A few days ago my husband and I sat in the conservatory enjoying a cup of tea. The sun was shining on the new green leaves on the trees in our garden and the wood across the road. The wind had abated and early evening had crept in quietly so as not to disturb the ambiance.
A pigeon wandered lazily beneath the bird feeder, scavenging for seeds and pieces of suet that had been dropped by the smaller birds. Another pigeon appeared on the fence a couple of feet away. He watched for a few minutes before dropping down onto the grass near the scavenger who was still mooching around siphoning up the scraps. Suddenly he pounced and the tranquility was shattered as the two birds waged world war three on our lawn.
Just as suddenly and with a shrill squawk they were joined by another bird. Pandemonium reigned before one of the pigeons flew up into the apple tree above the bird feeder. There remained two birds on the lawn and my husband had shot out of his chair to stand at the window where followed a running commentary!
‘Wow! There’s a sparrow hawk attacking the pigeon!’ he shouted excitedly. ‘He’s taking big chunks out of the pigeon’s breast. The pigeon’s still alive and struggling to get away! He’s got no chance!’ I got up and looked across at the pile of feathers on the lawn and more wafting around a wider perimeter. I heard a high-pitched shrieking noise and saw the pigeon pinned to the ground by the hawk ferociously ripping chunks of feathers from its breast. My initial reaction was to rush outside and chase the hawk away.
I didn’t. The sparrow hawk was doing what nature intended. Finding food to feed it’s family. I couldn’t watch the slaughter and wanted to get as far away from it as possible. My brain was telling me that this is a natural process and needs to happen for survival but my heart hated the sound of the mortally wounded pigeon and the hideous way it was going to die.
I also saw, at first hand, that women are from Venus, men from Mars! My husband fetched his camera and excitedly took photographs of the gory killing. I went back to my chair in the conservatory, finished my cup of tea and, going into the kitchen, started the evening meal. I tried to erase the ‘dark’ side of nature by busily doing what nature had intended for ‘civilised’ human beings!
Dinner in the oven I poured myself a G&T and went into the sitting room with my iPad to catch up on family and friends via Facebook. My escape 👠
Jenny Burrell 