GOOD company can help you get through deep winter. And this week, when you can see your breath and there’s frost and snow on the ground, Dúlra’s had the best of company. Not from people – but from a wee bird that stands out from the crowd.He first noticed the blackcap in the garden sitting on top of a bramble stem sticking out of a wee section of hedge that hadn’t been tended as well as all the others.The bird was the size of a sparrow, but it held itself with a lot more aplomb. This was a bird that was worldly wise and immaculately turned out – blackcaps are all-over grey with that stand-out cap – black for male, brown for female. And their bill is thin and delicate – certainly not the jack-of-all-trades beak of the sparrow. And it’s from that bill that, come spring, a wonderful song will emerge. As members of the warbler family, they are unlike any other bird that you might find in your garden at this time of year. Insect-eating warblers are forced to head thousands of miles south to find food when summer ends here. But obviously not that blackcap in Dúlra’s garden, sitting on that half-frozen bramble stem.
