Jackdaw

Corvus Monedula

 

I have no more knowledge of the fact than the Devil has of the jackdaw.

- Old saying.

 

Jackdaws are considered sacred in some parts, because of their propensity to live around, and nest in, churches. The Devil will have nothing to do with them because of this. This, and the fact that they are supposedly innocent birds,  despite the fat that they are believed to take your stuff and hide it, explains the saying above.

 

Our garden was visited by a beautiful little Jackdaw on Saturday, and it stuck around long enough for me to grab my camera, so I thought I'd have a quick go at painting one.





Jackdaw

The swans will sing when the jackdaws are silent

 - Ancient Greek & Roman saying.

Long Tailed Tits

Aegithalos Caudatus

I spent yesterday at Staveley Nature Reserve near Harrogate, taking photographs for a painting that was never going to get painted. Well, it got painted. 

It was freezing cold, but I managed to get settled into a hide and, between taking photographs, have a good conversation with a like-minded individual. 

I don't know any folk tales surrounding these beautiful birds, but I love the way that they flitter around in groups. Individually they have to be one of the prettiest of our common birds. As a group, with their long, elegant tails, I love the way that they break up the shape of the feeders that they descended on yesterday.

 Mapping out where everything is going.

The first tit.

 detail.

 Building it up, bird by bird.

 Detail.

 Starting to look at the fatballs.

Finally with the feeder added.

Aegithalos caudatus

The King of Birds?

Troglodytes troglodytes

"He who shall hurt the little wren 

  Shall never be belov'd by men." - William Blake Auguries of Innocence

At New Year it is said that  the apprentice Druid would go out by himself into the countryside in search of hidden wisdom. If he found a wren he would take that as a sign that he would be blessed with inner knowledge in the coming year. Finding a creature small and elusive to the point of invisibility was a metaphor for finding the elusive divinity within all life. Well we had one on the garden yesterday and I'm still looking for some elusive divinity.

St Stephen's Day (26th December) used to be so called, because it was a custom amoung villagers to stone a wren to death on that day in commemoration of the stoning of Saint Stephen.  It was believed that the wren's song betrayed St. Stephen, hiding from pursuit, to martyrdom. Thus on St. Stephen's Day, December 26, a wren was traditionally killed, and a group of boys would carry it in procession from house to house.

The name Wren means king in most European languages, including Manx.

Has there ever been a bird with richer folklore attached to it?

Time to let it dry for a few days.