Hello WAB

[featheredfriend]

Like the rest of you I'm wild about Britain and its wildlife.

I live in rural Cheshire in a village that is rapidly expanding. However we have some wonderful countryside and a range of hills called the Sandstone Trail where it's possible to get away from the hurly-burly of life.

I've always lived in the countryside and feel lucky to still be enjoying much of what it has to offer.
My garden is as environmentally possible as I can make it and attracts lots of birds, including: robin, thrush, blackbird, collar dove, bluetit, chaffinch, greenfinch, great tit, magpie, jackdaw, starling, sparrow, rook, occasionally a greater spotted woodpecker and sometimes a jay and one of my favourites woodpigeon.

Woodpigeons became my favourites after I reared a baby that had fallen from its nest, been mauled by a cat and was generally on its last legs. It still had its down and was tiny. I thought it would die but decided to try to save it and crushed some bird seeds into some warm water to make a mushy liquid. This I pushed into his beak with a dropper. At first he wasn't too happy but after a few days he was opening his beak and chirping for more.
To cut a long story short I managed to rear him until he was fledged and then I thought it was time for him to learn to fly. This was great, I gently launced him from my hands to the ground and he quickly got the hang of it. He was growing quite quickly and after about another week of disppearing all day but returning to his garden shed at he suddenly flew the nest.
I called him 'Woody' and he was a great bird, a bit mad (probably due the bump on his head) but everyone who saw him loved him.

Well, that's an introduction from me apart from telling you that I'm retired from the NHS and spend lots of time walking, writing and observing nature.