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All animals

ByGaby

One of my favourite pastimes is watching all the life in and around our home. The pond especially has proven to be a true oasis in this dry land. In no time at all, we’ve welcomed several frog species, a European green toad, and hundreds of birds (including 200 sparrows, wagtail, yellow wagtail, goldfinch, crested lark, blackbird, linnet). The swallows are clearly interested in our outdoor kitchen as a nesting spot, and if there were no fence, we suspect the deer and fox would also venture closer. And of course, the pond offers excellent cooling for Mazy when the outdoor temperature is too high for a border collie.

Larger birds like the stork and the buzzard, which also fly over our field, are not welcome: Mazy has a clear boundary when it comes to acceptable bird size. Pigeons are tolerated when it’s too hot to run fast.

Notable observations: although we see many tits in the trees, they don’t seem to come to the pond to drink. The redstart and the hoopoe don’t seem to either. Are they still getting enough moisture from their food?

To identify all this natural beauty, ChatGPT is really handy: who still needs identification guides or keys?

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