Easy to please

The birds have been very active this year and thankfully, although the official line is that wild birds are in decline, the numbers appear to be prolific where I live. Birds are like people - easy to please once their requirements are uncomplicated. This bird bath that you see in the photo below is in fact an old hanging basket and an old plant saucer. Total cost: £0. Blue tits, sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons, all drop by for a wash. I change the water every day. Birds wash to remove parasites and grime from their feathers but also for the fun of it. First the birds sit on the edge of the saucer, then they sip a bit of water (to make sure it is indeed water), then they gingerly step in. Once inside the saucer there is much flapping about, and one gets the impression that it is sheer Heaven for our feathered friends. Birds are very sociable with their own kind or those of similar size. Sparrows and blue tits play happily together in the water and do not object to sharing their bath with as many as will fit in it!

All animals have a sense of fun and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that vivisection must be an excruciating and terrifying ordeal for animals. For those of us connected to the natural world, it is heartbreaking to think of animals suffering for us. I watched my father die a long and painful death from Parkinsons Disease and although drugs mask the symptoms of the illness, nothing can prevent the inevitable. My father died anyway despite the hundreds of drugs he took and for which thousands of animals must have been dealt an awful end to their own short lives.

It takes little to make the birds happy- a drink of water, a bath, some food. Perhaps we humans can learn to reduce our expectations and the demands we make on others, including the animals we expect to die in order that we may 'benefit'.

Photo copyright SvD.