THE JACKDAW SAGA CONTINUES

Yesterday, as you know, we released Jerry the Jackdaw into the garden. He hung around for the rest of the day, and I have to admit that I was getting worried. He 'squawked' plaintively, and then got all territorial and had a noisy face-off with the neighbourhood blackbirds. One particularly pugnacious cock blackbird who lives in the bushy hazel hedge behind the lower aviary block took great exception to Jerry, and a verbal sparring match ensued that lasted until dusk.

Occasionally I would see two black shapes flying furiously over the bottom lawns, usually the blackbird chasing Jerry, but sometimes the other way around.

Then at about 6:30 Beth Tyler-King, returned. The lovely Bethany is the doyenne of the Hartland Wildlife Rescue Service. In fact she pretty well is the Hartland Wildlife Rescue Service. She brought with her two more jackdaws; one with a manky eye (that was beginning to heal nicely), and another that had been hand-reared, and whilst not imprinted on humans, was so close and friendly to the one-eyed one (immediately christened 'One-Eyed Jack' by Corinna), that it seemed a pity to split them up.

They were soon ensconsed in the jackdaw aviary, and fluttered about lustily while in the tree above them, Jerry 'squawked' enviously.

This morning Jerry was still squawking plaintively in the tree, and the two newcomers seemed more than a little unsettled. One-Eyed Jack escaped when Oll went to feed them, and so - as there was actually nothing much wrong with the other, and she had only been there as a companion to Jack (Corinna had named her 'Black Pearl', btw) - we let her go. One-Eyed Jack flew straight up into the tree where Jerry was sitting. They sat together with every sign of friendliness, but when Black Pearl joined them, the two friends flew off leaving Jerry looking rarther forlorn.

So, for the first time in weeks we were jackdaw-less. But not for long.

I wasn't very well earlier, and so I went back to bed for a bit to take my 'mendicine' (as my mother used to call it when I was small). I awoke a couple of hours later to the news that Jerry had flown down from the tree-tops, voluntarily re-entered the aviary, and was pottering around the floor looking for mealworms. To protect him from cats we shut the aviary door again, and now we are back where we were yesterday.

One-Eyed Jack and Black Pearl have flown off to pastures new (hopefully together), and Jerry is back in our protection eating mealworms like there was no tomorrow. Funny old world isn't it?