I shall keep an eye out and see if we get anymore. 

Edited April 22, 2024 by Bus Surfer

[Carbomb]

I love robins, they're little sods, bold as brass. Very often, when I've been doing gardening and digging up bits of the flower bed, there's been a robin that'll fly down and stand literally a foot away from my hands, perched on the edge of the hole I've dug, looking out for worms. 

There was a robin that became famous for hanging around the beer garden of a pub in Chelsea (think it was the Bunch of Grapes) - it was recognisable because it had a bent beak, and it achieved notoriety for landing on people's tables while they were eating and nicking their chips right off the plate. 

[BomberPat]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

I love robins, they're little sods, bold as brass. Very often, when I've been doing gardening and digging up bits of the flower bed, there's been a robin that'll fly down and stand literally a foot away from my hands, perched on the edge of the hole I've dug, looking out for worms. 

They're pretty much completely unafraid of people; evolutionarily speaking, they used to follow wild boar and pigs around because they knew that they would dredge up a bunch of worms and insects as they moved through soil and undergrowth, and once that behaviour had been figured out it took biologists a while to get their heads around how robins had been able to flourish so well when the species that basically created that niche for them had mostly died out. The answer is that they replaced boar and pigs with humans, and human gardeners in particular - they're so tame and unafraid of us because they have spent thousands of years following us around because they associate us with an increased likelihood of food. 

[Gus Mears]

Heard a commotion in the loft the other day at about 5AM, and based on the noise assumed we were being attacked by a particularly belligerent poltergeist. On investigation - no, it was this friendly gal sheltering from the heavy rain, who we have named Clarice.

[King Coconut]

She's a beauty! What an underrated bird too. Fuck your nightingales, give me starling song and fuck your peregrine falcons, give me a flock of murmerating starlings any day. 

Nightingales and falcons are also cracking birds mind.

[Gus Mears]

Yeah, they're great. Absolute headaches during nesting season as well, they make some mad noises.

[SaitoRyo]

We get a lot of birds out here in the country. They're nice to look at and listen to, though I'll be damned if I know how to properly identify them. Should probably look to remedy that. We sometimes have to rescue injured ones if our dog happens to get her paws on one of them, the little fucker. 

We also keep hens, which we basically inherited about a year ago. We have 17 of them at the moment and it's been fun, despite a few of them succumbing to various things (including one being carried off by a big ol' bird of prey). They can be greedy and quite violent things, let me tell ya. 

My favourite one is the oldest. She's real gentle and just lets you pick her up and stroke her. Her foot is knackered at the moment and she's not getting out of the coop much, so I'm having to either physically take her outside - which is risky as she'll be susceptible to the aforementioned birds of prey etc. and then is unable to make it back into the coop with the rest - or I have to bring water and food to her.

I realise I shouldn't grow attached, but she's a good 'un. 

[Chris B]

Very much enjoyed this rather haughty heron up at Ally Pally last week.

And certainly didn't expect it to stay put when I got closer. Proper little dinosaur of a bird.

[King Coconut]

I've put a webcam on our owl nesting box. The killing has been ramped up this week so I assume the owlets have hatched. Shouldn't be long until they show their faces.

 

[Gus Mears]

9 minutes ago, King Coconut said:

Shouldn't be long until they show their faces.

Something about the way this is written makes it feel like the next sentence should be, 'and then I'm going to kick the shit into them.'

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

1 hour ago, Gus Mears said:

Something about the way this is written makes it feel like the next sentence should be, 'and then I'm going to kick the shit into them.'

This made me laugh more than it should.