Somewhere to play.

Swallows and sparrows

Monday - 27th

A strange thing to see, as we were standing outside, doing a late afternoon, sunset, cloud inspection of the thundershowers in the distance; swallows started crowding the sky above us.

First we saw a few, which we thought normal, and within minutes, hundreds were coming from all the compass directions. Rather low to start with - going higher and higher, more and more added to this vortex as if a school of sardines.

Something must have started a feeding frenzy and yet we saw nothing. No termites were flying, which would be normal at this time of year, and under these conditions quite visible.

The vortex went higher and higher, till eventually they were only visible by watching them through the binoculars. Then early darkness threw a blanket over the show and a few swallows booked into the trees for the night.

Still we are speculating as to what prompted this show.

Wednesday - 29th

On the lawn there were the screams "Fight, fight, fight ..."

The glossy starling dropped down to inspect the scrapping two birds, who were refereed by the male sparrow. Consider a starling's liking for a free meal if it became available.

If ever two female sparrows could be having a cat-fight, this was it. This was a battle to the end, no holds barred, everything thrown into - even the kitchen sink.

What started it is anybody's guess, still - it was serious.

A turtle dove showed up as a spectator, and a few other birds were looking at the show.

The human walked up to see why two female sparrows would be going at it, and they broke up, flew into the tree, and then promptly fell to the ground again in full fury.The male fussing around all the time.

This carried on for quite a while, with the male somehow seeming wanting to try and break up the fight.

They took the argument up into the trees, and moved away fighting all the time.

The only thing which may be on the table is:

Beware a woman scorned ?