ON MY MIND With
THE reason why the Downing Street garden work events caused so many feathers to be ruffled recently was, I believe, that workers there were taking part in the annual bird count organised by the RSPB. So forget about Operation Save Big Dog, Carriegate, Cakegate, the Cream Tea and Pork Pie plots, because it was, it has been rumoured, some innocent BYOB (bring your own birdseed) gatherings.
RSPB encourages people each year to identify the wildlife (there was plenty) and watch what is happening in your garden (and send the videos to Sue Gray area). The PM’S advisers were reported to have seen some mockingbirds but as yet no jailbirds.
For some, it might be difficult to swallow that there was no fowl play despite the predatory nature of the culture and the tendency of the current government to wing it, but it seems that it was a time for counting beaks and feathers, especially those left behind by the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, Larry the cat (Tweeter account: Larry@downingst).
My own garden has always been a Franciscan paradise in which I often chat to the bird population from behind a hedge with a plastic robin on my head. Unfortunately, they take as much notice as the visiting foxes and badgers who, having no interest in Franciscan values, leave presents on the lawn, forage for insects and grubs and decimate the local hedgehog community.
Yet my telescope has revealed a veritable remake of ‘Lord of the Wings’ in spotting the robin, house and tree sparrow, thrush, blackbird, chaffinch, collared dove, blue tit, great tit and green finch.
Other rarer species seen in the area, although questioned by RSPB, include the Old Coot, the Hairy Gripe, the Fluffy-backed Geezer, the Warbling Wally and the Spotted Fishbanger.
Reports are now coming in from the Downing Street garden of the sighting of other species not seen for many years, giving rise to puffed-up interest rates, yellow-bellied energy bills and hairy national insurance rises. If they hang around, they will be as popular as a woodpecker on Noah’s ark.
■ Follow Graham on Twitter@ Geetdee