This morning I did the usual circuit of the garden before going out across the fields with the dogs and as I passed Merlina’s aviary I did a double take. No ‘caw caw caw’. I stopped and looked in disbelief at the little sanctuary I had created for her. Empty. With a growing sense of […]
It’s early morning in June on a day that promised to be scorching hot. The dogs are excited and race across the field behind the house which is full of purple flowering Lucerne, known as erba medica. They screech to a halt and start barking at something in the grass. I run over to investigate
As I was preparing breakfast for Merlina the crow this morning I stopped to think about how privileged I am to be responsible for such a beautiful wild bird. Merlina the hooded crow can’t look after herself as she has only one wing and a dodgy leg. I have no idea how she got those
We’ve had Merlina the hooded crow for over two years now and she seems quite happy in her voliera (aviary) which I made by enclosing part of an existing pergola with vines and adding an old gate I found under some overgrown bushes. Like the story of Tantalus, the grapes on the vine are just
We must have looked quite a sight this morning – me and the two dogs and three cats on our daily walk to the woods. The cats have only just started coming along. Sometimes all three of them decide to take some exercise, sometimes it’s only one. Today they were a symmetrical cat sandwich, the two white and black females
Living in rural Tuscany, I have been able to indulge my love of animals. The present count is two dogs, three cats (two strays and one of their kittens) and a hooded crow. The dogs found the crow almost two years ago in the field behind the house. She was badly injured, dragging a wing and