More home thoughts

Juvenile blackbird

A lot of a lazy weekend. The thunderstorms the Met Office had been promising since Thursday night never materialised so I could have had that long walk across Chat Moss after all (though you can bet your life that if I'd set off I'd have been halfway down Twelve Yards Road and Ragnarok would have kicked off).

One of the juvenile blackbirds that have been making noises down the bottom of the garden joined its father on a dawn raid of the boysenberries. Another family of young spadgers called round late in the afternoon, they haven't quite mastered the business of using the bird bath so tonight's shower of rain will probably have done them a favour.

I noticed the other day that one of the young robins had started to get the first of its orange feathers. It'll only be a matter of time before its parents invite it to vacate the premises. Another youngster's been in a few times. It's already a bit belligerent, practising aggression displays from the top of the feeders at every passing goldfinch or sparrow. It made the mistake of doing it to one of its parents and was chased around the nearby rowan tree for its cheek.

Juvenile blackbird