Flying the Nest, What’s The Point?, Great, Great Gift & Lovely Jubilee

Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
4^th June 2022

Flying the Nest

My garden is like a nursery for fledglings at the moment.  Everywhere I turn there seems to be a fledgling of some description scurrying and flapping as they take their first steps in ‘getting their wings.’  It’s beautiful but nerve wracking at the same time.  One clutch of baby blue tits died in their nest – with no obvious reasons.  It breaks my heart when it doesn’t end well, but I have to keep reminding myself about all the birds that will be able to fly over the garden and tell their young, “That’s where I was born.”

I didn’t realise that there were actually five stages of a baby bird’s life.  I thought it went egg, chick (or fledgling), bird.  But no, it is ‘hatchling’, which refers to a baby bird immediately after it hatches from an egg. Its eyes are usually closed and it’s often bald – although some baby birds are born with feathers.

Then comes ‘nestling’ which describes a bird which is developing in the nest. At this stage the bird is not yet ready to leave the comfort of the nest, cannot fly and is relying on food deliveries from mum or dad.

They develop into ‘fledglings’ or ‘juveniles’, which technically are birds with their first feathers and that are capable of moving about on their own.  At this stage a bird will venture out of its nest and start learning how to survive without its parents – and in my experience, cause havoc for gardeners.  Fledgling feathers are loose and fluffy, making it easy to identify them from an adult bird – together with the fact it appears not to have a clue what it’s doing.  Don’t interfere if you find you these hapless juveniles as the parents are likely to be nearby.

A subadult is a bird whose plumage is no longer juvenile but not quite adult.  It starts to look less like a baby bird but hasn’t quite got the hang of adulthood.  I know a lot of humans that would fit this group.

The term ‘immature’, as the name suggests, also refers to a bird that isn’t an adult yet, including those with subadult plumages.  The term is more commonly used to reference larger birds like bald eagles and some gulls that don’t achieve full adult plumage until they are 4 or 5 years old, rather than our little garden birds.

One thing guaranteed to make my heart sink is that awful thud of a window strike – when a fledgling flies into a window. Luckily I only had one of those this year and I rushed out to be able to pick up a baby robin with his head more or less under his wing.  I kept him warm – cold and shock is a lethal combination – and ‘willed’ him to recovery.  As he started to perk up he jumped out of my hand and onto yogi’s back.  It was the cutest thing, with Yogi not turning a hair about her spontaneous feathered passenger.  The little robin rode around on her back for a minute or so and I watched as he got stronger and adjusted his balance naturally before flying off.  That sort of magical memory will keep me going for a long time and acts a sort of salve on life’s current gravel rash.

You can see the video of Yogi and her passenger on my Facebook page and also a video of me trying to teach the little fledgling to fly.  Please remember though, unless a fledgling is hurt or injured, please leave them (as safely as possible) to strengthen their wings naturally.  If you take a few minutes to look around, you will probably see a frustrated mum or dad nearby still supplying them with food and encouragement.  As tempting as it is to intervene, just make sure that they are out of danger from cats and dogs – other than that, they know what they are doing.

What’s The Point?

I love the fact that I am able to include some really random things in my column and they may not come more random than this.

I was recently introduced to the album The Point by Harry Nilsson.

I can’t believe it has taken me 55 years to discover this absolute gem of an album.  They certainly don’t make them like that any more.  I am a huge fan and am currently playing it over and over.  What’s The Point? you may ask … and that my friend, IS the point.

Check out the full album on YouTube.

Great, Great Gift

Whilst I am on the ‘random train’, I’ll share another highlight of last week.

A reader of this column, now living in France, got in touch with me as he had researched his family tree.  It transpired to be ‘our’ family tree.

During a visit to Crickhowell last week, he kindly brought a couple of photos that he thought may be of interest to me.  One showed my great grandfather in uniform and has some incredible brief pencilled inscriptions on the back. Details show he was in the 38^th Battalion, and there are dates and destinations listed from January 1917 to September 1918.

That last date of 29^th Sept 1918 is followed with one chilling word – ‘Gassed’.  Just gives me goose-bumps.

On a brighter note, there was also a photo of my great, great grandfather with his loyal dog, Bonzo.

And even though it’s actually a Sealyham, I like to think that little white dogs are obviously in our genes.

Lovely Jubilee

I can’t really write this week’s column without mentioning the Platinum Jubilee, although I will be (cheerfully) working right through the Bank Holiday.  If you want to plant something in your garden to remember the event by, David Austin has brought out a stunning new shrub rose with repeating pinky-apricotty blooms.  Cleverly, the rose ‘Elizabeth’ is described as a, “dependable rose with exceptional health and versatility of habit.”

Harkness Roses have also launched a new rose, Rosa ‘Platinum Jubilee’. The vibrant pink double flowers not only look great, but also have a wonderful, sweet fragrance. It’s compact in its growth, making it great for beds and borders or suitable containers.

Alternatively you could contribute to the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC), which is a tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee. Everyone across the UK is being invited to plant trees through to the end of the Jubilee year in 2022.

You can apply for free trees and get more information from www.woodlandtrust.org.uk.  Before you apply you will need to know the six digit grid reference for the land you wish to plant using the grid reference finder, have permission from the legal landowner.  You are encouraged to read through the short list of FAQs for important and useful information to help your application.  They are currently taking applications for November 2022 delivery.