A Country Visitor

A turkey-sized Ring-Necked Pheasant walked into our back garden on Wednesday, and we would have had a great picture if Rick had charged his camera batteries. Instead Eleanor Breynaert in the next block spotted him and called The Chatham Daily News. The attached photo of our bird was shot by the Daily News' Sarah Fraleigh. As an infrequent city visitor, we're unlikely to see him in the neighbourhood again. Great Blue Herons are another matter - they will be appearing as the ice clears from goldfish ponds.

The Birds

We've been picking the odd banger off our lawn this winter-not bangers as in "bangers and mash" but noise bangers-small shotgun cartridges. Our civic workers have been chasing crows out of town and down the valley into the countryside, where farmers tell us they try to chase them back. For the last few weeks we have been crow-free, which is a good thing because they filled the trees round The Duchess over Xmas. I expected Tippi Hendron to bang on our door at any moment, and Hitch to walk by.