Battling Blackbirds

8.35 a.m.: Two male blackbirds have decided that the border between their territories runs along the narrow gap between a yellow grit hopper and a red recycling bin at the top end of the Health Centre car park.

First one hops forward, head held high, breast puffed out in ritualised belligerence, then it crosses the invisible line and its rival retaliates, driving it back.

This continues for a minute with the cut-and-thrust rhythm of a closely fought tennis tournament until they meet head-to-head at the half-way point and the contest erupts vertically into the air, the blackbirds lashing out with their feet like a pair of heraldic beasts.

This morning, in the short time I had available, I decided to write rather than draw, so my drawing of the rival blackbirds is from a sketchbook from March 1999, which I wrote up, using pretty much the same phrases as I did today, in my Wild West Yorkshire nature diary, www.wildyorkshire.co.uk

The rival blackbirds sketch appeared in my published sketchbook/nature journal Rough Patch, a sketchbook from the wilder side of the garden, published in 2005 (and still available, see link below!).