Nature indeed can be cruel in the many ways that its creatures are treated at times, either by themselves, their predators, or by the influence of “Man”! Most of us are fortunate enough not to actually witness any of these happenings, so are not really aware of them even happening. Unfortunately, sometimes our attention is violently faced with the fact that such things do occur! A friend of mine, who lives down by one of the local rivers, sent me a picture of a tragedy that occurred very close to his home involving a nesting Osprey.
What a terrible tragedy to have happened! Let’s hope that the bird didn’t suffer too long before it died,–not a nice way to go! I guess these accidents are bound to happen with the sort of materials that they are obviously using in their nests. The proximity of a few farms in that particular neighbourhood, where they use all sorts of baler twine etc. on a day-to-day basis gives the birds lots of opportunity to get hold of some of their off-cuts to use for nesting. It’s a wonder we don’t see more of these types of incidents. My picture of the Bluebird (Second Batch Blues article in the NGT 10 Aug edition) showed the bird with a piece of electrical/telephone hook-up wire caught in its feathers, at least I hope that it was only in the feathers and not in its flesh! Man has a way of having an impact, in all sorts of predictable and unexpected ways, doesn’t he, and not all of them are good!?
Despite the bad news, the birds in our garden still continue to thrive, although their nesting activities seem to have ceased once more. However a “breakfast friend” of mine told me that he is sure that a resident Robin of theirs is now raising its third brood of the season! Hopefully, you are still witnessing such events and are enjoying them. Stay safe and well,
Cheers,
John Baldwin
