Peep!

Gradually I've managed to persuade little birds to come to the bird feeders in my tiny yard. A large flock of sparrows has the feeders on their radar, but I'm not always around to replenish the seeds. 

The sparrows have a strategy: every so often, they send out a scout to see if the feeders have been refilled.

Sometimes I hear the routine.

'PEEP!' 

The scout sparrow has clocked that the feeder's now full of seeds. A few minutes later, the first sparrow returns with a second, the verifier. 

'Cheep cheep!', confirms the verifier.

Very soon, the whole flock arrives, taking turns to fill their feathered bellies. Down below, two clumsy pigeons waddle, gobbling up the discarded seeds and trying to work out how the world of feeding works. They clump about, sometimes hoisting themselves wheezily up on to plant pots, grasping the soil with their clumsy claws and uprooting the poor plants willy-nilly. They stare needily into the kitchen window with gimlet eyes, willing me to come out and feed Just Them.

On a separate trajectory, a small set of blue tits find something delicious on the small tree next to the kitchen window. I'm at a loss as to what it is, but they fly diagonally back and forth from the birch tree at the back of the yard to the small tree, narrowly missing the sparrows who fly on a different diagonal.

Occasionally, a robin appears. 'I was always here', he notes. 'Yes, I know', I reply, 'but there's plenty for everyone'. I think he's after the worms that burst out of the compost bin.

During the summer drought, I was putting water out in a round galvanised tin tray, and the sparrows used to drink and take a bath, standing in a circle gripping the lip of the tray with their tiny claws. I went out to refill it one morning and trod in some fox poo: I'd obviously been providing a drinking supply for a thirsty fox too. Such a tiny garden, so much wildlife!