Food for thought

Monday 9th Feb 2026

We are here at last! We made it through last month which seemed to have a thousand days. Now we are in shorter feathery February. The birds are here too. In February they have their wedding day – so the old saying goes, you will hear their song and see their new bright feathers ready for the event. I had a new bird feeder recently and I have filled it with my home-made bird pudding. The little birds love it because it is easy for them, but the big birds are puzzled. They find it hard to use the feeder, but that does not stop them from trying.

The black corvids line up on the fence like warning notes and plan their strategy.

‘Ah’ thinks one ‘I will simply land on that dangling ball and steal that delicious pudding,’ but it is not that easy. He lands on it and before he has a chance to dig his beak into that tempting mixture, he falls off. Undeterred another one has a go.

‘I will hold on to the fence and reach across,’ he thinks. He tries this, but the dangling ball of food moves and his stretch is not quite enough. And so it goes on. All day they think up more ingenious ideas encouraged by the occasional success. Our lawn is stained black with hungry rooks, crows and jackdaws. One has the best idea, he simply waits on the grass below the feeder and as the others above him attack the food ball, he gobbles up any scraps that fall.

We used to catch our apples before they fell when we were at the cottage. Now, in our new garden, we have no fruit to pick. So, I have bought some. The crumble is delicious, but what do you eat with it? The Archers on Radio 4 had this difficulty recently and I think custard was a strong contender, but that reminds me of the yellow lumpy efforts from my mother’s busy day. She used milk from our cows which would have been healthy, but now I prefer smooth shop cream, you cannot go wrong with cream, I think.

I was standing in the fish queue the other day when the person next to me said that she had gone wrong on her journey. The van waits in a little space in front of the pub and sells fresh fish brought from the docks. You must not miss your chance because there is only a short slot before he leaves. She was flustered because her sat nav had made a mistake. I wondered if sat navs can make a mistake or is it that we get things wrong, like the crows.

(Taken from my column in The Star)