Scared now

[altariel]

So in our back garden we have this amazing cherry tree (now much bigger than shown), and over the past couple of weeks it has been cooking up the most amazing crop (it's been hot then wet then hot again). Over the past week, the local blackbirds and starlings and assorted others have been feasting. Today I looked out and thought, "Right, time for my share," and out I went with a chair and this fine and sturdy piece of Lock'n'Lock.

The birds fled. I went round the tree for a while, picking and nomming, and I may have been humming 'Cherry Ripe'. And then I heard, up above me, high at the top of the tree, a murmuration of starlings. It became a clutter, then a gathering, then a concentration and then a fucking scary load of starlings, all yelling down the road and out far into the fens that SOME BITCH WAS NICKING ALL THE CHERRIES. All of sudden I was starring in a Hitchcock movie.

Well, the other week I faced off a huge green-eyed and hissing black cat - nay, panther - that is trying to claim our garden as its territory and has been worrying the polyamorous blackbirds in the hedge, so I thought, "Starlings, no sweat," and picked on fearlessly. It was touch and go for a bit as they rocked the tree around and screamed obscenities at me and then, WHOOSH - they all flew off. In a cloud.

Now, pie.

Comments

[ex-naomi-ja.livejournal.com]

Cherry pie or starling pie?

Also, cherries, mmm...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Sadly, they shifted too fast for me to bag them for pie. Next year I'll know how to lure them in.

[scottpearson.livejournal.com]

We have a cherry tree in our yard as well, and I make a lovely cherry cobbler, if I do say so myself.

After the gray squirrels help themselves to a few juicy cherries, the fur around their mouths is all red, making them look like squirrels from a Stephen King story.

Our cherries should be ripe in a couple more weeks. Perfect timing so that it will be a mad dash to harvest them before leaving for Shore Leave.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Hah! I love your scary squirrels! There's a grey squirrel that hops around our garden but I haven't seen it trying the cherries out; it might be too scared of the starlings.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Right, so stripped of all the biophobic hyperbole, what happened was roughly this. A few families of local Sturnus vulgaris, who have by now had their first brood of the summer fledged and out of the nest, have been taking advantage of your cherry crop. You go out there while they're feeding, they get nervous and fly away, because as with all prey species it pays to play safe, but then go back becuase you appear to be human and are therefore probably harmless so long as you don't get too close, but no, you are after the same thing they are, and being wimpy little Starlings all they can do is hiss and whistle in indignation before flying off.

Shame on you for taking food out of innocent young mouths. 'Course, 90% of the young 'uns will be dead by Christmas regardless, but ... shame on you ... Well, shame-ish. We are talking cherries, after all...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My god, though, you should taste the pie.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I meant to ask: would you be willing to assemble me a reading list of the top five books I should have read about evolution?

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

Ohnoes!

I'm glad you got the cherries. (;

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I got what I needed of the cherries, and they are welcome to the rest. And the pie was delicious.

[narie.livejournal.com]

I am envious of people with a good cherry tree. Ours is very sizable, very fertile and also wholly unpalatable.

Well, save to the sterlings and the squirrels and the blackbirds and the jays. They love it.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

This is one bountiful cherry tree: I can't reach most of them, and I doubt I'll have got more than 5% of what's on there on my forage earlier. The starlings are welcome to the rest.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

My loganberries have started ripening! Bumper crop any time now!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yum!

I'm just jealous

[thelastbassdiaries.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

The only wildlife I get round here is the odd spider (soon thrown mercilessly from the second-floor patio doors (there is no patio, which makes them quite SCARY patio doors, leading as they do onto the Leeds Street dual carriageway some 50 feet below))

But couldn't you set the panther onto the birds?

Re: I'm just jealous

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My god, the image of all those spiders hurtling to their doom... Aaaaaaarggglle!


But couldn't you set the panther onto the birds?

I fear I may have got on the wrong side of that panther. It's a jungle out there!

[metamorphosa.livejournal.com]

And then I heard, up above me, high at the top of the tree, a murmuration of starlings. It became a clutter, then a gathering, then a concentration...
You know, "fucking scary load" should have had a link, too! :)

Birds can be quite intimidating when you realise they really are directing all of that noise at *you*, can't they? I had a similar situation with a flock of jackdaws (my collective noun's just dull!) when we had to clear years worth of their nests from my chimney. Enjoy your pie!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

You know, "fucking scary load" should have had a link, too! :)

LOL, if only I'd taken the camera!

I can imagine those jackdaws. My pie was wonderful, thank you!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

My flist is seriously freaking me out today.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It was very like that Barbie doll, only my frocks aren't so pretty. (I can't read that first entry, alas.)

[trixieleitz]

That's never your back garden?! Blimey, it has been a while....

Cherries, nom!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! And that was a couple of years ago, so there's a big herb garden on the left, and lots of plants now!

[greylin.livejournal.com]

Next time, you tip the mealworms out of that Lock'n'Lock and scatter them at the other end of the garden. I guarantee the starlings will leave you alone. :D

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Dammit, I knew I took the wrong Lock'n'Lock out with me!

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

WHOOSH - they all flew off. In a cloud.

They'll be back.

On the other hand, by then, you'll be fuelled by PIE. My money's on you.

Well done, facing off the cat! It's really strange, isn't it, being aware that you're engaged in a contest of status and show, with absolutely no idea of the rules...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

you'll be fuelled by PIE. My money's on you.

I don't know, I'm quite PIE-SLEEPY now. They can have the rest of the cherries. I only wanted a pie's worth.


It's really strange, isn't it, being aware that you're engaged in a contest of status and show, with absolutely no idea of the rules...

It hissed first, but I hissed last.

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

The blackbirds are currently making short work of our strawberries. I doubt anyone could bag 24 of them for a pie, but you never know. Our neighbours' cherry tree overhangs our garden and has a lovely bunch of fruit on it. Guess who'll be bagging those...

Glad you triumphed over the boids. Three cheers for Altariel's Pie.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Bag 'em before the blackbirds get 'em. Can you cover over the strawbs in some way?

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

A true triumph over Nature's horrors! I hope you enjoy the (literal) fruits of your bravery. There's not much better than homemade cherry pie (unless it's homemade cherry cobbler).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I feel like I have mastered my environment in some way. (Cobbler isn't something that seems to happen in the UK.)

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

See, this is why you don't need to even leave the environs of your house to have a scary adventure. Still, at least there was the reward of pie at the end of it all.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Exactly: if my garden can deliver such terrors, imagine what it might be like on the bus.

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

It would serve the starlings right to be roasted after scaring you like that. Introduce them to a cherry coulis and see if they like cherries then!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Wow, you have a tough streak!

[dkpalaska.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I don't take the time to comment more, but I had to tell you that I laughed so hard at this story!

Although I grew up where there were lots of starlings. The way they fly/act as one giant organism can be inspiring, astonishing and freaky in turns...

So glad that you enjoyed the fruits of your labors. :) Still a month or more before our berries ripen, darn it. *goes to fish about for the remainder of last year's crop in the freezer*

Denise

[altariel.livejournal.com]

We aim to please! :-)

Enjoy your cherries when they ripen. We have about a pie's worth in the fridge. The birds have pretty much stripped the tree and snaffled all the fallen fruit too.