The leeks did not appreciate having their protective overstorey of weeds removed, and frazzled up in the sun. I found some rows of carrots as well, nestling in among the weeds, and two rows of lettuces. I am more optimistic about the lettuces than the leeks, and not at all optimistic about finding the annuals I sowed for cutting, since I won't necessarily recognise their leaves and sprinkled the seed in patches so the seedlings won't even be in rows to give me a clue.
I fear that if I am ever going to grow vegetables I need to alter my gardening routine to include the vegetable patch. I could adopt the rule that on a gardening day, before going and playing with the borders or anything else, I will weed a couple of the vegetable beds. If they were done regularly they wouldn't ever get very weedy, and it wouldn't take too long. Mind you, I said that about cutting the lawn edges, just half an hour at them every time I went out in the garden and I'd stay on top of them, and they are still a bit whiskery.
I heard a strange, harsh, chattering noise as I weeded, sounding like some sort of very agitated bird, and looking up I saw a buzzard being mobbed by two crows. The buzzard flew low this way and that above the meadow, with the crows screaming and dropping repeatedly down towards its back. I could see the brown of its feathers and its long, powerful legs. Then one of the crows gave up, but the other continued to harry the buzzard until the two passed out of view and I never saw how the encounter ended. Presumably once the buzzard was far enough from what the crows considered their home patch the second pursuer left it in peace.
Why do corvids bother to attack buzzards? Do buzzards eat young crows? I thought they were largely carrion eaters, but there again so are crows, so maybe the latter resent any competition for food. Or maybe it is simply irrational hatred. We hear the local owls being mobbed by groups of song birds in the daytime, and yet owls hunt rodents and shouldn't need to have anything to do with blackbirds. Different food sources, different nesting habits, should be a case of separate lives.
Later on coming up the steps to the conservatory I heard the cheeping of baby birds from above head height, and after a while tracked it to one of the starling boxes on the end of the house. We put the boxes up several years ago to compensate the starlings for blocking the entrance to the roof space over our bedroom, because we could not stand the racket they made at four o'clock in the morning. It used to sound as though they had a Kango drill up there. The starlings utterly despised the boxes, though happily we are not without them because they go on living in the space above the spare room. Last year the middle box was used by bumble bees, but it's ages since any of them had birds in them. As I stared up at the row of boxes, trying to work out which one the noise was coming from, a small bird swooped towards the boxes, then jinxed away when it saw me looking up. As it settled in a nearby tree I saw it was a great tit.
It's nice to have great tits nesting on the end of the house. More convenient than the robins, which have taken up residence in the workshop. I warned the Systems Administrator a while ago that I'd encountered a small bird flying out of the door a couple of times when I went in, and thought there was something nesting in there. The workshop is due for a thorough clear-out and tidy, as neither of us are very good at putting things away and while all the SA's tools have a place, most of them aren't in it. The SA spent part of the morning tidying up, and discovered the robin upon firing up the vacuum cleaner, at which point a small terrified bird started flying around the room. The SA beat a tactful retreat, to allow it to settle again, and will have to tidy up in small bursts, presumably without vacuuming.
I must admit I was relieved when the robin didn't nest in the greenhouse this year. I met one in there a couple of times, eyeing the place up in a speculative manner, but no nest appeared. In theory it is a privilege that this little wild creature wants to share its life with you, but in practice it is a complete nuisance not being able to water several pots and being made to feel guilty for spending too long working in one's own greenhouse.
It was a good day for bird watching, all in all. This afternoon I heard my first cuckoo of the season.
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