Friday 17th: Nature is harsh! A female Blackbird that we affectionately called "Nice Misses", died from wounds inflicted by a Sparrowhawk.She was attacked on Thursday afternoon. Melanie heard her cries as she was stuck in a buddleia bush. How she got there, we will never know. Judging by the wounds on the bird, they were most definitely inflicted by a bird-of-prey and the most common one in this area is the Sparrowhawk which has constantly been visiting the garden. Unusually either the Blackbird had escaped the Sparrowhawks' grip or the Sparrowhawk had been scared-off by something and somehow the Blackbird managed to wedge herself in the leafless bush.
"Nice-Misses" was the second bird to start entering the kitchen to eat mealworms after watching a Robin initiate this habit back in 2008. But she had been around in the garden long before that (we have records going back to 2004) and before she actually came into the kitchen, she would always hang around the back door for mealworms. For two years in succession she built a nest in the ivy attached to the fence directly by the back door and raised a total of 6 known fledglings
Her original mate was the male Blackbird that himself was attacked by a Sparrowhawk back in September 2009, but who subsequently survived but has not been seen since April of this year. Her last mate still spends time in the garden and he too continues to come into the kitchen for a feast of mealworms and other delights.
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