The Jay (a.k.a. Garrulus glandarius : chattering, noisy ; of acorns)

These photos of two baby Jays were taken in Latton Vicarage Garden by my friend, Lynn Hurry. Our intrepid photographer had to hide in the lower branches of a pear tree to get them and emerged covered in bugs, leaves, bits of wood and blossom. Sadly, there was no one on hand to take a photo of her!

A JAY WRITES A LETTER

I decorate your garden with my finery
but you do not trust me.
Some say that I am always up to no good.
A reputation for being shifty, flighty, mischievous,
precedes me;
more kindly I am a scallywag.
But do you notice how shy I am?
Perhaps you are distracted by my piercing ‘call’.
Dismissed as a chatterbox, incessant talker,
your proper name for me is ‘garrulous.’
Hardly, ‘reserved’!
Maybe those who are more suited to quietness
speak the loudest to hide our true nature.
How better to disguise myself as I search for acorns,
my Winter food.
I have a knack for foresight and planning.
I do not fear discovery from my well disguised hiding.
So be nice to me.
I bring colour and joy to your lives,
if you but look.

[Mr G]

A Tale

The crow and the pitcher

The Intelligence of the Corvidae family was observed 2,500 years ago by the famous Greek fabulist, Aesop. Here’s the tale, taken from the BBC website, about the crow and the pitcher:

One day, after a spell of hot weather which has dried up all the streams and ponds, the crow fears it will die of thirst. Coming upon a pitcher of water left in a garden, the crow tries to drink from it, but there is only a little water left in the bottom, and his beak can’t reach it. Having thought for a while, the crow hits upon the solution of dropping in pebbles until the water level rises sufficiently for him to drink.

The moral is: little by little does the trick

All photos by The Revd Lynn Hurrry