Yes, summer, the fledglings are at large. A family of great tits arrives as I sit on my favourite little bench under the below-mentioned tree. The babies push and shove on the branch and shout very loudly,DI DI DEE DEE DI DI DI DEE DEE DEE DEE!
They are proclaiming to the local cat population:
FLYING SNACKS AVAILABLE HERE!
The neighbourhood cats materalise, turn their headlight eyes full beam on the babies, and jitter with unmet desire.
The parents, who are looking worn and grey, feathers at all angles, try to restore order and call out pointedly in their adult song,
TEA -CHING, TEA-CHING
They whirr to the bird table, snatch up a sunflower seed, whirr back up to the babies on the branch, tap open the seeds, eat the seed in front of their young, yum yum, and drop the husks on my head.
DI DI DI DEE DI DI DI DEE DEE DI DI shout the babies. They don't get it. They don't understand the seed thing. They want Mummy and Daddy to keep putting live worms in their open beaks, and who can blame them? The parents persist,
TEA-CHING, TEA-CHING-CHING
