Unlucky bird

Ordeal almost over-just a little netting bound on the right wing

The whole point of growing fruit is the opportunity to eat it. Unfortunately the birds think I'm growing it for them. And so at this time of the year a small war breaks out. Me V's the birds, all over soft fruit.

This evening coming up the avenue I spotted the cage over a lone red currant was twitching violently. Once I parked up and walked back over a very unfortunate black bird had gotten himself well and truly tangled in my net while busy robbing a branch close to the edge of the fruit cage. He was going demented trying to get himself out, but each frantic flutter was making him weaker and tangling him up even more. I'd feel bad for him but these feckers regularly clean me out.

I couldn't for the life of me get him to calm down. Each approach made him squawk like mad and fight even harder. In  the end I gave up. Freeing Birds, even blatant robbers like black birds is a two man operation.

A few hours later Seamus was back and we tackled him together. He held him still while I cut (my fecking net) to free him. Towards the end of the operation he began to close his eyes-never a good sign, it was obvious the fight was going out of him, he probably had become too exhausted to make a good recovery. That said at one stage he took a swipe at me and I nearly hit seamus with the knife I jumped so badly.His fate was sealed when he was finally freed. He hobbled badly across the lawn unable to fly, leg broken and a wing damaged. Seamus put him up in the field away from where Ginger might find him. To die in peace.

This is the hard part about gardening. Sometimes your own actions directly result in the death of something else. Even if the something else is a thieving bastard.