Laying Astray and Other Birdy Doings

The egg production from the bantams has not been quite as high as I would have expected over the last little while. But Patsy, (so called because it's more or less an anagram of one of her favourite foods, cold, cooked pasta), who is the usual culprit for laying astray, has been seemingly behaving impeccably and apparently laying in the nestbox.

I say "seemingly" and "apparently" because yesterday she went broody and was not in the nest box at bedtime. When she was found - under the climbing hydrangea again, - we found her with 22 eggs and a partner in crime, No-Tail, (so called because she was without one for a while) whom Patsy has led into Bad Ways.

Miscreant No 1 - Patsy removed from her nest 

Miscreant No 2 - No-Tail still on the nest

Egg stash - busted! (Not literally!)

No wonder the egg yield in the nest box seemed a bit low!

The eggs are all very fresh though; I tested them in a bowl of cold water. So they must be eggs from both miscreants laid in tandem over the last week or so. I am glad I made the pockets on my aprons so big - getting 22 eggs in was quite an "ask" even so!

Scrambled egg, sponge cake and ice cream anyone?!

While we are on a birdy theme, I managed to lean out of the landing window and take this video at 5.30 am this morning. I am afraid the visuals are very poor and wobbly - very difficult to hold the camera steady while leaning out of the window in your pyjamas - but the point is not what you see but what you hear - the dawn chorus in the English countryside at this time of year has something very lovely about it I think. The birds are full of energy and sing at their most creatively now. Come the summer, tired from feeding their hungry nestlings, they are quieter and sing with less energy, without the peculiarly beautiful intensity they have in the Spring.

You can hear the pheasant who has adopted our garden as his own and clearly sees himself as an honorary bantam, even though he's twice their size, croaking a contribution and also the cockerel down the lane adding his mite. I am not expert enough to identify all the singers but all the usual English suspects are there, I guess - blackbirds, robins, thrushes, wood pigeons etc. As I say, I do apologise for the poor pic quality but close your eyes and have a listen!