Blackbird Success - so far so good

After watching the pair of blackbirds in my garden working a flat out shuttle system to feed their vocal brood, here's proof that they had some success. We've seen two youngsters out of the nest with the female.

The thing that really surprised me was that they come out of the nest when they're very vulnerable, they can flutter and hop but not fly. The youngsters then live mostly on the ground while they continue to develop while the mother continues to feed them.

When I first saw this one hopping about behind the shrubs in my garden I thought he'd left the nest too soon, but having read up on it a bit, it looks as if it's normal. Seems like a high risk strategy to me but luckily we don't have any cats living nearby.

This photo is at about 2 weeks out of the nest. We're still seeing them around a bit but I think they're nearly at the stage when they'll be on their own. It's been great fun watching them and I'll be a bit sad when they're gone!

In praise of Winchester Cathedral

Winchester, original capital of England, depending of course on how you define England. Without doubt capital of Wessex, which during the Viking years became the dominant kingdom in surviving Anglo Saxon England.

Enough of Anglo Saxon political history. Why visit Winchester Cathedral? Not because it's the prettiest from the outside (it's not), not because it recently featured in the Da Vinci Code (although it did), rather because it is full of unexpected gems:

- Temporary scaffolding that is 500 years old. In the Triforium Gallery you get a fantastic view of the Norman structure of the cathedral. They meant to update it to the same style as the Nave but ran out of money, they'd put some wooden supports in, ready to lower the roof...it's still there 500 years later.

- The Winchester Bible, a gem of a medieval illuminated bible

- See Canute (the king who told the waves to go back) - he and several other Anglo Saxon kings and bishops are buried in finally decorated mortuary chests which are now poised on the walls surrounding the high altar. The oldest one dates to around 670 AD.

- The fantastic modern art that the cathedral continues to commission - a Graham Sutherland sculpture in the crypt, modern icons near the site of the shrine of St Swithin, the altar and candlesticks in the Angler's Chapel

The cathedral is a monument to English history and yet it lives and grows as well. Go and see for yourself.