The world of the wild...

Bad news!

You may think that you’ve seen this picture before. Unfortunately you haven’t. I say unfortunately because the last time you saw a picture of Dilly and Dubby’s nest there were four eggs nestling inside the twigs and feathers, not three as there are now.

An egg has gone missing.

The world of the wild is like that. Last week Holly lost two of her hen chicks. They were there one minute and gone the next. We’ve noticed a buzzard flying over the farm a couple of times recently, we think that the buzzard swooped down and took them. Not a nice thought, but one of the penalties for being free range - and as I said it’s the way in the world of the wild.

I found a headless blackbird by my bench in the front garden at the cottage this weekend. It was probably caught by a cat and then played with for a while before it died, I hope it wasn’t Misty. Not a pretty sight, the head had been taken off completely, but the countryside is a wild and dark place when you look beyond the sunshine, through the flowers, and into the thorny hedgerow. Take a look beneath the foliage and into the shadows, what do you see? It’s dark in there, and damp, and there’s something moving, what is it? I don’t think we should go any closer - not all creatures in the countryside are warm and soft.

Poor Dilly, she knows all about the wild, but that doesn’t make it any better. Dubby’s still out searching for the egg, but they both know that there isn’t much chance of finding it. All Dilly and Dubby can do is hope that they can keep the other eggs safe until they hatch.

Come on let’s leave her alone. She needs a few moments by herself to grieve and then she’ll be back to her nest to get on with the job of hatching the other three. She knows that there’s no time to mope. She’ll dry her tears, put on a brave face, get on with it, and hope – and do her best to protect what she has left.

That’s the way of things in the world of the wild.