OF CHICKS AND FLEDGLINGS

Today Pa and I were ask around to out next door neighbours house to see the new baby. We had of course been longing to take a peep at the little mortal but having seen the number of people tramping up and down the path,we decided to wait until the dust had settled a little.

We were amply rewarded for our patience by today,s invitation, and I must tell you that the new little boy is very beautiful,not a wrinkle or any of the odd skin colour often seen on new born,s,this little chap is perfect . I had been worried about our neighbour as I knew that she was having a bad time and she is such a slight dainty young woman. Four days in labour is an ordeal, and the girl was already exhausted before she went in to labour.

Still,it's all over now and she has her prize, the look on her face told me that she felt it was worth all the pain....it always is. We all had a good cry and then we left so as not to disrupt things, getting a new born in to a routine is difficult even without hoards of visitors tramping about ones house.

She is lucky in that her mother has come over from The States to help out in the first weeks,now that's the person a new mum really does need and this new made Granny looks as proud a Punch.

It is the time of year for new life and the garden and orchard are full of fledgling birds,from spotty young robins to robust young |Woodpeckers and huge families of Blue tits.

Some birds are already well on the way with their second brood ,so soon there will be even more chicks in the garden.

The bird tables are well patronised too,today the Nuthatch parents brought their young to the table and my pretty doves appeared with a well grown youngster in the evening.

New life is everywhere ,competing for food, the young kestrels, although not yet fledged are eating voraciously and we see the parent birds hovering over the field constantly,searching for mice and voles,and of course newly fledged birds who,in their search for food know no fear.

Soon the bustle of the breeding season will be over and the birds will enter their annual moult,during which time they do not sing. I shall miss the glory of the dawn chorus but the machine gun rattle of the young Magpies I shall not miss. They begin at first light and continue to importune their unfortunate parents until dark,with these rowdy young chavs under ones window sleep is out of the question.

Even so I love this exiting time of year and as I told my neighbour May born children are always lucky,I should know I was born in May and I must be one of the luckiest people in the world.