Wednesday 10 April 2019

A Good Day

This morning I drew back the curtains to find the sun shining and two absolutely beautiful male partridges strolling along the terraces in my garden.  I stood very still and they were almost near enough to touch.   Their markings were so exotic that they just didn't look like any ordinary 'field' bird.    When they caught sight of me they strolled up to the top of the garden, flew on to the stone wall and then disappeared into the field beyond.   They are in short supply around here, unlike pheasants (which are bred for the shooting season and released for just that purpose sadly) but  I suspect just as likely to be shot once the shooting season opens.   This, of course, is why there are so few of them about.  I had three or four minutes in which to enjoy them and they started my day off well.

Out to lunch with friend D (scampi, chips and peas if you wish to know) and then home in time for friend S's call to take Tess for her walk.    I am so lucky to have so many good friends and I really appreciate it.

Now, as the sun begins to set, there is a clear blue sky and a sharpish wind blowing.   I suspect that, like last night, there will probably be a frost.  I planted four lupin plants over the weekend - I just hope they can stand it.

16 comments:

Rachel Phillips said...

You did well to sex a partridge, in my experience there is nothing much between them. I take my hat off to you. I've never been able to do it.

رامز المثاليه said...
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angryparsnip said...

Mother Nature has a wonderful paintbrush.

cheers, parsnip

رامز المثاليه said...
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رامز المثاليه said...
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Bovey Belle said...

I'm all behind like the donkey's tail recently - so much happening. Glad you had an enjoyable lunch, and had some pheasant visitors. We get some on our land in the shooting season - they feel safe on our lawn!

justjill said...

We have lots of Pheasants. Who visit, fight, and have babies. Can you read the above comments?!

John Going Gently said...

Scampi and chips my bloody fav

The Weaver of Grass said...

Rachel - these were what the farmer used to call 'French partridges' although there is nothing of that name in my bird books. Their heads were extremely colourful - in fact they were so exotic that I thought they were birds escaped from some aviary. It was only after i found them in one of my bird books that I realised what they were and the males have a much more colourful head than the females.

Joanne Noragon said...

my shamrocks are surviving overnight, though we are coming up just short of frost.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

What a magical moment that must have been! What colour will your lupins be, or are they a mixture? I love lupins. They grow wild in the fields and ditches in provinces like Nova Scotia. They only last a year or two in my garden, but every once in a while they will self seed. -Jenn

Cro Magnon said...

Someone is breeding a few just down the road from me. He was supposed to be releasing them in 'Spring', to let them breed naturally. The idea was NOT to shoot them for several years to let the population grow. Knowing the French, I doubt if that'll happen.

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat, your partridges are known as Red-legged Partridges (French Partridges). Sexes are almost identical and so could of been a pair. The traditional Grey Partridge (English Partridge) is now unfortunately, only found in small numbers in the countryside nationally and therefore the hardier French Partridge is now, like Pheasants, released each year in their thousands for the shooting season. Here on just Sheppey, around 4,000 Frenchies are released each year for shooting.

Librarian said...

After a dull, grey day, sunshine greets me today as I open my blinds. It is going to be 12C during the day, but there was a touch of frost over night, and more of it is forecast for the weekend. So I hope not too much of what is already out and about in terms of blossoms on the trees and baby animals will freeze to death.
I don't think I have ever seen partridges in the wild, not sure there are any in my corner of the globe.

Heather said...

What a treat to see partridges in your garden. It has been many years since I saw one. We have sunshine to greet us here this morning which will be very welcome after some very dull days. I hope your lupins will settle in and not be affected by any frosts. They are one of my favourite border plants but are susceptible to woolly aphids down here and in the end I stopped growing them.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Rachel and Derek - thinking about it I am sure you are right. It is far more likely given the time of year that this was a pair of partridge. Sad that they are bred to shoot. Only two years since I left the farm and shooting on our land and I had completely forgotten about this. They are such beautiful birds.

Thanks everyone for your comments.