I had to order a robin out of our kitchen the other week. That was probably the moment that I knew in my heart of hearts that we really, absolutely, most certainly do live in a madhouse.
We first spotted Tufty robin hanging around our large chicken run about a year ago. Obviously scruffy, even from a distance, he eventually acquired the nickname, which stuck and now he will come to call whenever I go out in the garden. During the first few months, we still had chickens to look after and being busy, we had no intention of trying to tame a wild bird. There is always plenty of food around for them. We have two very large feeders which are filled every morning, plus we put about 2 litres of food in piles along an old railway sleeper. That is mostly for the squirrels, pheasants, partridge and other large birds. Tufty liked to steal from the chicken run though and we never minded. He disappeared for about three weeks, which made me wonder if he was actually a she and sitting on some eggs. We will never know for sure and so we continue to refer to him as a male. He does have a partner, but due to his fluffy attire, we can never tell which of them is larger and therefore the female.
Once we had moved our last remaining chickens into the garden, Tufty moved too and could be seen every morning perched in the old yew tree. It was about that time we started making two bowls of treats. One for our chooks and another for the wild birds. They have whatever is left over from our previous night’s vegetarian dinner, plus freshly cooked rice. Tufty has a preference for leftover potato, especially in the form of hash browns. He will land on the bowl and take his time peering at the contents. If there is no potato, then rice will have to do.
We made sure they were all well fed during what was a particularly hard winter. Tufty moulted and looked almost normal for a time, but then his feathers grew back crazier than ever. I’ve approached several bird experts, but nobody has been able to identify his problem. Maybe he doesn’t actually have a problem – he can fly perfectly well. Now I have trained him to come to call and land on a sheep hurdle to be photographed, I can get much closer. To me, it looks as though his feathers just don’t know when to stop growing. He reminds me of an explosion in a pillow factory!
But back to the incident the other week. We had turned off our central heating, but because our hot water is heated by the Aga in the kitchen, it meant it wasn’t being used and we have to run some off about once a day. Seeing as the kitchen was empty of cats at the time, I decided to open both that door and the one to the garden to let the steam outside. Tufty must have seen me at the back door and thought he would come in and beg for treats. I turned around by the sink to see him on the floor in front of the cat food. Pointing in the direction of the exit, I shouted “OUT” and he was gone. With eleven cats indoors, we can’t have him coming inside when he feels like it.
I don’t think his feelings were hurt because he was back in the yew tree waiting for me the next morning.
sidilbradipo1
19 Jun 2018Tufty is wonderful 😍
This Robin is a good fella, waiting for food and love!
Great shots 😀
Ciao
Sid
Zooey
19 Jun 2018He is certainly very special. At 6.00 this morning I opened one of the attic windows at the front of our house. I was talking to one of our cats at the time. Tufty must have heard me because he landed right in front of the window. Now he has had his special breakfast of rice and hash browns 🙂
sidilbradipo1
19 Jun 2018Ohhhh… so tiny, so cuddly 😄💕
A fine gourmand 😊
Happy Tuesday!
Sid
sidilbradipo1
19 Jun 2018Here, robins are good-luck charms 😁
It is always a bright day if you see one in the garden!
Ciao
Sid
Steve Cullum
26 Jun 2018What a fantastic story and glad that all is well with the little fella.
Zooey
27 Jun 2018He’s fine, but I’m a wreck. Merlin is the only one of our 11 cats to go out in the garden. Because he has white ears he’s restricted to mornings and evenings. That is also when I let Violet chicken out of her run for a bit. So I’m trying to keep an eye on her, while Merlin is following me round for a fuss and Tufty robin keeps landing right next to me… 🙂