JON'S JOURNAL: Breeding blackbirds

Since the departure of Helios 7 with Oll last October, the songbird population of the garden seem to be a little more relaxed. There are a pair of thrushes nesting in the yew tree outside my study window, and the first pair of blackbirds (there were three pairs last year) have started doing what comes naturally.

Here, a diligent female blackbird collects moss from the lawn for nesting materials. I think my grandmother (who first laid the lawn) must be rolling in her grave at the thought that there is moss on the lawn, but it is hardly avoidable with the siggy summer s we have had for the past five years.