And the UK’s favourite bird is… but do you agree?

Robins are vicious birds – not something I’d choose as a UK representative. I’d want a bird that we can all see and one that is the most proliferate throughout the UK. We had it almost as a national bird when it appeared on the back of a farthing. It is, of course, the pretty little wren. I wonder if the vote was rigged by the reds….?

My favourite common bird is the common blackbird. As a child I delighted in watching them building nests and feeding their young. I have one nesting in the pyracantha at present, incubating her second batch of eggs. One year I had a blackbird that took great interest whenever I did any gardening, to the extent that I had to be careful not to impale it with the garden fork. It reappeared the following spring and then I never saw it again.

In view of my avatar I suppose I ought to be campaigning on behalf of the Cuckoo party but I shall mark my cross against Mr Blackbird as my personal favourite. I call him The Police because he restores order in the garden. He swoops down, c***s his tail feathers, directs his beady eye and issues a strident note; all the other birds then behave themselves again. He skips from point to point inclining his head and pecking at the bugs; he is the most efficient finder and extractor of worms and dutifully carries them off to his family. A recent commotion alerted me to the approach of a cat along the fence above their nest so I had to rush out and speak to the cat, since when there have been no more alarms. The Blackbird’s song from the gable or the chimbley pot is a joy to hear on a Summer evening – it seems to go on without any repetition for twenty minutes or more at a time. One of our Blackbirds has a couple of little white patches in his feathers and he is almost tame, coming to within a very close distance when I’m gardening.

Robin Redbreast is a lovely bird and very popular so I can see why he scores highly. He has a wonderfully loud voice: you can immediately identify the Robin even if you can’t see him amongst the foliage. They are not quite as territorially aggressive as often described as we have at least two pairs in the vicinity and they come really close when I’m doing any digging or hoeing [but never together at the same time].

I also like the Wren, the Wagtail, the Song Thrush, the Magpie and the Rook but I don’t think they quite make the National Bird category.

In view of the criticism from some quarters levelled at banks, ISPs, washing machine manufacturers, pensions providers, the energy companies, those accused of ignoring the vulnerable, Sony, private dentists……………….perhaps our national bird should be – the Vulture. It is, apparently, an endangered species (so maybe an omen for the aforementioned).

I would have voted for the Scottish crossbill only because it is our only endemic bird species. Otherwise I love goldcrests because they are so small and lovely, and their distribution is UK-wide (apart from the Northern Isles) and you can see them all year round.

This Question can only be national or regional.
In Scotland it has always been the golden eagle, although not without competition but
On of the competitors now is the sea eagle.

I have a laurel beside a bay window and earlier this year I was able to watch a blackbird’s nest being built and subsequently the feeding of the hungry babies. Unfortunately I was not there when they left the nest. Today I noticed a male blackbird repeatedly flying into the laurel with a beak full of food and on venturing into the front garden I see there is a young bird perched on one of the lower branches. I was going to get rid of this rather boring laurel last year but I’m glad I kept it.