WoaoW! What are these big black creatures in our lounge Mum?????

Ahh yes, and what brought me here? Well, my girls, of course.

As usual, it's my cats that get me involved with most things. Only a couple of weeks ago I was telling my friend about going into our front lounge only to find my 5 girls (5 Siamese Cats) surrounding 2 huge black rooks.

What a peaceful commotion there was. Peaceful? Yes, because my cats had not a clue what these strange black obstacles were as they have been house cats since birth, with their own outdoor run attached to the dining room and kitchen. And as for the birds, well now, one was sitting up on the windowsill, the other on the floor beadily eyeing up my cats. It was the tallest of the two. I think my girls were waiting to see who would make a move first.

So, in walks me, Mum! What a commotion that caused. The birds stayed put, strangely enough, and my girls? Well, they all came running up to me like children, meowing and chirruping, as only Siamese do, telling me to come quickly and look at this!
With more than just a little bit of fear (for the giant birds' safety of course) I began to shepherd the cats into our adjoining dining room. All hell let loose.

Mummy cat had stayed behind, (I thought she would be gentlest of them all anyway, the two youngest would follow me as I carried "old granny cat" into the dining room).

One bird started squawking and screeching. The other took flight. Dived at the window, smashed off it and bounced back onto the settee. Up it got again and flew straight up to the china plat rack.

Now, this is an old Victorian house and there is a plate rack running all the way round this particular room. Yes! It is full of delicate china plates, some irreplaceable as they were my Gran and Great Aunt's.

My heart leapt. Oh no! Down came on of the little Tiffany vases. I gasped and held my breath as it walloped off the sofa, bouncing into the centre of the room. Thank goodness for the thick Chinese rug!!!!

I tenderly picked it up, checked it. No, no damaged sustained. I then picked up the remaining cat to take her into the dining room, via the hall door this time, as I did not want to risk letting the others back into the lounge.

Just as I approached the door, the other bird flew at me. Now, had I been small, I would have seen the reason for it. But no, I am a good 5'6" in height, and I should have thought a bit frightening for these birds.

But no. It flew at me again. Gads. I reckoned it would actually hit me the next time. I let my cat down, made my way over to the window and finally managed to get the silly great bird to fly out to safety.

If only the other would come down off my plate rack .... no go! It was here for the day. It waddled along the rack. Pushed its way past my fine Chinese blue. Aaaaargh. I could hardly breath. Would it bump one of them? I was waiting on tenterhooks to catch, or attempt to catch, anything that might pop off the shelf.

Eventually the remaining bird made a bid for freedom. Did it fly straight to the open window? Oh no! It had to have a reconnaissance flight around my lounge first.

I had to find a way of attracting the bird to the window, now opened, but it must have remembered smashing into it earlier because it would not go any where near it.

I then grabbed the cat, put her into the hall, and opened the other window in the lounge. I pulled the wooden shutters open, right over, thus giving the bird as much room as possible to escape.

Would it go? ................... Not a chance.

After a few more attempts at stretching its wings, it just sat there and preened its feathers. When it did finally decided to approach the windows from the floor, John Wayne did not have a look in. It swaggered along, turning itself from side to side with each step, until it finally came within three feet of the window sill.

No, it did not fly out. It preferred to leap onto the window sill and sit mocking me with its beady little eyes.

I tried shooing it. To no avail. It just would not budge. How on earth was I going to get rid of it? Should I bring in the dog? No, she might scare it to death. In the end, I had to go into the dining room, fetch a table cloth from the drawer, return to the lounge ..... yes, it was still there. My goodness, you would have thought it would have gone when all was quiet and it had been left alone.

Eventually, I threw the cloth over its head. Gently gathered it up, uncovered it and checked it for damage. All was ok. I extended my arms out of the window. Lifted them up, let go, and away the great bird flew. Straight up to the sycamore trees where its friends and family all spent precious grooming time every day.

I returned to the lounge, checked the iron doors that cover the open fire. Yep. I knew that had been their point of entry. They had been trying to nest high up in the chimney again. We never use the coal fires any more. Preferring the ease of the modern day gas central heating. Thank goodness for progress!

It took me ages cleaning out the twigs and debris that had come down the chimney with the birds. Two lots of poop to clean up and all was soon back to normal. I then opened the two doors, let the cats back in, and they too were amazed to see the unusual visitors had gone.

Life soon returned to normal. I returned to the garden, complete with a frozen Iced Lolly in my hand, to lick and slurp whilst I read the end of my novel.

And the birds? What of them? Aha! They are still with us here. Every day I put their bread and seeds out for them, and they seem to thank me with their loud crying. We have closed off all of the chimneys, except the one in the small lounge. Its cover is constantly removed - by the birds!

It is nice to have wild life around, but to know we can actually step in to help when needed, that is what is important to me!

Signing off, until later then ........C >^..^> L