IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING

 

DICK HAYMES - IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING

The marvellous, and underrated Dick Haymes did a great job with this song although Robert would probably be offended by the line - " I feel so gay in a melancholy way".

The season is changing, as, after a gloomy winter it is now well and truly spring. It's lighter now until well after 6PM and I've seen people swimming (not me, I'm a wimp. I'll wait until October).

My real measure of spring is the resumption of my annual battle with Mr Starling who lives around here and, at nesting time, decides that the porch area at the back of the house provides him with what he needs to attract Mrs Starling or some other avian floozy. He's a lazy little bugger who should be making his bloody nests in trees but every year he wants to claim my porch.

The other day I saw that he'd collected some pieces of straw and other dry foliage and was beginning his annual build. I got rid of that and, as I was doing it, I saw him in the garden.

"Oi" I said, not knowing the right words in Starling, but I think he got the right idea. He had some bits of nest building material in his beak and flew off up into the large tree at the back of our property.

"That's it" I shouted, probably confirming with the neighbours that I've lost it, "build your bloody nest up there you tosser!"

After I cleared away the detritus from his nest building efforts, which were a bit hopeless (I told you he was lazy), I went about the house and the shed finding some items to put in place to deter him. A couple of years ago I used my old tennis and walking shoes but The Old Girl for some reason said that they looked unsightly so suggested instructed that I take them down. 

I put up some little ceramic pots.

These have proved to be effective as Mr Starling hasn't tried to squat in the pots even if they are upside down.

I'll have to check around the house now as I'm sure my arch-rival will try to build a nest in some unreachable (for me) part of of the roof or guttering.

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It was a nice - spring - day yesterday and I went for a long walk in the morning and then, after a committee meeting in the afternoon, a few holes of golf. 

The golf ended up even (3 balls lost and 3 balls found) with a few really good drives but I got attacked three times.

The first time was by a pukeko.

I was stomping in the long glass by one of the creeks and a rather aggressive pukeko flew up from its nest right in front of me. It gave me a hell of a shock I can tell you. What was it thinking, building its nest where I might want to search for golf balls?

The second attack was by a magpie.

I was going along a fairway and saw the magpie further along, on the ground near the macrocarpa trees. I've experienced magpies swooping before which can be quite scary so was expecting something. Sure enough, from about 80 metres away it took off and flew straight at me- quite low. I kept my eyes on it and at the last minute waved my arms in the air and it passed a few feet above me. If I hadn't seen it and hadn't waved my arms I know that it would have clipped my head. I watched it settle in one of the trees where it or its mate was nesting and kept well away.

The third attack was by a skylark (I think).

I heard a ruckus out in a field as I neared a fence and saw two birds. One was nesting and the other - the male I guess was flapping its wings and yelling at me. It suddenly flew up and had a go at dive bombing me. It wasn't as aggressive as the magpie but I got the message and moved away.

On the way back to the carpark I was walking alongside a stream where a female duck was paddling. On the fairway that I was walking on, a male duck was making a lot of noise and moving slowly away from me. He was enticing me to chase after him, obviously to move me away from his missus and where their nest must have been. I saluted the brave little guy.

 

I'll be glad when spring is over - "I'm as jumpy as puppet on a string"