February 17 2023		INDEX
The birds of Millom
If Daphne du Maurier had been aware of Millom she would probably have used it as the location for her book, which Hitchcock subsequently turned into the film The Birds. It is a birders paradise with its own RSPB site, a huge lake, part of the Duddon Estuary SSSI. Flocks of birds frequently swarm across the Millom sky: especially gulls, Jackdaws (I've never seen them except in ones or two but here you get hundreds), gulls and starlings. There are also huge groups of geese crossing the sky emitting rhythmic honks (does it help them fly?) in the mornings and evenings. Right now it's nesting season and when I go for a run in the mornings I almost always see a kamikaze blackbird take off a few seconds before I pass and fly perilously across the road. It's trying to draw attention away from its nest. I'm familiar with that behaviour but what I did not know is that partridges do the same thing, or one lone partridge I pass quite often has learned the behaviour from his or her neighbour blackbirds. Strangest sight of all is the gulls apparently Irish step dancing in grass. The birds are not trying to wipe their feet or attract a mate but I believe they are worm charming. I have never seen it work but I often see the gulls performing. Then, of course, there are the chickens on the allotment next to my home. They start the dawn chorus long before dawn. Perhaps they need a new alarm clock?
Posted by Jonathan Brind.
INDEX	February 17, 2023