Trapped

I quite like the warmer weather. It is nice to be able go out without a coat or umbrella and know that you are not going to end up cold or wet. But as with everything in life there is a down side. We have, and have had, every year since we moved here four years ago, birds nesting on the house. Each years there seem to be more nests. This year we have a total of twelve, and that does not include the three partly built nests that were taken down. It may sound cruel taking down partly built nests, but it is allowed as long as there are no birds in the nest. One warm afternoon, about two months ago, when the birds were building their nests, we were sitting outside trying to enjoy a drink, during our afternoon break from gardening and the air was thick with birds flying around. It was like a scene from the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds. Bird droppings make an awful mess of the windows and window ledges and now they have built a nest above the conservatory which really is the last straw. They say that bird droppings bring you luck. Well by my reckoning we ought to be winning the Lottery jackpot every week, but we aren't. Since we moved here we have managed to have the windows cleaned only twice, earlier this year. The window cleaner said not to worry about the birds nests - he would take them down. His lad came round to do just that at the beginning of June. He took one look at the nests and said that he would be back with a ladder and I am still waiting for him to come back!

Then when we are in the house, there is the problem that we dare not have the windows open in case a bird flies in. I have got around that by opening the windows as much as I dare, in the evening, and pulling over the curtains. That, at least, allows some air to circulate and for the upstairs, which warms up as the day goes on, to cool down. At times I almost feel like a prisoner, trapped, in my own house.

Well on Saturday evening the tables were turned. I had intended to lock up the conservatory but it was still quite warm so I had left the windows slightly open. About an hour later I went back to lock up the conservatory and to my horror there was a bird in the conservatory. The wind had blown the windows wide open. Luckily the doors to the living room were shut so it hadn't had the chance to get into the house. The bird panicked when it saw me and I panicked when I saw the bird and I was quickly back into the living room. The bird kept flying into the windows almost knocking itself out. I decided that the best thing to do was to go outside and open the external conservatory doors, to give the bird a larger space to get out. This took some time as the bird was obviously tired and every time that it saw me it panicked and vice versa. Eventually the bird flew out, much to my relief. It was only a tiny thing and I hate to think what would have happened if it had got into the house. My husband watched from the bedroom window, not knowing what was going on, and commented that he wondered what I was doing, jumping around outside the conservatory.