Flight Lt Mango defends the borders

Poor Mango doesn't know if he is coming or going. Our neighbour who has a farm at the back of us has nine very polite and somewhat timid chickens who occasionally wander into our paddock. But he has to be in a position to see them when they do, because there are a lot of trees blocking the path they follow down to the fence.

The new neighbours chickens are a different story. They are quite happy to arrive on our lawn in the morning, less than a foot drop from the verandah and eat all the remaining bird food from the night before. They are currently doing some long overdue weeding for us in the border which separates our property from our neighbours. The paddock chickens were unceremoniously chased away by Mango around 10 minutes ago. He was showing off, because he lost interest quickly and proceeded to run up three trees in succession - great watch towers.

Meanwhile Mr White (I think he may be a rooster) and his 4 girlfriends are blythe and bonny and only quietly indignant at being watched by two gingers from the table on the verandah. Cumin runs from them all bushed up, and given that she is actually smaller than one of them, I'm not surprised.