magpie on nearby barn roof

magpie coming for peanuts

Sure enough, we were being spied on by this magpie. He’s watching us to see when we put out peanuts on the garden wall. As soon as we do, the moment we turn our backs to walk back indoors, he comes down, takes one, and flies off with it. He has to be quick, because he is not the only one who knows about the peanuts. Someone else knew about them first.

We first put out peanuts for a crow that started visiting us in late winter. He took an interest in our garden when he saw the peanuts we were putting out for the birds. He would perch on the fence, looking in, trying to summon up the courage to come into the small, enclosed space. Sometimes he would come down and take one. Often, he was too wary to actually come down, so missed out on a treat.

magpie departing with a peanut

We noticed that the crow has a damaged leg. He hobbles on it and is clearly somewhat handicapped, which we think may have made him more shy and cautious than he would otherwise be. So to make things easier for him, we put the peanuts on the corner of the garden wall, a more exposed place where he would feel safer coming to get them. He would fly to the fence, take a look around, then hop down to the wall and take some nuts.

crow sitting on the fence

He soon learned that if there weren’t any peanuts there, we could be trained to put some out for him. All he had to do was come to the fence, make sure that we knew he was there, then retreat to safety while we came out into the garden. He would watch us through the window, sometimes calling out to get our attention, and only fly off when he saw us get up. Not stupid, this bird!

For a while, the crow had things to himself. Free peanuts for breakfast, and through the day whenever he wanted them. Ahh, the good life! Eventually, however, the magpies, nesting nearby, spotted what was happening, and came to get in on the act. After that things got really interesting, watching how the birds behaved. The magpies would watch the crow come for his first peanut, and as soon as he left, they would come down and help themselves to as many of the remaining nuts as possible. From there, things just escalated.

crow coming in to land

crow looking for peanuts

The crow would often eat his first peanut there on the wall, with the magpies sitting just a beak-length away. The crow is bigger, so can keep the two magpies at bay. After his first peanut, he would pick up two more in his beak, and fly off to enjoy them at leisure. The magpies then came in for the rest.

Then the magpies chicks fledged, two of them, making four magpies in the family team. The crow had to be quicker coming in, and also tried to be more discrete. Sometimes he could get most of the nuts before the magpies spotted him from the trees, but if he was slow off the mark, the magpies would take the lot very quickly.

Eventually he took to sitting on the roof of the barn at dawn, watching for me to open the doors to the terrace and put out the first peanuts of the day. Then he’d be in like a shot, the moment I turned round to walk away. If the magpies weren’t around, he’d take his first peanut away and hide it in the nearby bushes, then come back for more. If the magpies got there before him, they too would often take some away to hide, and often in the same bushes! There must be quite a stash of them there by now, if they haven’t forgotten about them. Or maybe they’ve all been found by our nightly hedgehog visitors, they doubtless patrol those bushes too.

crow with one peanut

magpie back for more

In case anyone is worried that we may be taming these birds, we’re not. They remain as wary as ever of people, and won’t stay anywhere near when we’re outside. Our role is strictly that of peanut-providers, and we know our place!

Jasmine with some apple

(Possibly) related posts:

1. Bird feeders
2. High-rise House Martins
3. Little feet in the snow
4. Goldfinches
5. HR 669, A Threat to Your Pet

house martin high-rise homes

a pair of house martins on their nest

Now I do know that birds can use tools, and that they can invent them as well. There’s Betty, a New Caledonian Crow, who is famous for having figured out how to bend wire into hooks to retrieve food. You can see that in a youtube video of her exploits.

Jasmine playing with a bolt

The birds clearly approve too, these nests are very well-used. In the few minutes we spent watching them, most of them had someone come or go at least once. The shelf underneath the nests is also a good idea, people passing by can do so without having to worry about what might fall on them.

Good for you, Geneva!

house martin feeding chicks

(Possibly) related posts:

1. HR 669, A Threat to Your Pet
2. Neighbourhood Watch
3. Welcome to Song for Jasmine
4. Goldfinches
5. Earth Day 2009, it’s here!

So what’s HR 669 about? The supposed intent of the bill is sound, namely to prevent invasive species from establishing breeding populations in the US. This makes sense – though it’s coming a little late, Florida probably has more non-native species than anyone can count. Unfortunately, the bill is very ill-conceived. It will not solve the problem, and as many have pointed out it will in fact make matters worse.

I heard about HR 669 from GrrlScientist’s blog, she has been writing about it a lot recently. In “HR 669: The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act” she describes the main features of this bill. I won’t attempt to reproduce her comprehensive analysis here, you should read her post if you’re interested. And if you live in the United States and own a bird, lizard, hamster, fish, or practically any animal other than a cat or dog, you should definitely be interested!

The bill assumes that all non-native species are a threat to native American wildlife, and that they should be banned until proven to be harmless. The bill doesn’t distinguish different regions of the US, so an animal that has the potential to establish itself only in Hawaii, or Alaska, will be banned, even if it couldn’t survive anywhere else. The United States has a wide range of ecosystems, so practically any animal you can think of keeping as a pet could survive somewhere in the US, and is therefore likely to be banned under this bill, should it become law.

Animals which are banned will not be allowed to be imported or exported, traded, sold, or bred, and of course, not be allowed to be released into the wild. If you have one of these banned animals when the bill becomes law, you can keep it, but only if you can prove you had it before the bill is passed. Do you happen to have a receipt for that parrot you inherited from your grandmother 30 years ago?

HR 669 doesn’t stop there. Even if you can prove it, you will still be subject to all the above restrictions. Also, you will not be allowed to transport the animal across state boundaries. Forget about moving to get a better job unless you want your pet to be euthanised. No, you can’t give it to someone else, that’s not allowed either.

If this has you at all concerned, please read the above post on GrrlScientist’s blog, and consider following the link to take action to oppose this bill.

Jasmine

GrrlScientist has some follow-up posts that are worth reading too. In “World Parrot Trust Speaks out Against HR 669” she reproduces a letter from the Executive Director of the World Parrot Trust, in which he adds his voice to the opposition. I find it particularly poignant that parrots will suffer because of this bill. Those of you who know Jasmines’ Story will know that we tried to export her to the US, where we knew she could have lived in a healthier environment. We were unable to do so because the US was not accepting imports from our part of France, for fear of bird-flu, and in any case her exportation would have been a slow process because African Grey are on the CITES lists. Jasmine might have lived had it not been for that restriction, and if HR 669 becomes law, many other animals already living in the US are likely doomed to a similar fate.

(Possibly) related posts:

1. Bird feeders
2. Welcome to Song for Jasmine
3. Gardening over for the year…?

wild primrose

I’ve grown vegetables in pots before, but not without pesticides and fertilisers. This year will be different, I intend to follow the growing trend and see how well I manage without chemical assistance. If it’s good enough for Michelle Obama, it’s good enough for me!

Michelle Obama wants to plant an organic garden in the white house lawn, and apparently this is upsetting the agricultural chemicals industry in the US. They are concerned that it sends the wrong message because it is organic. This despite the fact that more and more people out there are moving away from pesticide use. The fourth Semaine sans Pesticides (‘week without pesticides’), just last month, was twice the size of the one last year.

14 countries participated, from Canada, South America, Europe, and Africa (a summary is available online). Pesticides are nasty chemicals, and it seems a lot of people, the world over, think we can do without using so much or so many of them. But how?

Fortunately for the small gardener, there’s a lot of good information out there about natural pest control, such as using coffee to repel slugs and snails, using neem oil as an environmentally-friendly pesticide, companion planting, for mutual pest-resistance, selecting plants to attract useful insects, and growing vegetables in pots. I’ve even read some of it, and have decided what I want to grow this year.

I want to grow lettuce, beetroot, chard, and spring onions. Beetroot leaves are good in salads, so they’re not just for the roots. I also want to plant a few herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary, mint), as much for the smell as anything. I’ve chosen these plants for a variety of reasons:

• they’re easy and fast to grow, so I can hope to get something quickly
• for the most part, they’re cut-and-come-again, so I can hope for a long season
• lettuce and chard, in particular, don’t keep too well in the fridge. By growing my own, I hope to have them fresh whenever I want them.
• they don’t need staking, so occasional high winds and storms won’t damage them (I hope)
• in the event of a disaster (hailstorm, heatwave, locusts, whatever) I should be able to replace them rapidly

Jasmine with carrot

Incidentally, if your parrot likes beetroot, do bear in mind that it retains its colour as it passes through the digestive system of your feathered friend. Jasmine liked beetroot, but the first few times we gave it to her we were a little concerned about the red droppings at the bottom of the cage a few hours later!

I also want to grow some flowers, partly for the colour but also for the local birds and insects – some of them anyway. The local bees will probably like the thyme, and I’m sure they’ll go for sunflowers too. The sunflower heads will be kept for feeding the birds later in the autumn and winter.

The minimal research I’ve done so far suggests that french marigolds are good at deterring aphids, so they’ll be very much in evidence, in and around the other plants. Nasturtiums are easy and, if I am to believe what I hear, edible too, but I’m not convinced. Maybe I’ll try them, maybe not.

I don’t intend to be too ambitous with my gardening this year. I won’t have a great deal of time for it and I’m not expecting to save a lot of money. I do expect to grow some tasty food, and to have a lot of fun in the process. I’ll let you know how it goes!

(Possibly) related posts:

1. Gardening update
2. Gardening Update II
3. Gardening over for the year…?
4. Garden visitors
5. The gardening season has begun

an organically grown carrot

The BBC published an article on Tuesday with the title Farmers fear EU pesticide rules. Interestingly, a few hours later they changed the title to “Euro MPs back pesticide controls”. This concerns the very law that I mentioned in a previous post, “Optimism“.

It’s a shame the BBC changed the title, but the story still made it out into the world with that title, so i feel I am allowed to refer to it as such. So why should British farmers fear these rules? The majority of the EU states welcomes them, as do I, though the MEPs don’t ask me for my opinion.

Apparently, they fear the rise in price that would follow the drop in productivity, even to the point that the ‘British carrot’ could become extinct. Why, then, does the Soil Association believe otherwise? The Soil Association is an organisation that supports and promotes organic farming. They published a report in October 2008 entitled “England And Wales Under Organic Agriculture”, in which they discuss the consequences (email them if you want a copy, it’s not available for download). They point out that going completely organic could, for the UK, reduce the use of fertilizers by 95%, spraying by 98%, and increase jobs by 73%. There are many other benefits, not least of which is a huge reduction in the carbon footprint of their food.

The common objection to going organic is that yields would decline. This report shows that they would not suffer as much as is often claimed, Britain would not starve. It might even be better off with the right balance of farming techniques, there’s plenty of scope. If the Argentinians can manage to raise organic beef on large farms and export it around the world, surely Britain can do likewise?

Unfortunately, the soil-association report doesn’t mention the fate of the British carrot, so I don’t know what would happen there.

France is not so scared of going organic, it seems. The French are putting 12 million euros annually into turning their farms organic. They want organic production to grow considerably in the near future. France is the biggest consumer of pesticides in europe, but they don’t seem to be scared of running out of carrots as they change their ways.

Shopping at Satoriz with Jasmine

Personally, I buy most of my food from a French organic chain, Satoriz (Jasmine often came with us). Their prices are reasonable, the quality is good, and they have a full range of organic products, from soap and baby food to beer and wine. Oh yes, and carrots, like the one at the top of this post. I’ve also noticed that the food I buy from there tastes better than food I get from elsewhere. Satoriz have a lot of shops in my area, and have recently opened a large new outlet. I hope they continue to do well.

America, too, has an agricultural system strongly based in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. As Obama prepares to be sworn in as president, there are people calling on him to reform the way the USA produces food, citing largely the same reasons.

So if all the French, the Argentinians, and the USA think they can produce food without so many chemicals, I have to wonder what the British farmers have to fear? Surely they aren’t really scared for their carrots?

(Possibly) related posts:

1. Meanwhile, in the garden…
2. Nuclear power and radiation exposure: should you worry?
3. An hour, a day, a week, for the earth
4. March diary
5. Gardening update

Jasmine, with a piece of fennel

Jasmine is an African Grey parrot. That’s her flying through the banner, here in the kitchen, and elsewhere on this site. She came to live with us in April 2007, and just 18 short months later we had to have her put down. She had such severe allergies to the chemicals and products that people use everyday that she wasn’t able to survive. She should have outlived me, but she wasn’t even three years old. She would have been three this month, November 2008.

I have become increasingly concerned in recent years about pollution, climate change, and the ways in which we are poisoning our world. African Greys are an endangered species, on the CITES lists, and for Jasmine to succumb to allergies induced by modern western life is as ironic as it is tragic.

Jasmine’s story has been told elsewhere, on the Dweezeljazz and Chipper’s Alley blogs. With this blog I hope to share some of the things that I find beautiful about the world and to raise awareness (my own included) about the ways in which we can help to preserve it.

I am English in origin, but have lived in France for many years now. I intend to build this site in both languages in parallel, and hope the native French-speakers among you will forgive me my mistakes.

(Possibly) related posts:

1. Earth Day 2009, it’s here!
2. High-rise House Martins
3. HR 669, A Threat to Your Pet
4. An hour, a day, a week, for the earth
5. (British) Farmers fear EU pesticide rules