Whilst we quietly drank our coffee she was demurely hatching the next generation of song thrush. We alerted one of the cafe staff, who happened to be a bird lover, so she hung a sign on the gazebo which said "bird nesting, please be considerate". Today I returned and heard that all four of her eggs had hatched successfully, although Henry, number four chick, was a bit of a wimp and by that stage mum was weary and needed feeding herself. So the cafe staff had been feeding an exhausted mother until Henry fledged.
This is what her nest looked like today, all cleaned out, nice and tidy, probably ready for next spring's occupation.
I shared time in the gazebo today with my friend and fellow cat lover Kathy. She came with me to deliver our furry family to a cat motel (the rooms really look like a motel), just around the corner from our new home. One cat developed a mezzo soprano howl for the 50 minute car journey and on arrival disappeared into one of the cubby holes in the room not to be seen again. My nerves were shredded enough to want to join her.
When I returned "home", this was the sight that greeted me. It is all rather strange. We have had 8 and a half years in our beautiful nest, "raised" four cats and now we are flying away. As I took out the vacuum cleaner this evening, I also took a leaf out of the song thrush's book. Leave the place tidy and clean for the next occupant.
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