Mutant blackbirds in my garden

Picture by Tom Rayner

About three years ago, we had a blackbird in our garden with a white wing. I’d never seen anything like that before, although when I was a cub reporter, I once did a story about a pink starling spotted in Northwich (they’re fairly common apparently).

Anyway, we watched white wing for a some time before he disappeared from view and memory. I thought he might have grown some new black feathers or popped his clogs.

He may well have done, but before departing this life he seems to have spread his mutant genes around a bit. There are now at least four blackbirds (black males and brown females) with white patches. One has a white wing patch like his dad; another has a white blob on her head.

These birds are currently busy playing the mating game, chasing each other around the garden and chasing away potential rivals. So what will the next generation have in store? Will my blackbird population (which has risen in recent years) get back on message, or can I expect more mutations? I might have Dalmation-coloured black-and-white-birds everywhere!

I have been checking online and it’s not only my birds that are displaying this phenomenon. The British Trust for Ornithology runs an annual plumage survey which checks for just this kind of thing. This is what they said about the latest survey findings:

Across the country, householders have been seeing Blackbirds with strange white markings. The condition, typically referred to as ‘leucism’, is one of a number of plumage abnormalities to have been reported through the BTO Abnormal Plumage Survey.

In less than a month, the survey has clocked up nearly 700 sightings, encompassing more than 35 different species. Three quarters of records have been of leucistic birds and, of these, nearly half have been Blackbirds. Leucistic birds may be confused with albino individuals, but the latter have pink, instead of dark eyes, and only account for 12 per cent of survey records to date.

It is not yet clear why Blackbirds appear to be particularly affected. It could be that they are unusually susceptible to the condition. However, being black or, in the case of female Blackbirds dark brown, any light-coloured feathers show up particularly clearly. Indeed, several other species with all-black, or mostly black, plumage have been spotted with white feathers fairly often, including Carrion Crow (49 records) and Jackdaw (40).

Picture by Tom Rayner

£1,000 for a bag of onions

Early days - the weeds are in control

The truth of the matter is that we should never try to grow vegetables ourselves - it's much easier and cheaper to buy them from the supermarket.

I'm not anti-gardening - very much the opposite - I'm just pointing out an inconvenient truth.

During the past year (I got it in April 2014) I have had an allotment with a view to growing my own vegetables. We got it because we thought Sam and Lucy would spend some time with us when they returned from France and I didn't want Lucy digging up my lawn to plant beetroot.

As it happened, Sam moved straight to Jersey and Lucy followed him soon afterwards, so they never returned to Thorney and I had plot 12 on the Gas Lane allotments, covered in nettles, burdock, cow parsley and bindweed.

The weeds were so high that it was impossible to see the boundary fences and impossible to walk through the plot without first hacking a path.

The first job was to repair the fences, make a gate and then tackle the weeds. Hopefully, there would be time to plant something as well. Walking around the plot was quite tricky - there were several large holes hidden among the weeds and you'd suddenly step into one of them and almost go head first into the nettles. The burdock seeds were deadly and Holly would come back covered in them.

Weedkiller is starting to take effect and some
of the rubbish cleared away.

Glyphosate was the answer and on a still, sunny morning I blitzed the patch with spray and then repeated the exercise a month later. This didn't kill everything, but it did get things under control. With less vegetation, one could see the holes and also see a vast amount of rubbish left behind by the former tenants. There was lots of plastic sheet, lots of nylon netting, an old sunshade, broken chairs, bottles, cans,labels. It all had to be picked up, some of it salvaged, but most just dumped.

We also tackled the overgrown trees at the bottom, took down an elderberry, a dead eucalyptus and a barren plum tree.

The section of land next to my neighbour was less weed covered because they had sprayed it to keep the weeds from spreading into theirs, so that was the section I dug first, managing to get a narrow strip done in time to plant a few bits and pieces. I bought a secondhand rotavator for £100 but it proved to be a bit of a lightweight and also wouldn't run for more than five minutes at a time, then wouldn't start again until it was cold. In the end, I dug the plot by hand and I put in a row of peas (eaten by slugs as soon as they emerged), beetroot (not sure if the slugs or rabbits did for those, but something did), onion sets (which the rabbits nibbled as soon as the shoots appeared), leeks and runner beans (again, the jury is out as regards the guilty party). The one crop which remained uneaten were five courgette plants which went on to provide us with all the courgettes we could eat (and more besides) during the summer.

Rabbit food - my first crop of runner beans was eaten in days.

My onion sets struggled on and I got a bag of small onions; I resowed runner beans, put in some protection and managed to get a small crop from those and a bought bigger leek plants from the plant stall on Whittlesey market and we've had a few decent meals from those.

David Jones, my neighbour, gave me some flagstones which have formed a base for a shed; I've planted gooseberries, redcurrant and blackcurrants and four cider apple trees.

The shed had been a boon - it's somewhere to sit if
it's raining. Holly likes it, too.

During the summer, I made a small raised bed for saffron crocus and a larger one for asparagus. The saffron crocus have had a hard time of it, being constantly nibbled by rabbits. I've little choice but to bring them back and plant them around the garden, which I will do this spring. The saffron bed might also be brought home or i might constuct a cover and use it for seeds or salad.

During the autumn, I've dug over one half of the plot and it has broken down quite nicely during the winter. One part of this, which I had dug over first, had broken down enough for me to plant winter onions, shallots and garlic. Once more, the rabbits sensed a tasty meal and I had to fence them all pretty quickly, although the shallots suffered before I could get enough fencing arranged..

With all the various bits and pieces purchased, I have easily spent over £1,000 - the biggest item being a shed and four apple trees - and in return I've had perhaps 10kg of courgettes, 3kg of runner beans, half a carrier bag of small onions and 40 leeks.

The growing season is starting again and I've dug up, divided and replanted 12 globe artichokes and covered some ground with plastic sheet to warm up so I can sow broad beans (they went in last Saturday). I've learned that I can't leave anything uncovered or unprotected, which means I'll be buying more cloches, netting and supports this year! Last week, I was talking to one allotment holder who grows soft fruit. He said that muntjac deer ate all his gooseberries last year. The good news is that they don't like blackcurrants, the bad news is that pigeons love them! Let’s add a home-made fruit cage to this year’s expenses.

I'm looking forward to spring and all the things I plan to grow - I just hope they don't end up in the belly of a fat rabbit, or a muntjac or pigeon, rook, jackdaw ...

Globe artichokes divided and replanted. They will make a tall screen
at the back of the plot - should look quite nice.