Hi, hi, blackbird...my feathered friend comes back year after year
A LUCKY gardener has every reason to feel chirpy – he has pretty much tamed a blackbird.
John Corbin’s feathered friend has returned for four springs in a row – to eat out of his hand and even wander around his house.
The unusual friendship started when he was weeding and the bird darted in and out to grab the worms. “This continued over the next few weeks,” he said.
“Every time I went out in the garden he would appear.
“A few times he came quite close to getting stabbed by my fork in his rush to grab a worm.
Thrilled
“When I sat in the garden enjoying the sun, reading a book, he would fly into the middle of the lawn, lie down and spread his wings as though he was sunbathing.”
The bird then started eating from John’s hand and following him through the utility room into the kitchen for food.
But when the days got shorter, the bird vanished, leaving John to fear that his friend had gone to the great birdtable in the sky.
He was thrilled when the blackbird returned in the spring, having survived cold snaps, storms, traffic and cats.
John, 72, from Melton Mowbray, Leics, said:
“I was out in the garden standing next to the bird food box when suddenly the blackbird landed on it about 2ft away, looked at me and started chirping and flapping his wings as though he was saying, ‘Well don’t stand there looking at me like an idiot, get the food!’
“So I immediately got the suet pieces, laid them flat in the palm of my hand and he just walked up and grabbed a piece.
“This has carried on every year since. He is here during the spring and summer and seems to disappear during the winter, returning February or March.
“This year he came straight up to the back door and walked in, and when I went outside he took the food from my hand. I am not sure what the lifespan of a blackbird is but he does provide me with a great deal of pleasure and I shall miss him when he has gone.”
John might be able to enjoy its company for some time. The British Trust for Ornithology says a blackbird’s average lifespan is three years. The record is 15 years, two months and five days.
IT is said man’s best friend is his dog. But not for Daily Express reader John Corbin. His best buddy is a blackbird who has visited his garden for four springs. A little bird tells us they’ll be best friends for ever...