Daddy's Gone A-Humping

Having something of a melancholy disposition does mean that I tend to revel in the gloom of the Autumn and Winter, but I have to say that now that Spring is here, I'm enjoying it. All that bough and brushwood sheath greenness, and the birds, of course, getting it on. As I walked down a leafy suburban lane in Crouch End last week, hand in hand with Patsy123, we couldn't help but notice the two fat pigeons taking Lennon's advice to "do it in the road." The week before, two collared doves had sat in a tree on the Zip Estate and plighted their troth for all to see. Since then they've been cuddling on a cherry bough amidst the burgeoning blossom.

I did notice when I got back from London, that they'd been inspecting the golden cypress. It's a big tree, about 25 feet, but not popular with birds as a site for a high-rise apartment. Two blackbirds set up home in it a few years ago, but high winds and damned magpies saw off some of the chicks. The long fall to the ground for the fledglings' first flight must have been more than enough to encourage their parents to seek accommodation elsewhere in subsequent years. But the doves do look like they've decided to stay. They're hauling in their usual collection of grasses, timbers and stalks, with an eye on me all the time. What they generally don't like about the conifer is that the layout of Stately Zip Manor is such that my kitchen window looks directly into their bedroom. My frequent forays down the outside stairway to the Catacombs are also rather disconcerting. However, with my imminent departure for Western Scotland, they may find enough peace to get settled. When I return, I hope to see food being delivered regularly.

Meanwhile, all over the Estate there are birds aplenty. More than I've seen for the last couple of years, it seems, or perhaps the scales of those years have fallen from my eyes at long last. Whatever, there do seem to be more sparrows this year. When I first moved here I'd get over a dozen sparrows on the seed, but their numbers have dwindled drastically. It got to the point where I'd get the binoculars out to see what that odd bird was, and found it was a sparrow! Today there were at least half a dozen sitting on the fence, and probably a few more in the bushes. A good sign.

And in addition to the recent crop of chaffinches, I got my first flashy little goldfinch. Hurrah.