Some time ago a severely injured female blackbird arrived outside. She had lost one leg, one wing was not working and she was generally roughed up. We thought she must have been a narrow escape from a sparrow hawk.
For weeks she crouched in the woodshed, feeding from fruit and grain we put down. She made the occasional lopsided foray outside before hastily returning to base.
Then she disappeared. Life is not kind to a disabled bird, particularly in the breeding season.
And then today, six weeks later, she was spotted in the strawberry patch
Somehow – with one leg and tatty miscoloured feathers she has found a niche.
Come the evening we look out
and others look in
Gribin Isaf 