PEOPLE always talk about how it’s great to be a kid – but it’s great to be a parent as well.
It’s just as well that you’re so busy being a parent you don’t get time to stop to consider it, or you might give the whole thing up!
But no good thing is easy, and that’s how it is with parenthood. And there’s no more rewarding thing in life than raising a child.
Or a chick.
Because it was the flurry of young birds in the garden this week that raised Dúlra’s spirits. The baby blue tits in particular were cuter than a cuddly toy as they flapped their wings and begged their parents for food. And the parents, of course, duly responded.
But the adult blue tits were not looking their best. Like parents everywhere, they were haggard and worn. Their every waking moment is devoted to raising those youngsters and so they don’t have a second to preen those feathers or even just take a breather under the sun for a few seconds.
And the other success story in Dúlra’s garden are the starlings, druid in Irish. A few years ago he put up a couple of nestboxes designed to attract starlings, and they duly moved in. Until then, the estate had few if any starlings.
And this year the family on the box on the chimney raised a healthy brood. Somehow the chicks emerged and managed to avoid the magpies who had been waiting patiently at the chimney to gobble them up.
Dúlra woke up one morning to find them all on the holly tree, chattering happily. Young starlings have brown feathers but are just as jovial as their parents. If there’s a happier bird, Dúlra has yet to see it.
The youngsters hung around for 48 hours before somehow finding out that there may be better fun elsewhere. Like teenagers heading off to their first music festival, they took off en masse and headed down towards the city centre, where all the starling craic is.
It’s here that hoards of youngsters gather at the docks to pluck worms out of the short grass.
Dúlra thought they were gone for good – and so did their parents by the looks of things. The parents were like a couple of retirees, sitting on the holly tree preening themselves.
But the retirement didn’t last long. A few days later the six kids suddenly arrived back, chattering like mad and gulping down the bread Dúlra threw out on the grass. Life was clearly brilliant for them. After being cooped up in a dark, dank nesbox for four weeks with five siblings, the freedom of the big bright world must have been exhilarating.
But nature has a way of bringing you back down to earth. And the young family soon got a wake-up call that will, metaphorically, clip their wings.
Suddenly a sparrowhawk darted into the garden and burst into the hedge below the holly tree. There one of the young starlings had been dining on some berries when its life came to an abrupt end under the bright June sunshine.
The sparrowhawk plucked the young starling apart on the ground as Dúlra watched from the kitchen window, afraid to move a muscle.
The baby starling’s siblings darted into the sky and down towards the city. They’ll not be back any time soon.
* If you’ve seen or photographed anything interesting, or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.
