In my tiny south eastern corner of the country the gardeners, and the water companies, are at last rejoicing. For the first time in almost three months we have had a measurable amount of rainfall. At only a few mm it was just a moderate drizzle but at least is lasted for a couple of days, long enough to work its magic. Since then, as usually happens when nature tries to redress an imbalance we have experienced a month's rainfall in just four days. The result however was almost instantaneous with the gardens actually looking alive at last. The grass greened up almost overnight, leaves stopped drooping and the colourful blooms were once again vibrant. Unfortunately with the rain came the strong winds and many of the trees and shrubs around here are already losing their colourful autumnal foliage, though not nearly as quickly as some of my birds are losing their feathers.
I do like to see the birds looking tatty despite the never-ending battle with the mountain of daily debris that needs disposing off. A good moult is essential, not only to ensure a respectable show season but also as an indicator of good health in preparation for next season's breeding programme. Peace and quiet should be the order of the day in the lofts during the moult, with as little in the way of stress as is possible. That is one of the reasons why, as a rule, I do not enter many birds into the early shows. If the moult is not complete they stay in the loft. Personally I would much prefer the show season to start a month later and run on for an extra month but sadly this dream is most unlikely to ever become a reality.
My racing birds, all of which are given their daily liberty, along with the Archangels and Ice that also fly out, are all loath to take much in the way of serious exercise at this time of the year. A quick bath followed by a ten-fifteen minute spin around the fields in the immediate vicinity and they are back down. I give them open door so they are inclined to fly only as and when it suits them, tending to prefer spending many hours foraging around the various flower beds and shrubberies and keeping themselves in shape just by flitting to and from the loft. As they are glowing with health and bursting with fitness I guess they are enjoying their 'natural' life. Unlike many of the local racing guys I give them their liberty every day all year round, with certain reservations whatever the weather. Some of you would probably be amazed at the conditions in which they will happily and voluntarily exercise. Winds, rain, snow and even moderate mist or fog rarely seems to deter them, nor do very low temperature levels seem to put them off of bathing. Even the Blackbirds, Starlings, Woodpigeons and Collared Doves will quite happily bathe in the hour before dusk in temperatures down to sub zero, for some reason they do not appear to worry about going to roost with damp feathering.
