Camouflaged

My cousin Ann has just rung about plans for our trip down to Stoke. It seems on the Friday they're picking us up & we're off to lunch. There will be four cousins there & three husbands. Quite a family turn out.. We're looking forward to it. A little nervously it has to be admitted as we're not sure how the Fox will cope. We're hoping if we build in some rest time all will go well.

I'm not sure if my suspicion yesterday of it being a wood-pigeon chick(s) in the hedge was right. Later in the morning, on the fence just behind the hedge, I noticed a male blackbird feeding a very young chick. It must have been the babe's first outing. It still had tufts on its head, around the eyes. Its mouth was the most noticeable thing. It seemed disproportionately big, & very white edged, not at all the shape of the adult bird's mouth. As for the chick's plumage, that was a very mottled spotted brown. It almost disappeared into the twiggery of the, at that point, dead bit of hedging. 


Later in the afternoon, that same bird had got as far as the trellis, now hiding in the branches of the evergreen tree at the end. Still hardly noticeable due to its colouring, still requiring the ministrations of dad for food.


Watching "Springwatch" (BBC2) it had never occurred to me how the spotted nature of so many chicks is a defensive strategy. As they first leave the nest, they just disappear into the twiggery of hedges, trees & shrubs. They can sit there still while the parent bird flies off to seek more food. Quite safe, just melting into the background. They only become noticeable as they start moving, excited by the return of the parent. Then they become big gaping mouths demanding to be filled.


I see the RSPB is doing a Nature Watch this week. I think I can safely say I will be seeing at least one blackbird family in that time