Page 32 - ALG Issue 4 2019

members articles
Mornings at eight
(with Robin red guest)
It’s almost eight o’clock on a sunburst morning at my allotment. July this
year was warm and comforting to walk along the lanes approaching Allotment 48 and open my shed door. Once in, I light the gas for a cuppa to start my day.
One thing I forgot – a young Robin short of full colour quickly joins me in the shed as I sit waiting for the kettle and its whistle. My wife knows all about wild birds and she explains that what
I thought was a scraggy Sparrow was in fact a young Robin. Over the next
six to ten weeks the bird has visited us as soon as the gate is opened. A few mealworms and a drink of rain from the water butt sets the new friend alive, and he or she darts from pillar to post sussing out our allotment which is
now its domain. Many a morning the Robin visits us in the shed and sits quite contented studying our every move. If either the wife or I dig a vegetable or a flower bed, the bird inspects the whole area for worms before we can continue.
I’ve never been a keen bird watcher; this is all new to me, and I’m enchanted and intrigued to sit and watch the young fledgling turn into a bright red beauty. Many a morning, six of us sit outside the shed in the sun with a brew, and
the Robin joins us as we put the world to rights. At intervals when I make a brew, Robbie has now started to come into the shed and have a look round to see if there are any insects about, under benches, tables and cooker etc. Robins are generally suspicious creatures, and it took a few weeks for the bird to have the confidence to join our little band of plotholders in a general get-together. We sit and chat whilst Robbie scuttles about beneath our chairs and seems
to study us all before committing. Lately Robbie has started to sit on our shoes, unaware of the interest. Once the brew is over, Robbie flies off to new challenges until tomorrow.
John Wilshaw of Heroncross Allotments, Stoke-on-Trent
Here my little friend is in my greenhouse watching me removing side-shoots from the tomato plants and looking for the odd worm
During the day Robbie flits
from one area
to another, generally keeping an eye out for
any ground I may disturb, revealing a ready meal
32 Allotment and Leisure Gardener