Monday 18th May

Happy Monday all! I hope you had a good weekend.

This weekend I walked to Warley Woods, Sandwell. Have you ever been? It is a lovely place to visit, lots of woodland to explore and a large expanse of grass (some of the hills looked rather good for rolling down, but as an adult I refrained from doing it). Mr Priest was also there around the same time as me, but I didn’t see him.

One of the things I noticed were the vast amount of birds at Warley Woods. I recognised the magpies and the crows, but there were many others that, I am ashamed to say, I did not have a clue. On my return I decided to do some research into birds and the different types of birds.

From a previous blog, we already know that birds are vertebrates - hopefully you can remember what that means! Birds have certain features that make them a bird. They are: warm-blooded, lay eggs and have feathers. There are nearly 10,000 different species of bird. They range from the huge ostrich, which stands taller than a person, to the tiny bee hummingbird, which weighs less than an acorn.

The RSPB (do you know what RSPB stands for? I bet you can guess the last word!) lists 408 species of birds that are found in the UK. In order to identify a bird you need to take note of where you saw it, how big it was, the colour of the feathers, the type of beak, what it was doing and the colour of the legs. Once you have all of the information you should be able to identify the bird using an online source or a book. If you go to the RSPB website you will find a great tool for identifying birds - perhaps you could give it a try with the birds that visit your garden.

I don’t have many birds in my back garden, this may be because there are very few places for them to nest. The one bird I do see a lot of is a magpie. There appears to be one particular magpie that likes to visit my garden, and it can get a little bit close for comfort! Magpies are well known for their thievery and are often attracted to shiny objects, that they then use to furnish their nest. Magpies are also one of the most intelligent species of birds and they can recognise themselves in a mirror! A group of magpies is known as ‘a parliament’. Some people say that it is bad luck to see a single magpie and good luck to see a pair of magpies. ‘One for Sorrow’ is a traditional children’s nursery rhyme about magpies:

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret,

Never to be told,

Eight for a wish,

Nine for a kiss,

Ten for a bird,

You must not miss

Eleven is worse

Twelve for a dastardly curse.

Have you ever heard the rhyme? I must admit that I hadn’t heard all of it.

My computer is about to switch off, so I must end it here.

We miss you all. Stay safe.